Should I Join as an Individual?
The Spring season is always packed with new faces, in any of our sports leagues. But, this Spring in particular finds some leagues with longer than usual gaps since the last game. While this long downtime often allows players to form teams on their own and join together, it also means an increase in individuals wanting to join, that don’t already belong to a team. At iTZ, we call these folks indy players. A team formed of all indy players, is known as an indy team.
The illustration above is meant to represent the feeling some of us get when we think of joining a league as an indy player. Well, it’s false – a fallacy – a wretched untruth.
I have played on several indy teams in my time with iTZ and acceptance is not something you compromise when you join as an individual. As a matter of fact, indy teams socialize together often. The irony to this situation is pre-formed teams are usually built from a pre-existing social circle. The players know each other, but may not necessarily be social in general. On the other hand, indy teams are fundamentally full of social people, just in the fact they are willing to play on a team with new people. Another cool aspect of indy teams is the players are ‘big-picture’ types. They are there to have fun, break a sweat, and enjoy their time away from work and other responsibilities. It’s very rare that an indy team has infighting – it’s a guarantee with pre-formed teams. So in my opinion, joining a league as an individual is a great move if your intentions are holistic about recreational sports.
No different than any other situation or decision, there is a flip side. If you are confused about your role in the sports world, (you think a gross injustice has been done upon you – you are better than those scrubs on TV) then do NOT join an indy team. If your significant other demands that you be headed home on the first thing smokin after a game, indy teams are not for you. If you are a drill sergeant about attendance to practice or games, steer clear of an indy team. If you plan to hook up with a teammate on the creep – well, actually an indy team *may* work for that…but I digress.
In summary, joining a league as an indy player is a really great way to meet new people and improve your skills in your sport of choice. You probably won’t win the championship that year, but that may be a diamond in the rough in itself. If you’ve once been a decent player in your sport, but life has kept you off the field/court then an indy team is a great place to set your own personal agenda of performance, with minimal pressure from the team. On a personal level, indy teams help build team skills – not in a sports sense, in a life sense. Dispute resolution, crisis management, rewards systems…you won’t find an OB class any cheaper! You’ll win some games, have a great time, and who knows, if you stick together for a season or two, you can rise to become a contender for the trophy.