League Dilemma

Why

is He team captain? The team captain shold always be one of the top 2 players on the team. You want someone with the right knowledge, temperment, and seasoning to be leading and coaching the team.

Are you going to have a 5 coach a 7? (see my point?)
 
The team captain doesn't necessarily have to be the best SHOT on the team, IMHO. The captain needs to be the best STRATEGIST as far as how to deal with the matches, who plays who, etc. And also a responsible and sharp person - the person who has to make sure their team knows where they're playing, make sure they've got enough team members showing that night so as not to have to forfeit any matches, the person who has to deal with all the administrative/paperwork crap without issues.

You can always have a better player on a team who's NOT the captain, and obviously they're the choice when it comes to coaching.

I know, picking a few nits here, but I think it's true.
 
sixpack said:
Okay, so this is a situation that happened to me once. Curious as to how everyone would have handled it.

I played on a league team. We're all strong players. The team captain and I usually warm up together, but I've noticed if I beat him, then he tends to get down on himself and have a bad night. So I warmed up with him and then let him win a few games, thinking he'll be in a better mood and play better. It works well and he plays great. So the next week, I do the same thing and ease off a little while warming up with him. He starts talking about benching me because I'm not playing up to my usual self! So I go ahead and play REAL good, 3 consecutive B&Rs (8-ball 9'). I quit after the third to let other team members warm up. He is pissed that HE'S not playing well....still pissed about the easy shot he left me 4 games ago....and you guessed it, has a bad night and the team loses.

What would you do?

Thanks!
RC
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Just play during warm-ups, don't dump. If you are thinking about what is best for the team, then what's best for the team is to warm up fully. In the long run, your teammates will realize it. How they fare during competition should have no bearing on your warm ups.

Fred
 
Snapshot9 said:
is He team captain? The team captain shold always be one of the top 2 players on the team.
Click to expand...
I don't agree with this. I've been team captain for two sessions (one hear, and the other one there). I hated it. Being the team captain requires a skillset that I don't have nor want to have. But, that being said, I'm normally the team coach.

I've been on several teams where the team captain was the worst of the players.

Fred
 
You could always tell a white lie and say you're not playing top speed because the other team is scouting you.
If it were me I'd just talk to him and tell him what you think. He should know how his warm up effects the rest of his night.

My team captain frequently uses me to warm up the higher skill players.....All I know how to shoot is 2 way shots. If my break is working I'm dropping a couple balls, and when it isn't the cb is generally in a real bad place to start. I don't quit on a game, or set until it's over.

The best solution is probably to vary who warms up with who.

McCue Banger McCue
 
Snapshot9 said:
is He team captain? The team captain shold always be one of the top 2 players on the team. You want someone with the right knowledge, temperment, and seasoning to be leading and coaching the team.

Are you going to have a 5 coach a 7? (see my point?)
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the responses. Great advice all.

Just to clear up some things. He is a great player, he is probably a better player than I am. But that doesn't mean he can beat me...hard to explain.

When I 'ease up' on him in practice, I do it by not playing safes and breaking wide open, which causes me to run out a lot. He is always talking to me about playing safe more during matches. I pocket balls better than he does but he is a better defensive player.

There is absolutely no coaching in this league, so captain can be anybody. He is the captain because nobody else wanted to be and he agreed to so that we could have a team.

I really like him and respect him and his game, I just thought it was funny how that incident played out. Damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario.

I have an underlying philosophy in pool that you are going to be getting bad rolls if you intentionally don't play as good and hard as you can and try to win. While I was easing up on him during practice, I noticed that in league play I had A LOT of bad rolls. I had 5 BROs against me (1 game set) which by itself was enough to keep me miles off the top shooter chart. those 15-0's kill your average. I had two of my own BROs foiled by hitting a ball into the center of the pocket medium speed and having it spit back out...on two different tables. I even had a guy who's an okay player, not great, bank his last 5 and the 8-ball to beat me after I moved all his balls around to the rails.

So I'm back to warming up as hard as I can, playing safes and trying to win every warm up game. If I start to smother the other players too much, I back off (quit) and let them play. It doesn't do anybody any good to warm up if all they have are kicks.

Now I'm playing better and usually winning all my games.

Thanks!
RC
 
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