Flex League – FALL 2019

Hello NJ Women’s Flex League Captains and Interested Parties – 

We are very excited to start our 6 week fall season next week!  We have 16 teams in 3 divisions this year.  As a reminder, the NJ Women’s Flex League is a competitive club-based paddle league for women who want to develop their paddle skills and compete in match play.  We have divisions for beginner, beginner/intermediate and intermediate/advanced teams and are working diligently to make sure the teams within each division are evenly matched.  

A few notes on how the league is run:

• Once the captains have received the 6 week schedule it is up to them and their team to determine how to schedule the matches.  Please see note below on best practices for scheduling matches.  The home team should reach out to the away team.  You have to field 2 courts each week (which is what will be recorded) but if those with larger teams can field 3 teams….all the better!  
• The home team is responsible for reserving a court, but if there are no courts available at their club then the away team should check availability at their club.  Best practice is to host both matches at the same time….as that tends to be more fun!
• Regardless of where the match is played, the home team should provide one new ball for the match and one next-to-new ball for warm up.  
• I will send team captains an invitation to a google spreadsheet to report their team scores.  It’s the home team responsibility to report the score and I suggest doing so immediately following the match. I am also happy to update the spreadsheet for you if you text me the name of the home and away team players and the score.  
• If we have all scores reported we will be able to announce the division winners at the end of the season.  The reward for winning your division is only bragging rights until the next season (sorry…no trophies, plaques or flags….possibly a shotski 😎 with your team name on it…) Non-winning teams will have something to strive for next season.  
• Also, while entirely optional, it’s usually good form for the home team to provide some refreshments for after the match….just saying! 😉  And it’s not frowned upon if the away team brings some refreshments as well!

League Wide Social: Sunday, November 17

Our first League-Wide Social will be hosted by the ladies of Montclair Golf Club and will be on Sunday, November 17, late afternoon.  Jennie Sowers, the MGC captain has secured 4 courts and will be sending more information in a few days.  You will need to RSVP so be on the look out for her email.  If you think your club would be interested in hosting a social, let us know!

Flex League Clothing

Jan Arthur of Morristown Field Club worked with Thomson Sporting Goods in Summit to come up with our very own Flex League branded gear.  The link below is to our store.  Please share with your teams!  As we continue to promote the Flex League and create more opportunities for all women to play, it would be great if you would get one item from the store!  I have the vest, the rain jacket and the quarter zip and they are fantastic…and very reasonably priced!  Jan says the Cowl Neck Hoodie is divine!  Again this is entirely optional but would be fun to run into Flex friends at tournaments with our logo represented!

http://www.thompsonsportinggoods.net/team-store/nj-flex-paddle/

Scheduling Matches Best Practices

Each team can determine what works best for them in terms of scheduling the matches.  The one thing we ask is that you diligently chase your match down!!  As captain of the Racquets Club Flex team for the past two years, what worked for us was to share a google spreadsheet with my team and have them fill in their availability. Once they have filled in their availability for the week, for home matches I would reach out to the away team captain to let them know when I can field a team (i.e. i have 2 people who can play Monday at 7 pm, 2 who can play Saturday morning and 2 who can play Sunday afternoon.)  The away team captain can then determine when her team is available and then we share the individual player contact information. Again, however works best for your team is how you should do it….but the one frustration expressed with the prior season was if a team was unresponsive and perhaps not as flexible as we need to be make the league a success.