What would you do?

Some of youse know I play volleyball, it is just a recreational league, nothing serious, but its getting so bad - the team captain thinks he is really good at the sport, but he has no control over the ball and it shoots in the wrong place and he blames everyone else except himself, and he goes around saying this guy is terrible but that guy is trying his best. He picks on some of us, especially if we make a mistake. His attitude is becoming so unbearable. He wants to form another league in the winter and kick out all the useless players (honestly, that should include him!)
I have told him many times that we need to do drills, his girlfriend agrees with me, but he is just so darn stubborn that he thinks all we need to do is play practice games. We are not getting any better.
I am a setter, and I am still learning, I finally learned the proper way to do it the other day, but I still get "whats wrong with your setting?" every time - hell, I am new to the sport and I cannot be perfect!

What would you do if you were in this situation? I am so tired of being frustrated and picked on if I make a mistake - I am still new to this sport, I have NEVER played it before.

Kellye:

Honestly, if you are playing for fun and not having any, I would not be showing up. Some people are just like this, my best friend being one of them. Even though it's supposed to be recreational, he knows that he is very competitive and gets worked up over games. Maybe that's why he stopped playing in rec leagues.

Oh dear! Is there another team you can play with? Personally, I wouldn't be able to put up with that and I'd probably get kicked off just for my mouth! That's a hard situation, especially because you love playing so much. Good luck! I know I'm not being much help. Sorry

Is this league organized, like by the city, parks department, something like that? If it is, it may be worth it to let them know that the captain's behavior is likely going to cause a lot of people to leave. They may replace him if they start getting complaints.

If not, I would probably defect, bringing along any other 'useless' players that are disgruntled, and start my own team. People join recreational leagues for lots of reasons - fun, exercise, socializing, etc. - and I would guess not many of them like being put down and bullied. So maybe there are other people on your team who are there to learn and have fun, and not obsessed with being the best or winning.

I hope this works out for you and becomes fun again.

I would talk with the other players and get a new captain. The current captain could stay with the team if he quit with the criticizing. No matter who organises the thing, they cannot expect a team to play with such a captain. Honestly, volleyball is a very difficult game to learn, it takes time and a lot of practise! No way just practise games would be enough. Plus practise is where you find out who is good at what- whether your best skill is serving, setting, or spiking etc (sorry I'm not sure about the terms in English).

I used to play volleyball a long time ago, played for several years (and even coached younger girls at one point), and it's a great game, unless there's someone like this idiot ruining it.

Anyway, hope you get rid of the captain and start having some fun!