Darter Tim Petri on Being a Team Captain

The role of Team Captain is very important. The Team Captain must be up on league rules and by-laws. They must maintain an integrity, as they represent not only their team, but they are in a way, officers of the league.

To be a Team Captain, a person must have respect of the game of darts, they must respect the officers and they must respect their team members. A Team Captain must be level headed as they are the go between, between a player and the officers. If their is a dispute they must remain level headed and try to solve the dispute in an orderly and mannerly fashion.

When we had our league, the Team Captains not involved in a dispute sat on the mediation board. They would listen to the dispute from both sides and they would make their recommendations to the officers and the officers would then return their verdict.

With all that said, a Team Captain must be fair. Not all players are the caliber of Johnny K., Ray Carver, Darrin Young, Bill Davis or a Ken Swanson. So the captain must try to play everyone a fair amount of games. A captain must try not to pair his two weakest players against the other teams two best players to be sacrificial lambs. A captain must also not to try and play favorites. Nothing will break a team apart by playing favorites and playing them as many games as possible. Not only will it break a team apart, it will also rid the game of players, and we are trying to get as many people involved in the sport that we are passionate about.

With all that said, I tried to play everyone the same amount of games. Now if a player says he doesn't want to play in a game, then I would be forced to play someone more games than I would liked to have. I have even sat myself, so others can play as many games as possible. I never played favorites and I mostly wanted everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves. After all, that is what league is for, to have fun and help get the newer players more time to play and to help them get better. That is another responsibility the Team Captain should partake. Try and help the newer players get better. I know I tried to help anyone if they wanted the help. Now I am not the same player I used to be, because I don't play as much as I would like anymore, but I still love the game and try and help the newer players try and get better.

There have been times when it has been hard to keep my head when someone has either thrown a fit or has tried to push the issue of wrongdoing. There are times when people are going to disagree, but there are times it gets more heated than it should. That is when the Team Captains need to step in and try to solve the problem in orderly way.

I have also been president of the league as well, so the responsibilities are sometimes overwhelming, but I would not have traded those moments for anything. One thing players seem to forget, as that on league night, the officers are just players. That is when the Team Captains need to step up and take charge. The Team Captains become the officers of the league on league night.

So as you can see, a Team Captain has a big responsibility to uphold. They not only run their team on league night, but they run the league as well. I think everyone should take a turn being a Team Captain, even if it is one time, just to know what goes on in running a team.

So for now, may all your darts be 8T0's and all your outs be 170's. Good darts and looking forward to seeing you at the toe line.

~ from Tim Petri