Create a Team - Spin Together

Teams are at the heart of the Spin Together competition, and more than anyone else team captains are the ones who bring fun and joy to their teams. Anyone can create a team, but most teams are created by brick-and-mortar yarn shops, online yarn shops, manufacturers of spinning tools, and spinning guilds.

The maximum number of spinners for each team is 25, and that includes the team captain.

Responsibilities of Team Captains

There is no cost to create a team, and team captains don’t have to pay the $15 sign-up fee. However, they have some pretty big responsibilities. If you sign up to be a team captain, here are your responsibilities:

Participate actively by spinning along with your team during the competition week.
Create and maintain a team Facebook group on or before January 25, 2025.
Welcome each new team member by email within 48 hours and give them the link to your Facebook group as well as the big Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/spintogether
Be available to your team members to answer their competition and spinning questions.
Provide at least weekly contact within your team Facebook group in the weeks leading up to the competition.
Provide at least daily contact within your team Facebook group during the competition.
Create and run at least two skill-based team challenges within your team during Spin Together week and providing prizes for them. Each prize should be worth at least $25 USD, and you are responsible for getting those prizes to your team members in a timely fashion.
We also encourage you to find ways to get together virtually or physically to hang out and spin with your team members.

Ideas for Team Challenges

The requirement for team captains to create and run at least two skill-based team challenges within your teams is new this year. The reason they must be skill-based and not contests of chance is because that is a legal requirement within the US that differentiates a contest like ours from a chance-based lottery.

For your team challenges, you are welcome to duplicate any of the contest categories we have on the How It Works page within your team. You can also opt to include yardage contests within your team for an, hour, a day, or the whole week. If the yardage portion of Spin Together is the thing you were most enthusiastic about in previous years, you can bring that to your team. Some other ideas include greatest number of skeins spun, biggest skein of yarn, spinning a particular yarn construction, and most encouraging team member. While these are a requirement for team captains, they should be optional for your team members who may or may not want to participate in a particular challenge.

FAQS for Potential Team Captains

Q: There are two of us who want to co-captain a team. Is that possible?
A: Each team will have one official captain who is responsible for fulfilling all the duties of team captain (see the Create a Team page for details) and who will be our official contact point. However, you are certainly welcome to collaborate with someone who will help lead your team within your team group and in whatever ways you choose. There is a space for co-captain in the registration form, and you will have the option of prepaying and reserving a space or spaces for your co-captain and other collaborators when you sign up to create a team.

Q: Can my organization make two teams?
A: Yes. However, each team must have a different team captain and a distinctly different name–something more distinctive than Team 1 and Team 2. Also, anyone can sign up for each team, and we ask that you avoid dividing teams by skill level, which would take away from the fun camaraderie and welcoming spirit of Spin Together.

Q: If I am the captain of a team, will I need to sign up to join my team?
A: No, you will not. You will only need to fill out the Create a Team form to be considered part of your own team.

Q: I have a group of people who normally spin on my team whenever there’s a spinning competition. Can they be assured a space on my team?
A: If you would like to prepay for your co-captain and/or a few team members, you can do so when you create your team. We will then make a coupon code for you to give to those people. We will email you your team’s coupon code along with a link to the form where they can sign up, and you can share those with the people for whom you prepaid.

However, all the remaining spaces on your team will be available for anyone who would like to sign up. We would encourage you to avoid filling too many of your team’s spaces because part of the fun of Spin Together is meeting new people (virtually) and being inviting and open to everyone who wants to join your team.

Q: How will I know when someone joins my team?
A: Every time someone joins your team, you’ll get an email with your new team member’s name, email, and a few other pertinent details. We ask you to welcome each new team member by email and give them the link to your team group. If you are not seeing these emails, please double check your spam folder and put our email address in your safe senders group. At the end of sign-ups, we’ll also send you a roster of all your team members.

Q: I have a couple people who want to join my team but who aren’t on Facebook. Is there a way they can join?
A: All the “together” part of Spin Together happens on Facebook. That said, if these people understand that they won’t be able to participate in a lot of the fun of Spin Together and they still want to participate, that is possible. You would have to be willing to upload their photos and descriptions to Facebook for them to be able to participate in the contest categories and keep in contact with these spinners in other ways throughout the week.

You will be able to sign up to create a team via the form below anytime between January 3, 2025 and January 21, 2025: