I'm at a bit of a crossroad.

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Nov 29, 2009
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The BIGGEST problem with rec leagues and the well-meaning people who run them is turnover. Those who run the leagues leave after a short period of time. Those who replace them have no idea how to run things. They revert back to what the previous regimes did because they know no better. If you try to push and change things you're "being difficult" and hard to deal with. What most rec boards fail to realize is they need to be out in front of everything with regards to decision making by a bare minimum of 6 months. In reality it needs to be a year. Unfortunately, most rec boards are reactive instead of being proactive.

Buckeye, you're getting a firsthand dose of it. And, as you're finding out, communication is usually non-existent. Those who do want to better the situation end up being frustrated and leaving for travel ball. When those folks hit travel ball it takes them anywhere from 2 or more years to get it figured out. Some never do.

Several years back I was asked to help bring travel to a rec league. I started with a part-time 10U team who played a loose league on Sundays. I gave them a time table of how we needed to implement the program and the necessary things needed to make it successful. The board did not implement any of the things I told them they needed to do and wanted to impose the same rec rules on to the travel team. Then add a meddling board member whose only concern were her DD's and the turnover of the board. You have a recipe for disaster. I left in frustration. There was only one team who made it, and that was because the dad was organized enough with my help to keep the team together and moving forward. This is his last year as his DD graduates HS and he has no reason to run a team any longer. The other "travel" teams are so weak and disorganized they would best be described as rec all-star teams.

Buckeye, your situation, unfortunately, is not unique. It happens every year. Someone had mentioned "Ground Hog Day" in previous post. It is a very close analogy, only the names change.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
f) The treasurer who just can't figure out where the money went.

The rec league my DD's started in had a guy who took over the money end of the program. The snack shack suddenly went from making a few thousand dollars a year to being over $60K in the black. They were able to put up lights on 3 of the fields and make several other improvement to the facilities over the course of a few years. They kept the registration fees very low for the kids. One of the subsequent regimes forced him out. I spoke to a dad who was running a team for his DD there a few years later. He told me they did not have enough money to mail out registration reminders for the upcoming season.
 
Dec 3, 2012
636
16
West Coast
Yes, still coaching MS.

rant
letting the HS kids work the 10U and 8U games; undoing the damage to our reputation with the local HS coaches and actually getting them to open their fields to us (which they hadn't done in a few years because the league didn't respect the fields) AND getting them to agree to host the evaluations for the 12U's AND getting them to agree to help with my Coach-the-coaches clinic, which they didn't want to do - I got them to trust me, and by extension trust the league again;

What do they charge for doing a coaches clinic? Our area HS coaches are asking for $150 an hour.
 
Jun 1, 2013
847
18
What do they charge for doing a coaches clinic? Our area HS coaches are asking for $150 an hour.

I don't know whether to cry or laugh at that!!! A HS Coach worth $150 an hour is a hard find. Maybe the decimal is off, did u mean $15/hour? That would be more accurate.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Around here they will do it for free, they seem to love the game.

DD has gone to a couple of the HS clinics, I cannot remember what they charged but it was worth it.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
I see this all the time with players and parents with respect to college recruiting. Some just do not get it. Move on.

That is funny you mention that. Have a girl I've known since she was 12. Good player. I told her dad when she entered her HS freshman year to start contacting college coaches. He always gave me the yeah, yeah... We got time... She is now in her senior year of HS. Dad did nothing thinking his DD would be "found" by a college coach. He is in a panic right now trying to find a school. The schools are telling him they have their 2016 money spent and a lot of them are telling him they also have 2017 money spent. The last time he talked to me about it I actually did give him a big "Told ya so.", and he agreed.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
DD’s MS Team had some pitching Issues, HC said he would be at the school 1 hour before school starts to work on pitching if anyone had any interest.

Lot of nice people.
 
Jul 10, 2014
1,283
0
C-bus Ohio
What do they charge for doing a coaches clinic? Our area HS coaches are asking for $150 an hour.

No charge, only request from them was to make the clinic mandatory so that we weren't wasting their time. We did offer them $10/head for the evaluations (about $500/school), to be donated to their booster clubs.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
No charge, only request from them was to make the clinic mandatory so that we weren't wasting their time. We did offer them $10/head for the evaluations (about $500/school), to be donated to their booster clubs.

and you can see why you are just the guy to build trust with :)

we are all thinking should we charge, how much to charge, are these coaches worth it and you come up with.....

Of course you time is valuable I'll make sure you have a packed house and donate proceeds to the booster club = WIN-WIN.

Trust me I have been there our league was in disarray so first thing I tackled was rewriting the by-laws then following them, it just really hard running an organization of volunteers who change over every few years.
 

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