We have talked of making a draft, or only doing small groups and mixing and matching them. The problem(Which isn’t a bad thing, is friends enjoy playing with each other) Most people came in as singles or small groups, but the ones that stay long term find their crew. They don’t want to leave. This is great for them, but also makes it more difficult to get free agents into a spot where they thrive.

We used to get volunteer umps when we were at wixon. Having 3 games going at once and 2 rounds with different amount of teams makes it hard to get people to volunteer. It also takes the right personality to keep people in line. Even for the playoffs this last season, there were far too few volunteers to comfortably staff the umpiring. I could offer a discount or incentive for players to ump, but again it is important to not just get people, but to get the right people. The burden usually falls to such a small group of people. I do think umps are important to be a buffer, but all that is within reason too.

I do feel that free agents or new players coming into the league have a harder time of just fitting right in. The catch 22 of people joining the league and finding their crew. Sometimes once you have your group, it is not as enticing to meet more people. Try to remind everyone that you were once that person. They could have been your best friend if you two joined at the same time. Offering more social events, split team social games, etc are other ideas that I have on the brain