Breakdown of costs for team

[erniekru]

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.

Totally agree, but unfortunately, the softball world is the wild wild west. It is what it is.

Girls Club Volleyball is one year contracts, if you break it, you're blackballed. There's no way that softball could work like that, IMO the parents have been given too much power and they're not giving it back.

 

[bmakj]

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...

billing was all online (ie you looked at teamsnap for your itemized bill), and you paid via venmo or such. once you said what tourneys you were doing, they presented a bill for tourneys for like a 6 week period. if you decided not to go after paying, you were out of luck, no refunds, unless it was physical issue (ie injury, covid exposure, etc.). they you could apply it to future costs. with a lot less specialization than softball (really only GK, like DD1), was rare they needed pickup players, and they normally would just pull up from younger team in that cast (so some kids might play two tournaments in a day, DD once played 3 tournaments on a saturday)

 

[uncdrew]

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.

It's hard to find a team mid-season. Leaving might mean not playing softball. Or leaving might mean not playing quality softball, if you have to go to a worse team.

And it's disruptive to the team they're leaving and perhaps the one their joining, not to mention the girl/family involved. And yes, once we pick a team we mentally commit for the year. Because we like the team, the commute, etc. If we find out month 1 that the coach is pocketing $500 of our fees without ever having told us, I have issues. And I would bring it up. And then coach would boot us or get defensive or not play my kid as much, etc. etc. I don't want to be with an org that cheats and steals, but also don't want to yank my kid over something she doesn't need to be involved with. Just not a good situation all around.

Most of us won't experience a team where coaches are stealing money, which is good. But once you have, or have even heard stories about it, you get gun shy. Asking for the finances is a quick and easy way to ensure it's not happening. And I've never heard of a coach saying no to it. This discussion has made me realize I need to add it to my "before we accept your offer" conversation though. I may not join a team that won't share the finances.

 

[Shiloh]

It's hard to find a team mid-season. Leaving might mean not playing softball. Or leaving might mean not playing quality softball, if you have to go to a worse team.

And it's disruptive to the team they're leaving and perhaps the one their joining, not to mention the girl/family involved. And yes, once we pick a team we mentally commit for the year. Because we like the team, the commute, etc. If we find out month 1 that the coach is pocketing $500 of our fees without ever having told us, I have issues. And I would bring it up. And then coach would boot us or get defensive or not play my kid as much, etc. etc. I don't want to be with an org that cheats and steals, but also don't want to yank my kid over something she doesn't need to be involved with. Just not a good situation all around.

Most of us won't experience a team where coaches are stealing money, which is good. But once you have, or have even heard stories about it, you get gun shy. Asking for the finances is a quick and easy way to ensure it's not happening. And I've never heard of a coach saying no to it. This discussion has made me realize I need to add it to my "before we accept your offer" conversation though. I may not join a team that won't share the finances.

THIS^^^^^^^

100%

 

[erniekru]

It's hard to find a team mid-season. Leaving might mean not playing softball. Or leaving might mean not playing quality softball, if you have to go to a worse team.

And it's disruptive to the team they're leaving and perhaps the one their joining, not to mention the girl/family involved. And yes, once we pick a team we mentally commit for the year. Because we like the team, the commute, etc. If we find out month 1 that the coach is pocketing $500 of our fees without ever having told us, I have issues. And I would bring it up. And then coach would boot us or get defensive or not play my kid as much, etc. etc. I don't want to be with an org that cheats and steals, but also don't want to yank my kid over something she doesn't need to be involved with. Just not a good situation all around.

Most of us won't experience a team where coaches are stealing money, which is good. But once you have, or have even heard stories about it, you get gun shy. Asking for the finances is a quick and easy way to ensure it's not happening. And I've never heard of a coach saying no to it. This discussion has made me realize I need to add it to my "before we accept your offer" conversation though. I may not join a team that won't share the finances.

Should a coach be paid (or have some perks) for commiting 30+ hours per week all year long to coach up the hittin' kittens? I'm not condoning your example of stealing, but would you play for a coach that said, I'm going to pay for mileage on my car, plus all expenses and that is going to come out to $500/month?

From what I've seen, there are two types of coaches.. The profesionals who don't have a 9-5 and won't ever tell you anything about team finances and how much they are "making" and 2) the guy with or without a daughter on the team who's coaching in addition to their 9-5 that often operates at a HUGE loss to make the dream come true to coach our DD's. I think the second group should feel comfortable asking for "something" but most of the time feel like they'd be ostrasized for doing so. In continuation of this "mom and pop" place softball is at, good luck finding a club soccer coach or club volleyball coach that isn't making a salary for doing so.

 

[BT3100]

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.

Because people look for things to complain about. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

 

[uncdrew]

Should a coach be paid (or have some perks) for commiting 30+ hours per week all year long to coach up the hittin' kittens? I'm not condoning your example of stealing, but would you play for a coach that said, I'm going to pay for mileage on my car, plus all expenses and that is going to come out to $500/month?

From what I've seen, there are two types of coaches.. The profesionals who don't have a 9-5 and won't ever tell you anything about team finances and how much they are "making" and 2) the guy with or without a daughter on the team who's coaching in addition to their 9-5 that often operates at a HUGE loss to make the dream come true to coach our DD's. I think the second group should feel comfortable asking for "something" but most of the time feel like they'd be ostrasized for doing so. In continuation of this "mom and pop" place softball is at, good luck finding a club soccer coach or club volleyball coach that isn't making a salary for doing so.

I've been on two teams where coaches were paid, and two where they weren't. And both times it was made known up-front and both times everyone was fine with it. And in our particular case, the paid coaches were better and had more experience with the game and coaching.

On another team we're on, all the parents chipped in $100 each and presented the coach with the cash, insisting he take it to help cover his costs. The coach is a great person and his car broke down on the way to a tournament, he buys a lot of gear himself, and he probably goes through $500 of gas per season (as do we parents, of course).

I agree that the 9-5 employees coaching in their spare time deserve a little something. When I was Assistant Coach, my uniform (a t-shirt and a jacket with team colors/logos) came out of the general team fund. And yes, years later I heard that some parents were upset by that. Sheesh. Guess I can babysit your kids twice a week for 10 months but you chipping in $8 for my jacket is too much to pay for that.