Breakdown of costs for team

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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Ding Ding Ding

Every organization is entitled to handle this in the manner they see fit and every family is entitled to join an organization that handles it in a way that are most comfortable.

Now if they pull a bait and switch by changing the cost or what they are providing mid season that certainly entitles you to an understanding of why there is a change to your original agreement.
Right but do you see the reason why in our case we asked for the team financials, or at least our balance? In our case , the way things were done, doing fundraisers would be pointless since we would have never used that money if we didn't know our balance. It was surprising to me, because of the way things were done, that the balances were not given automatically. We had to ask every time...I am fairly sure there are people on that team that overpaid by a substantial amount every time...
 
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May 7, 2015
842
93
SoCal
Why would anyone care where their money goes? If you feel that your money is being wasted, then leave! Its simple, if you feel that you are getting $200/month "value" from being on a team, you stay. Is the gray area of being worth it really that wide on some of your teams that you need to look into it, I'd say that's more than enough reason to make a move.

Even on 501c teams, all expenses for the team can be paid for and is justified. Uniforms, mileage, hotels, food, equipment, etc for the coaches. Most coaches take none of this (I haven't)
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Why would anyone care where their money goes? If you feel that your money is being wasted, then leave! Its simple, if you feel that you are getting $200/month "value" from being on a team, you stay. Is the gray area of being worth it really that wide on some of your teams that you need to look into it, I'd say that's more than enough reason to make a move.

Even on 501c teams, all expenses for the team can be paid for and is justified. Uniforms, mileage, hotels, food, equipment, etc for the coaches. Most coaches take none of this (I haven't)
In our particular case, the parallel would be if you knew your CC balance was $200, would you pay $300 (if that was allowed of course) if you knew the extra money wasn't going to accrue any interest? Now of course all you need is the balance in that case, and that is all we really needed, but the balance did come with an expense breakdown. There were also a few times where we noticed things were charged to our account twice. Also I think the way things are done with this team/org are probably not the norm, at least from reading on here.
 
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Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
teams could take crack at the way DD!s field hockey club team handles finances. for each season, there is a tuition/dues fee, which covers practice facilities, equipment purchases,insurance, etc. Tournaments, you indicate which ones you are available for, and you pay for what you play in. unis are ordered as a team, but everyone pays for their own (want an extra pair of socks, np, but you pay).

We had a team that did that. It was a bit annoying to come up with the $37 each Saturday you wanted to play, but it basically worked out ok. What drove many crazy was that pick-ups had to also chip in their $37, which didn't sit well with many.

As you can imagine, that changed the dynamic of pick-up players. The norm (around these parts) is that a pick-up player doesn't pay anything but also might not be used as much. Might just pitch a game or two and sit the rest. But if the pick-up parents are paying full price, they expect to play more than the way it usually works. And parents on the team expect pick-up players to play less than their little Sally, and they get mad yada yada yada...
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Why would anyone care where their money goes? If you feel that your money is being wasted, then leave! Its simple, if you feel that you are getting $200/month "value" from being on a team, you stay. Is the gray area of being worth it really that wide on some of your teams that you need to look into it, I'd say that's more than enough reason to make a move.

Even on 501c teams, all expenses for the team can be paid for and is justified. Uniforms, mileage, hotels, food, equipment, etc for the coaches. Most coaches take none of this (I haven't)

We care. For a ton of reasons already mentioned. "Just leave" is a pretty lazy argument. Easier said than done.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Maybe if just one of the big big 501c orgs got audited by the IRS things would change dramatically. Believe me, these heads of big orgs. are not necessarily the sharpest knives in the drawer and most likely have sloppy and questionable accounting practices. The IRS would eat them alive.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
We had a team that did that. It was a bit annoying to come up with the $37 each Saturday you wanted to play, but it basically worked out ok. What drove many crazy was that pick-ups had to also chip in their $37, which didn't sit well with many.

As you can imagine, that changed the dynamic of pick-up players. The norm (around these parts) is that a pick-up player doesn't pay anything but also might not be used as much. Might just pitch a game or two and sit the rest. But if the pick-up parents are paying full price, they expect to play more than the way it usually works. And parents on the team expect pick-up players to play less than their little Sally, and they get mad yada yada yada...

Although DD doesn't pick up with teams that don't need her to play most of the time, I always offer to pay her share of the tournament costs. Most of the time, the coach won't hear of it. In those cases, I always have a stash of new softballs or something else to contribute to the cause.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Our process was probably more informal than most.
* Team staff would meet to determine plans for the following season. This was done prior to tryouts. We would discuss a potential number of tournaments and locations, any equipment needed, other costs, etc.
* When we had tryouts (Starting at 16u we no longer had a need for tryouts, but we still followed a similar process), we shared our plans and informed parents at that point what our costs would be. Generally our team cost between $300 and $400 per player per year depending on where we were traveling. Of course travel costs were not included.
* Our goal each year was to finish the season with a balance between $0 and $100. We had no intention of carrying money over from year to year. Whatever we brought in was used for the team.
* If we needed additional equipment during a season we would check with our treasurer to see if any money was available. If it wasn't, the coaches would often buy the equipment with our own money. Honestly, we didn't have a lot of equipment. But we did seem to go through a lot of balls throughout the years...
* We did offer some fundraising possibilities that would go against each families fees. The more you sold, the less you had to pay out of pocket. We have a few people that would sell extra, and they had their choice of applying that to a friend's account or just adding to the team's bucket for that year. Again, we always worked it in so that the money was spent on the team.
* We gave each family a basic summary of team costs, which would include estimates for registration fees, tournament fees, etc. We did not itemize on this summary but would if someone asked. In the years I was involved in the process, we only had one person ask. That person didn't believe how much the individual tournament cost, until we showed her the tournament applications with the fees listed.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
In So Cal most fee structures are start up fees (uniforms) and monthly. And you wonder why players change teams so often. Surprised that orgs. don't go to a more committed structure.
 
May 7, 2015
842
93
SoCal
We care. For a ton of reasons already mentioned. "Just leave" is a pretty lazy argument. Easier said than done.

I still don't understand. If a team says, our dues are $200/month and *this is what you get*, why would you stay if the team didn't deliver?

You might stay because of other intangibles like, we destroyed the "hittin' kitten's" last week and we're a pretty good team with pretty good coaching, or hey it's close and I don't have to drive much, the coach is a good recruiter, or any other million or so intangibles that keep you there. Those intangibles are what keep you there (if you choose to stay). To claim they have no worth is disingenuous.

I like to keep the main thing the main thing which is the game of softball and development of my DD. I pay my dues and ask no questions as long as I feel I'm getting value for my hard earned money. They coach, schedule, and pay for games. We show up, that's it. I'm happy.

Lot's of players come and go when they no longer see the value in staying. Happens all the time.
 

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