Code of Conduct
The Team Doogie Code of Conduct
Fun First. Win Later.
Team Doogie has been running since 2018 on one idea: adults should be able to show up to any event, alone if they want, and leave with a group chat full of new friends. Everything below is just that idea written down.
Most of you will never think about this page again. It exists so the people running your night have something to point at on the rare evening somebody makes it necessary.
By registering for a Team Doogie league, event, or open play night, you agree to all of it.
🎉 The Short Version
If you only read one thing, read this.
1. Respect is not optional
2. Be the reason somebody comes back next week
3. Cheer for your team, the other team, any team
4. The new person or beginner is the whole point, not an obstacle
5. Staff members get the final say, every time
6. No event with Team Doogie decides if you attend the Olympics
Here are the full details:
How We Treat Each Other
Everybody is welcome, and everybody stays welcome. No harassment, no discrimination, no comments about somebody's race, religion, age, body, gender, who they date, where they are from, or how they appear. This is not a gray area and there is no version of it we let slide because it was a joke.
Ask before you touch. High fives and hugs are part of the fun with people who want them. Read the room, and take a no the first time it is given.
Unwanted attention is not flirting. If somebody is not interested, that is the end of it. Do not follow it into the parking lot, the group chat, or their DMs.
Take beginners seriously, in the good way. Somebody on your court has never touched a volleyball, thrown a bag, or held a paddle. That person is not slowing your night down. That person is why Team Doogie exists. Show them where to stand. Tell them what they did right before you tell them what to fix. Do not coach someone who did not ask.
Show up for a solo player. New people arrive alone and nervous. Say hi, learn a name, make the intro. Team Doogie works because somebody did that for you once.
On The Court, Court Side, And Everywhere In Between
Play hard. We like competitive. Real rallies, real games, people who know what they are doing. But keeping the FUN FIRST mentality!
Rules of the game. Show up knowing roughly how your sport works, then hold it loosely. This is a rec league built on social connection, so nobody here is calling every double, every foot fault, every technicality. And the tell is always the same: the nitpicking starts when the scoreboard turns. If you are suddenly finding violations you did not care about twenty minutes ago, that is not a rules problem. Let it go and play the next point.
AGAIN: Rules of the game Making an error once is different from letting it happen forty times. If every ball is a carry, if you are living in the kitchen, if your foot is past the board every throw, a staff member will come walk you through it. You are not in trouble. That is somebody teaching you something you haven’t learned yet, so the game stays fair and nobody goes home hurt.
And that is a staff job, not a teammate job. Grab your host instead of appointing yourself.
Call it honest. Call your own touches, your own net, your own lines. If it is genuinely close, replay it. Winning a rec league point by arguing is not the reason we are here. Replay the point if there is a question. If you observe someone else make an error, handle the situation with grace. Treat them how you would want to be treated in the same situation.
Score it honest. Scoring confuses everybody at some point. Sort it out calmly, and if the two teams cannot agree, grab your staff member for help, act on their resolution and move on.
Nobody officiates from another court. If you are not in the game, you are not in the call. This includes bystanders, scorekeepers and guests. Only staff can make a call other than the players on the court. Again, if there is a dispute, replay the point.
Losing quietly is a skill. No slamming equipment, no kicking sand/pavement, no walking off mid game, no sulking that makes other people wish they had stayed home. Bad nights happen to everybody. Have yours without the expense of others’ experience.
Winning quietly is also a skill. Celebrate all you want. Do not celebrate at somebody.
Language and volume. We play at parks, restaurants, and other public places. A shout after a great point is Tuesday night. A tirade with your whole chest carries three courts over and interrupts others around you.
Arguing has a ceiling, and it is very low. Disagree, say your piece once, hear theirs, accept the outcome, play the next point. Escalating past that gets you sat down.
Fighting ends your night immediately. No harsh language or physical contact meant to intimidate or hurt somebody, any threat of it, or any inking that it may come to that. There is no warning step for this one. You are done for the night and you may be done for good.
Do not bring it back next week. Whatever happened in week three does not get brought back in week four. Take it up with staff or let it go.
Nights At Bars And Restaurants
Have a good time and stay in control of your consumption. If you are too drunk to play safely or to be pleasant to be around, you are done playing for the night. Staff makes that call and it is not a debate.
Our venues are partners, not just addresses. Tip your server. Do not take over tables outside our event. Do not treat the staff there differently than you treat ours. We have these nights because those places said yes to us, and they can say no.
Nobody drives home impaired. Call somebody. Ask somebody here. Ask a staff member and we will help you sort it out, no lecture attached. We would rather lose an hour than lose you.
Anything illegal ends your night and your membership. That includes drugs on any venue property.
If you are under 21, you are not drinking here. Do not ask us to look the other way and do not ask a teammate to buy for you.
Parks, Courts, And The People Around Us
Leave it cleaner than you found it. Cans, cups, tape, water bottles, the sock somebody definitely left behind. Team Doogie plays at these parks by the good graces of the city and everybody who lives near them.
Help with setup and teardown. Lights go up and lights come down. Five people doing it takes ten minutes. One person doing it takes thirty, and that person is usually a staff member who also worked a full day elsewhere.
We share the space. Other park users, walkers, kids, and the pickup game on the next court have as much right to be there as we do. Music at a reasonable volume. Park where you are supposed to. Follow posted park rules.
Take care of the gear. Balls, paddles, boards, and bags cost real money and come out of league fees. Treat them like they are yours, so we can continue to offer them.
Say something about a hazard. A hole in the sand, a slick spot, a bad net post. Tell a staff member before somebody rolls an ankle on it.
Group Chats, Facebook, And Photos
The night does not end when the nets come down, and neither does this code.
Same rules, smaller screen. Anything you would get pulled aside for saying courtside gets you the same result in the league chat or the Facebook group.
No pile ons. Disagreements go to staff or to Katy. A group chat of forty people is not a courtroom and it is not an appropriate audience.
Photos. We take a lot of them and we post a lot of them. If you would rather not appear, tell any staff member and we will keep you out of the posts. Do not post pictures of somebody who asked you not to.
Do not use the roster as a contact list. Meeting somebody here is not the same as being given permission to message them.
Keep private things private. Injuries, jobs, breakups, whatever comes up on the sideline stays on the sideline.
What Happens When Somebody Crosses The Line
We hate that this section is necessary. Here it is anyway, so nobody is surprised and every staff member handles it the same way.
Step 1. A quiet word. A staff member pulls you aside, tells you what needs to change, and you play on. Almost everything should end here.
Step 2. Sit the rest of the night. You are asked to sit out or head home. No refund for that night. You come back next week with a clean slate and a conversation with Katy first.
Step 3. Suspension. One to four weeks out, depending on what happened. No refund or credit for the weeks missed. Coming back means agreeing in writing to this code.
Step 4. Removed from Team Doogie. You are out of the league/event and out of all future events, permanently. No refund. This is where repeat behavior lands, and it is where a single serious incident can land on its own.
Skipping straight to the end. Fighting, threats, harassment, discrimination, anything illegal, and anything that puts somebody's safety at risk skip every earlier step. Staff can remove you from a night on the spot, and Katy decides what happens after.
Who decides. Any staff member can act in the moment, and their call stands for that night. Suspensions and removals come from Katy. If you think staff got it wrong, do not argue it courtside. Email katy@teamdoogie.com and it gets a real look.
Guests are your responsibility. If you bring somebody, this code covers them, and it comes back to you.
How To Report Something
You do not have to handle it yourself.
In the moment, find any staff member. They are the ones who set up the events and know your name.
After the fact, email katy@teamdoogie.com. Tell us what happened, when, and where. Names help but are not required to make a report.
We keep it as quiet as we can. We will not share your name with the person you reported unless you tell us we can, and we will follow-up with you as to a resolution, if requested.
Retaliating against somebody who reports is its own violation, and it goes straight to Step 3 or 4.
If somebody is in danger, call 911 first. Tell us second.
One Last Thing
Nobody at Team Doogie has ever remembered the score of a Tuesday night game from three years ago. People remember who made them feel welcome the first time they walked up alone.
That is the job. Everything above is just the fine print.
In other words… Fun First. Win Later.
