Nothing is more fun as an adult than competing in the sports you love. Each season offers competition, camaraderie, exercise, and a chance to get away from being an armchair quarterback, and perhaps be a real quarterback for once. However, coaching a team can be more frustrating and taxing than you might imagine. Being a player-coach is great in Madden ’08 or NBA Live, but in real-life it can be downright infuriating and quite frankly, not worth it sometimes.

THE OLD WAY

Organization:

It’s one thing to be sitting around a t.v. watching Monday Night Football saying, “Gee Bobby, it sure would be fun to suit up like the good ‘ol days and play some ball again, wouldn’t it?” It’s entirely different, however, to actually find yourself on the field the first game with eleven guys, evenly dispersed among the various positions, all paid up and ready to play (with matching jerseys of course, self-anointed nicknames on the back, OF COURSE!).

The Reality:

• Everyone you talk to and attempt to persuade to join your team will half-commit, and nearly all will say, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I have two or three guys I could call that would totally play!” So on your tentative sign-up sheet you see some 19-25 names. When game time comes however, you look around and find about 7 guys that claim they are on your team, and you hope and pray some vagabonds will be found unsigned hanging near the field that will play so you can avoid forfeiting your first game, starting the season 0-1.
• Once you do get commitments (supposing you didn’t have to forfeit your first 3 games), there are still aspects of organization that must be taken care of by you, the Coach. By this time, a good 50% of your team still haven’t paid (leaving you juggling your account like a circus clown, because you fronted the $400 bill).
• Players haven’t filled out the safety and security waiver, so you force them to sign it 3 minutes before the coin toss, and they don’t know their medical provider or doctor, and perhaps don’t have anyone to contact if they get hurt (you think, great, special teams for sure).

*Organizing a hodge-podge bunch of busy adults is about as easy as calculating the equation for Quarterback Rating; it can be done, but it’s much better to leave it to the experts.

Communication:

Each week, game times need to be relayed to players as well. Game locations need the same. Perhaps you, the ambitious Captain, want to set up a practice during the week. Yet another set of calls/emails must be sent regarding time and location.

The Reality

• You are trying to receive RSVPs and keep a mental checklist to know how many can make it, and then divide players into various positions to complete the roster.
• Inevitably you will end up with Joey, a 155 pound IT guy playing Offensive Line, or Steve, the 320 pound bartender, who couldn’t chase down a wounded sloth, playing free safety.

*Your ideal lineup never all shows up for the same game, I guarantee it.

THE NEW WAY

Organization

With Sports4E, Coaches can be in complete control of organization, rather than the proverbial chicken-with-it’s-head-cut-off-on-his-cellphone-at-all-times.

• Your team can be created on the website so your players can actually sign up online. They can tell their friends to sign up as well and you can chart the progress off your roster. Rather than guessing if you have enough players to field a team, you can know exactly who you have for Saturday’s big opener.
• You can even search for and contact players who need teams (free agents, if you will) and contact them to sign up with your team (signing bonus?).
• Once you get your squad, players can pay and sign waivers online, leaving you out of the picture for collecting forms and keeping track of checks, cash, and I.O.Us. The website takes care of it all. You can spend valuable time focusing on your playbook, exploiting mismatches, and practicing your touchdown dance (or Ace Dance, or Ground-Rule Double Dance, or Gutter-Ball Dance, depending on what sport you play).

Communication

Once your season begins, the website becomes the central hub for your team. Players will access the site to see upcoming games for times and locations.

• Hopefully you won’t get that 5-minute before tipoff phone call from Jim, your star player, saying, “8? I thought you said ‘LATE’ game, at noon. Ok, I’m on my way. Franklin Gym? I coulda swore it was at the YMCA! Welp, maybe I’ll see ya for the second half. Perhaps overtime.”

*I paint a pretty bleak picture, but I have yet to play in an adult league where these examples were not the reality. In fact, I have honestly played in and won 3 championship games on teams I DID NOT play for. I simply received a call from a coach-friend who could not guarantee enough players for the finale. I stepped in, wore a random reversible jersey, and received my free Championship t-shirt. No joke. Lack of organization and communication is absolutely the norm in adult leagues. But with Sports4E, that no longer needs to be the case.