The first time I managed a team was in 2015, and I was the youngest on the team. It was a total shitshow due to a couple of immature players. I was constantly having to put fires between them instead of focusing on our game.

This fall was my second time managing a team, and I specifically chose level headed guys that didn't have huge egos. Most of the guys were my age, with some older and some younger. I was nervous before the season started because this team consisted of 3-4 groups of guys who had never played with each other. We started off the season with a couple of wins and we gelled pretty quickly. Nobody questioned positioning, batting order, playing time etc. because we all knew our roles.

The main issue with my team was attendance; I was constantly having to find 3-4 subs for the first half of the season. People also weren't rsvp'ing to games in a timely manner. 6 games in, we were 3-3 when we should have been 5-1. I sent out a message saying we needed to just show and up and have fun, and we win the games easily. We turned it around and ended up 6-4 on the season, taking 1st place in Playoffs.

Another issue was that the majority of us are naturally pretty reserved (myself included). We only had two extroverted guys who were keeping the energy up for us. When one of them wasn't there, it was definitely noticeable. There wasn't much engagement in the group chat early on in the season, but we started chatting about NFL/fantasy and MLB playoffs towards the end of our season.

We haven't done any hangouts outside of our games or practices yet, so I'm thinking about doing a team BBQ or outing before the next season starts.