How To Be A Good Teammate (On A Competitive Team)

How can you be a good teammate? Have you ever showed up late to a match? Are you supportive of your doubles partner?

We are replaying a few of our most popular episodes and this was one of them!

We really enjoyed hearing Tara's advice on how to be a good teammate. Tara captained the team that won the 55 plus 6.5 State Championship and finished second at Sectionals.

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Transcript

Carolyn: 0:08

Hi, this is Carolyn, and I'm here with Erin, and we really appreciate Tara being here with us tonight. Tara captained the team that won the 6-5 North Carolina 55 and over state championship and her team went on to sectionals and finished second. She contacted us with a topic idea, which was what it means to be a good team member, especially on a competitive team, and we thought it would be great if she would come on and discuss it. So, tara, thank you for being on the podcast, and can you start us off with why you started playing adult tennis?

Tara: 0:39

Well, we moved to Raleigh in about 2008, and I guess around 2010,. We joined a local club and my husband was golfing I wasn't really a golfer so I picked up tennis and they just said okay, here you go, Go and play. And I just started and met a great group of ladies and here I am, 12 years.

Erin: 1:01

Crazy. It goes fast, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. I know I've been playing for nine and I feel like I always say like I didn't touch a racket till I was 40 and now I'm gonna be 50 this year. So that goes very fast, absolutely so. Um, so we'll just kind of throw some questions back and forth to you. But, um, one of the things that you wrote to us about being a good teammate is showing up on time to matches, especially in important matches like playoffs, and I wanted to start talking to you about this because I was a very bad teammate years ago.

Erin: 1:37

We were at States and we, you know, at States and these big tournaments they give you. I mean, at our local area it's like a 9.30 start or maybe it's a 7 pm start and you know the weekly matches are all about the same time. But at States and sectionals you have to worry about and nationals you have to worry about when your team is scheduled to play and you have to show up an hour beforehand usually, and all that. So we were, our team was staggered and three of us that were playing the later matches decided to go to TJ Maxx shopping. So talk about stress. We got to the match and couldn't find parking. Our captain was so stressed out and so mad at us, and she had every right to be. I've literally never, ever, done that since, like I'd go four hours early to avoid that. So talk to us about your teammates being on time and tell us about your situation at States and at sectionals, I guess.

Tara: 2:34

Sure. So as far as local matches go and playoffs, I always like my teammates to show up about 30 minutes beforehand, and if it's inclement weather and we're playing on city courts we're a city team I like people to come up a little bit earlier than that so they can even help us clean off the courts, which is the responsibility when you're on a city team. As far as states and sectionals go, you actually, as the captain, have to turn your card in either electronically now these days or it used to be paper 30 minutes before and if, and every person had to be there at the desk ready to go. So you can imagine that you know, erin, if you were on my team and you were at shop.

Erin: 3:17

I would have been fired.

Carolyn: 3:21

I just can't imagine. Aaron's always early, so that's shocking to me.

Erin: 3:24

I know it was shocking. Believe me, it never happened again. Well, I can only imagine.

Tara: 3:29

But you only do it once, right, it only happens once. Then you're always early, exactly Lesson learned, but absolutely. But I really do think that's really important and it helps, especially in those important matches. There's enough nervousness. It kind of helps, you know, kind of offset that.

Carolyn: 3:44

Agreed. Okay and okay. So, tara, the second thing you mentioned is what is best for the team versus me? What did you mean by that?

Tara: 3:53

I learned early on that tennis, especially ladies, adult rec tennis is supposed to be fun and I think that if we, if you, were part of a team and if you didn't grow up in athletics you probably don't know this but as part of a team, it's like what can I do for my part, being on this team, to help make the team successful? And I think sometimes people who are new to sports, they don't look at it that way and it's very much about me, me, me, and what court am I in? What am I going to play? Who do I get to play with? And I think if you just come to it with you know what I'm here, play me where you want, whenever, wherever. It's just really nice and I think sometimes we forget about that, yeah, yeah, and that makes the captain's job the easiest.

Erin: 4:40

if you come in as a teammate, that way, just say put, play me wherever, with whomever, at whatever time. 8 am 10 am. You need me, exactly.

Carolyn: 4:51

You guys, both captain, do people normally do that?

Erin: 5:01

No, not normally, Tara. What do you think? I mean? I have some standout people that just jumped to mind that I want on every single one of my teams, because that is exactly their attitude. You know, the sun is shining, I'm happy to be out here, you know, and, and believe me, they they definitely play better with some people than others, but they are not the one to say don't play me with that person. They are like where do you need me? When can I be there? What should I do?

Tara: 5:23

Yeah, and I'm sure, terry me when can I be there? What should I do? Yeah, and I'm sure, terry, you have a mix, absolutely, and I think if you are captaining a team that can be competitive, I think you probably see a little more of that, and I have just learned. My one thing I do as a captain is I like to play permanent partners, or like maybe three or four people that switch off amongst themselves because I think in an important match. So it's more critical to kind of know, really know, your partner what do they go for, what don't they go for? And so I do try to do that and people seem to like it.

Erin: 5:58

Yeah, and we've had several captains on um that have won states, and that is the secret to their success is they have partners. You know they have like a set, you know set, sets of partners that pretty much always play together.

Tara: 6:11

Absolutely, and I think if you, if you play with the same person, if it's a, if it's a good partnership, it feels good. You know we all make mistakes and we all feel bad when we do. And if you have someone on that court with you that you know is going to support you when you make that mistake and, you know, bring you up, lift you up. I think that is so critical Because a match, a game, you know it, can be turned around so quickly and that's why I think we need to just uplift ourselves when we're playing. Yeah, yeah.

Carolyn: 6:43

Okay, I've got another one that you listed which it says understanding especially in playoffs, or states that most teams do not play straight up. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Tara: 6:53

Yes. Well, this is one of the hardest things I would think as a captain, because at least I like to think of myself as a good captain. I was trained by the best Robin. Shout out to you and what I would say right, we all have to shout out. What I learned early on is that a captain is someone that's selfless, extremely organized, and if you really don't care about win or lose, then you just put out the lineups each week. You could put out the lineup for the whole season and let everyone know and then off you go.

Tara: 7:26

I think it becomes more difficult as a captain when you are playing on a team that is either competitive or you think you know what I'm saying Like all of a sudden, wow, we're in this. And then it changes a bit and it's hard because you have to balance the thoughts of your individual teammates versus the entire team, and sometimes that is hard, and what I try to do as a captain, I think it just depends on the circumstances. I try to put out my courts that we can win all of them, so I try to match it up, and I think that in Raleigh we typically play what I would call straight up right, so you're best in one, then two and three, for example. But I think when you go to states and you go to something like sectionals, people do play it differently because it's a matter of winning the majority of the courts.

Tara: 8:25

I was lucky when I went to States this time in sectionals that I had a really strong team and a really great partnerships and, quite frankly, I really think I could have put any partnership in any group. But you do look at that, and I am also lucky that I have a lot of ladies on my team at least two come right to mind who love to do the analysis work with me, and I love to just bounce it off them and say, okay, this is what I'm thinking. What do you think? That way, it's not just me one person making the decision for the whole team. It's really, you know, multiple people looking at it and trying to do what's best. But it is hard sometimes and you know you try not to hurt any feelings with it. Yeah, yes, that's key.

Carolyn: 9:05

Absolutely. And by analysis work do you mean, like you guys looked at tennisrecordcom, did you guys look and see what pairs played together and where they normally put people?

Tara: 9:16

I think you look at. You know tennis record, tennis league stats, right. There's several sites out there. I think in Raleigh we sort of know each other right. We know what teams, we know people. We kind of look up who plays with who and how they play it out. When you go to states and sectionals there's a lot more analysis needed, simply because we don't know the players. So, quite frankly, you have to go by those sites that I mentioned, but what I have always found is that they're not always accurate. But at least you can look at USDA, look at who's played who, how they've played it and won or not, and then just try to match it up. That's all you can do and then you've done the best you can.

Erin: 10:03

Exactly. But I think the success too is knowing you have a strong team and you can put in probably any of your pairs on any courts. At least you have that knowledge right. You know we're strong. We're strong no matter what happens. But it is still nice to do that analysis and to play it the way you think is best against a team and if they happen to be different, if it happens to be different, you still know that you are going to be really competitive and have, you know, still have a good advantage to winning.

Tara: 10:30

Absolutely, and in the end there's also a lot of luck, right?

Erin: 10:32

Exactly.

Tara: 10:34

Yes, you can do all the planning you want but it comes down to a lot of luck.

Erin: 10:38

Adult recreational tennis yeah, sometimes it's amazing and oftentimes it's very average.

Carolyn: 10:46

Thanks to Tara for being on the podcast. We have one more episode with Tara where she gives us a few more tips on what it means to be a good team member. She discusses her most memorable moments and I go through my list, which is a little different because it includes things like don't show up hungover. If you'd like to see a picture of Tara and her team, please visit our website, which is SecondServePodcastcom. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon. You.