Flex Leagues

Lately the Macon Tennis Association has been trying to promote flex leagues. This means you can play in your normal league but you can play your matches whenever you want rather than at a fixed time. In theory this is a good idea. Many people may still set aside time to play but many will not and scheduling becomes a nightmare. I have not tried this and I will not try this, but I have talked to a few people that say it's just too hard trying to schedule a suitable time to play, especially in doubles. They've said they went a whole season and only got to play maybe 2 matches while about 10 were scheduled.

Flex leagues are designed to suit the "busy lifestyles" that people today have. In reality it takes a lot of the team spirit and social aspects of team tennis away, and puts more stress on people to call up strangers and arrange a match. There is really something comforting in knowing that you'll always play at a given time each week. For my level, men's 4.0, it's Saturday at 9:30. I would prefer 11:00 or even later so that I can stay up as late as I want on Friday night without being concerned about sleeping through my match (which I have done only once in 3 years of this) or being too tired or hung over to play. But it's really the best situation. I don't mind the early time so much now that I don't have friends that want to stay out late with me like I did once upon a time. BBO is the only thing that keeps me up late.

And the whole team concept goes away when the team plays its matches at different times. There is a certain joy that comes with all being there playing at the same time, then cheering on the others when your match is finished. I have a tendency, however, to be one of the last matches to finish, so I don't get to do much spectating.

Flex time at work, however, IS a great idea, as long as people can still be trusted to get their work done. Assigning some core hours, maybe 1-3pm when everyone should be in so you can be sure to see the co-workers some, is probably necessary. But in a professional environment when we are mostly working alone or with another one or two people, why stay tied down to a fixed schedule? I find myself frequently wanting to work something like 10, even 12 hours on Monday or Tuesday so that later in the week I can sleep in a bit or take off early to head out of town. I'm way more productive on Monday than any other day so why not allow me to take advantage of that.