Hi , this is Carolyn and I'm here with Aaron , and this is part two of our episode with an anonymous local league coordinator . If you'd like to hear some crazy or silly situations he's had to deal with in the past , please check out part one . But here's part two . I have a question for you . I think even captains probably think this way , but do you ? Are you always ? I mean , I know , and even as players , are you like ? Oh no , it's raining and it's playoffs and I'm going to get a million text messages from players about what's fair and what's not fair and rescheduling .
AnonymousAnd then , for the most part , in our area , captains are great about just going ahead and getting it handled , but we have , you know , some of those captains who are like you know it was , it was rained out on this date . I'm giving you two dates . Well , that's not always , that's not the real world and so , but for the most part , our captains are really great about working together and most of the time I don't have to get involved . When I get involved is when they're really tight races and they and there's some strategic lineups going on . That's when it gets tricky and I have to step in and say you got to play it on this date period because they will . They will spread a match out over 47 days , if they can for strategic scheduling because , it , it matters .
AnonymousIt matters for them .
ErinYeah , Because they're going for a towel .
AnonymousYes , that sign on the fence is huge . I know .
ErinSo do you get a lot of emails , or ? I'll bet you have to just read a lot of people's text messages . Right , people probably screen capture their phones and come to you with arguments from people .
AnonymousAnd thank goodness , it's the same people over and over . So you know you get the text . You're like , okay , yes , bobby , I understand , and you know it's when you get the new people or not the new , the people who don't complain . When they complain , you're like , okay , I'm going to stop , I'm going to really look at it . I look at everybody's , I read everybody's , I give everybody's text consideration . But if you've complained about the same thing 47 times , it just doesn't land the same as it does the first time , I guess . But for the most part our players are wonderful work together . You've got a few that just aren't going to bend , and it's you know that sign on the fence is a whole lot to them , whereas it isn't a whole lot to other people Do you have any different grievances ?
Erinor crazy stories , I guess , or silly situations with mixed compared to anything else Like , is it a little bit more calm , a little bit more crazy In the past , mixed has been my favorite season because it's calmer .
AnonymousIt's just something about , I think , men diffuse the women a little bit and women diffuse the men . Right , this season's been different . People are getting real serious . I mean I've had a couple confrontations between men , which is rare . In which is rare , usually it's the women who get a little snippy , but this season I've had men who have . You know , one man I mean went and stood on a court which it was like courts one , two and three . One of the guys went and stood on court two to watch court three as a monitor . Well , we don't have monitors , we don't do that .
AnonymousRight and so the men have been getting a little testy this summer . I think it's the heat .
CarolynI have another question . Do you get a lot of rules complaints that somebody didn't know the rule , or we played this , or I didn't like that , anything like that . I get a lot of rules questions .
AnonymousAs LLC , you're expected to be a walking rule book and I'll be walking to a match , going to my court , and somebody's like , hey , what's the rule on how long do you have to serve what Excuse ?
Carolynlife and I can't always spit out rule 2.01c3 .
AnonymousIt just doesn't happen . And so a lot of times I'm like let me get to you in a second , or you know how much for a medical timeout . Some of these things you just know and you just spit out . But some things are a little more in-depth . I'm like all right , I need to consult my friend at court book or pull up the regulations on my phone , and I've tried to present links to the players and say look , if you have a problem , this is the link . Friend at court books are easy to order if you want to keep one in your bag or you can access it online . But people like texting me or calling me or stopping me saying what's the rule and I'm not a walking rule . Let me just tell you .
ErinWe actually put friend of court on our website because Carolyn and I refer to it so much and it was the easiest way for us to find it . So we have a link on our website if anybody wants to grab it from there .
AnonymousYes , please do , and I keep a copy of it in my tennis bag and I think any player should keep it in their tennis bag because it's just a quick handy reference . So if a situation comes up , pull out your book , look it up together , so nobody gets heated and everybody sees it in black and white and you don't have that escalation .
CarolynI completely agree with that . I have it in my bag too . She does .
ErinShe's an attorney , though .
CarolynYeah , but I think that is exactly right , Sarah . I think that's exactly what you do . I actually have another question . Go as a local league coordinator . What do you want adult recreational players to know ?
ErinOh , that's a good question .
AnonymousWhat I've been stressing , and I've stressed since I became an LLC , is this is recreational tennis . This is supposed to be a positive experience where we take time away from our families , our jobs and other things in our life that can be stressors . This should not be a stressor . This should be a stress reliever and this is what you do to recenter and connect with yourself and play and have fun and meet people and have cocktails afterwards . That's what recreational tennis is . We're not getting a paycheck . The only people who get paychecks out there are the LLCs in some areas and , trust me , it is very , very , very little . So no LLC those three varies . No LLC is riding into the sunset with a big pot of money Right , and if they were , they earned it , trust me . But it has to be positive . You have to just enjoy the recreational experience .
AnonymousWe all want to go to state . We all want to get that sign on the fence . We all want to have that privilege of I was the best at something . But if you can be the best player , you are out there and you walk off the court with the head held high and you like yourself at the end of it . You've won every single match . And I tell people all the time you're not getting a paycheck Do not invest this type of time and energy into something that is not bringing you joy , because if it doesn't bring you joy , don't do it . And I want as many people as possible to play tennis because tennis has enriched my life so much , but if it doesn't bring me joy , I don't do it . And if it doesn't bring you joy , stop , because you're complaining about everything and making bad line calls out of spite . That's not joy . You need to find a new hobby .
ErinDo you want to ask this ?
Carolynone . Oh yeah , Any other silly stories before I ask the final question Anything else that you missed or you wanted to mention On of ?
Anonymousfavorites is a captain who called me just , devastated because I've got to reschedule courts . And you know , this captain ain't going to reschedule . And I was like , well , what happened ? She's like , oh , leslie can't play because she's going to get a boob job . And she was like I guess she just decided to get a boob job , so I'm sure to play her for this match because she's getting a boob job . I couldn't do anything but laugh . I said , okay , so you know , are you trying to reschedule that court ? She's like , no , I don't have anybody . But it just cracks me up because she said , you know , I've got to forfeit this court . And it was a very tight flight and I mean it was every game counted . And she was like you know what I'm done as a captain ? I am done . She's going to get a boob job and my team's out Done , so want to get a boob job and my team's out done . So that's probably my favorite story ever and I've seen the lady since and it was good work and I'm glad she did .
ErinShe looks amazing . You know what else ? You know what else is crazy , though , and I know , um , because we get so into tennis , right , all of us , we just get obsessed with it . But we actually have had multiple people I've known friends at our club that have scheduled their plastic surgery around their tennis season . So , like they try to get it done in the winter , right , or you know a season that doesn't count , or , and I'm like , shouldn't you just do it whenever your doctor can fit you in , instead of trying to ? But it's like I got to get it done before spring season starts so that I can play spring you know , yeah , well , I've had a lot of friends who do the exact same thing .
AnonymousI need , you know , I have um . I had tennis elbow and when COVID hit I was like , okay , we'll rest in it for this long time , we'll be great . Well , it never got better . So when they announced we could start playing . I went to the doctor and said all right , I have to have this surgery now because I have to be ready to play in six weeks . And he did the surgery . Six weeks later I was on the court . I was getting back out there .
ErinI was going to say how many people go to their doctor and say I have a deadline , I have to be on a tennis court .
CarolynYeah , An adult recreational tennis court I'm scheduled for a very important spring match , because it brings me joy .
AnonymousIt brings me joy , that's why I do it .
CarolynSo , sarah , since you told us all the kind of the crazy parts or silly parts of being a local league coordinator , can you tell us the best part ?
AnonymousThe absolute best part is just the people , and you know I've complained , but the people are wonderful . We have great players who love the sport and get it they get . We're getting out there , we're having fun , we're enjoying each other , we're making long-term relationships , not just each match . I love that and I love the people who see me and are like thank you for what you're doing , because they understand it's herding cats and they're appreciative for the cat herding and I'm glad
to do it .
AnonymousI absolutely love being an LLC . It is probably one of the best things that I've done in my adult life , aside from , you know , motherhood , children , you know all those things , but that I've done for me , let's say like that . I mean it's furthering something that I absolutely love and it is just giving back and making sure that the league that I love is moving forward and I'm glad to do that . I'm so appreciative to be able to do that and I'm appreciative for the players who let me do that . And you know we have the complainers , we have the serial reschedulers , we have the crying captains , but we also have people who get it . We're getting on the courts . We're having fun and we also have people who get it . We're getting on the courts , we're having fun and we're going home knowing what matters . And even the serial reschedulers and the crying captains , they all know what matters . They just get to it in a different way .
CarolynWe really had a great time speaking with the anonymous local league coordinator . We hope you check out our website , which is SecondServePodcastcom . The resources section of our website gets information for adult recreational players . Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you next time .