Venting about our league

**honus14** · 05-23-2012, 12:38 PM

I just want to vent about DD's rec league this year, and I know the folks here will feel my pain. Our old league didn't have a division for her age this year, so we went with another one. So far, the following has happened:

1) AFTER registration, the coach was told he needed to supply a sponsor, but had to ask several times before being told how much the sponsor would have to pay.

2) The coach was asked to provide information for a roster that was already on the applications the girls filled out at registration.

3) Upon arrival for our first practice (at a field very convenient to most of the kids' homes), we found all fields occupied. Apparently the league did not properly clear the field with the Park District. We were reassigned to practice at a field on the other side of town.

4) The location of our first game was listed improperly on our schedule. (At least the correct field was nearby.)

5) No umpires showed for our first game. Whether this was related to #4 or not is unclear at this time.

6) Our second game (tomorrow) was changed from 6:00 to 8:00 because of (you guessed it) a scheduling conflict.

Also, we aren't any good, but that's not the league's fault.

Thanks for listening. I feel better now.

**sluggers** · 05-23-2012, 01:21 PM

I was on the board of a baseball/softball organization in a small town (about 8000 population) and in a Chicagoland suburb (population of 200,000). You would not believe the time I spent in meetings and trying to keep things from getting screwed up. It is much more difficult than you think. It was the most thankless job I ever did...I never had anyone come up to me and say, "Geez, the organization ran 20 games last night. Thanks for putting this together!"

SO: "If think you can do it better, you might be right. Volunteer to help."

**honus14** · 05-23-2012, 01:37 PM

I tried to sign up to umpire. No one showed up for the scheduled clinic.

I've been on boards before, and I know how hard it is. As I said, I'm just taking the opportunity to vent.

**Sweet Lou** · 05-23-2012, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by sluggers

It was the most thankless job I ever did...I never had anyone come up to me and say, "Geez, the organization ran 20 games last night. Thanks for putting this together!"

That's because I don't live in your area.

I always make sure to thank my league commissioner every year for the work they do behind the scences and always thank the volunteer umpires after games, even when they sucked. Largely becasue I don't want that thankless job to fall to me.

**sluggers** · 05-23-2012, 02:27 PM

honus, then you got to find the guys/gals in charge and keep beating on the door. Someone is running the thing (although poorly, I might say).

Baseball/softball organization go through good management and bad management. Honestly, every few years the board needs to be replaced with new people. Maybe that time has come for this organization...go find the people in charge and get involved.

**mdgtoothy** · 05-23-2012, 06:16 PM

Thanks for reminding me to email my local rec league president, VP, Chief Umpire and division Rep to say thanks for the season and all the hard work. As a former LL board member, I had forgotten (my wife would say supressed) all of the headaches that come with running the show. It's never perfect, and sometimes far from it, but they spend a lot of their time so that the girls can play.

I second the sentiment about volunteering. That is my usual response to parents that complain about the league. "If you don't like how things are being run, become a board member!" That usually shuts them up as they realize their DDs coach isn't really sympathetic to their sniping.

**left turn** · 05-23-2012, 10:32 PM

Thankless is inadequate to describe being a board member. There are very few that know and understand their contributions. It takes a great amount of wisdom to manage a league because when something doesn't go exactly right the parents seem to go into a twitter-style frenzy; many times ill informed and filling in gaps in knowledge with conveniently created "facts".

Still it was a great joy to work on the board and try to make the experience of the children better and more fair than before.

What the original poster describes is pretty awful. What I don't know is if the board or municipality is uncaring, sloppy or incompetent; or if the municipality is so difficult to work with that planning is difficult.

**lennyslosers** · 05-24-2012, 06:55 AM

In our area it just seems that the girls are just forgotten. We never seem to have umpires. The boys games on the other fields, they have have 2 umpires we just would like to have one. We play for a joint playground run by the city and a smaller public service district. They each blame the other for the problems. Several time 5 out 6 fields are draged and lined, quess which one we are scheduled to play on the one with no lines. The biggest problem I have seen is getting the mount in place. They will generally have the 40' mound and not the others. We complain and they say just draw a line. I already coach 2 rec teams and 2 travel teams. I dont have time to run the rec department too.

**sluggers** · 05-24-2012, 01:17 PM

So, I was working with a softball organization in this little small town in Southern Illinois. There was a softball field specifically for the girls. Because the community was only 8000 people, it was more than enough to handle the games and practices for that time. The field was lined and well maintained.

We moved from that little town to a wealthy suburb in Chicagoland. I was expecting something phenomenal for the softball facility. We sign up for softball, and we find out that the "field" is just a grass lawn with a backstop, where they lay bases down. The town had a few (not many) softball fields, but men's softball took all the fields. The boys baseball had a wonderful complex, and the Little League field looked like it Wrigley's field's infield--mainly because the same guy responsible for Wrigley's grass also helped with the Little League field.

Twenty years later, through the work of a lot of people, the suburb has a great dedicated softball complex.

**Mylil32** · 05-24-2012, 01:20 PM

You say you've been on the board before, so you already know how much work goes into it and that it is all volunteer. That being said, sounds like your league is better then ours!

1) AFTER registration, the coach was told he needed to supply a sponsor, but had to ask several times before being told how much the sponsor would have to pay. (That SHOULD have been on the coach's application, if not, then shame on the league)

2) The coach was asked to provide information for a roster that was already on the applications the girls filled out at registration. (easier for the league reps then flipping thru all the applications trying to find it I suppose.)

3) Upon arrival for our first practice (at a field very convenient to most of the kids' homes), we found all fields occupied. Apparently the league did not properly clear the field with the Park District. We were reassigned to practice at a field on the other side of town.
(we aren't even allowed to use the fields for practice, we have to find out own)

4) The location of our first game was listed improperly on our schedule. (At least the correct field was nearby.) (Our schedule has been wrong 3 or 4 times so far)

5) No umpires showed for our first game. Whether this was related to #4 or not is unclear at this time. (our umps have been late to every game and are pretty much useless anyway)

6) Our second game (tomorrow) was changed from 6:00 to 8:00 because of (you guessed it) a scheduling conflict. (yep, had that too, and 10 year olds playing until 10pm is just WRONG!)

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