One of the most annoying things to me is when other people's disorganization affects my life. I am a very organized person in every aspect of my life. I plan out my calendar months (and sometimes, a year, if necessary) in advance. My work calendar is scheduled three months out. When an organization I am a part of is NOT organized, and it affects my life -- especially my WORK -- I get pissed. I'm warning you now; this is a rant post... and I will be sending a modified version of it to the president of the association:
1. We were given less than two weeks' notice regarding getting our children's sports physicals done... in the middle of July! You do realize it's SUMMER, right? And, people go on vacation? It is my opinion that we should be given at least a month's notice (since most doctors have many children in need of sports physicals, making it difficult to get in, & we can't even try on uniforms if we don't have the sports physical paperwork signed). Or, a notice regarding "scheduling your child's sports physical..." should be included in our registration paperwork, with a reminder in early June.
2. We were given less than two weeks' notice regarding the uniform fitting date... also in the middle of July! Only three hours on a Saturday?!?!? (Side note - the football players got two, 3hr gaps, on Saturdays; one of which was the same Saturday as the cheerleaders.) And, when we got there, they had both football players' families & cheer families in the same line, only to send them to different spots when they got to the front of the line. Here's a couple of ideas: Have TWO lines; one for cheer and one for football. Have TWO available dates. Saturdays are fine, if we have more than 2 weeks' notice... Perhaps add a weekday evening, too, for those parents who work odd hours & times... like ME on SATURDAYS (I had to take the day off)!
3. The "Mandatory Parent Meeting" -- for both cheer & football -- is an hour long discussion about FOOTBALL!! Yet, the cheer parents (or a representative sent in their place) must sit through the whole thing, or our girls can't cheer the first game. This is ridiculous. I have two suggestions for this: (A) Parents come to the school, sign in, take a packet with the Code of Conduct, etc on it, leave, sign it at home, and turn it in to their child's coach at the Jamboree. OR (B) Have the coaches go over the packet with parents at the Jamboree (those who don't show up can have a packet sent home, and can sign prior to the first game). This will give the coaches a chance to meet/see their team's parents, introduce themselves, answer team-specific questions, etc. {Side note - my daughter was part of the local soccer club for 7 years, and this is how her coach handled things... parents loved it! He would send an email, which the Youth coaches have never done, introducing himself & giving us a little info about his experience. He would then request that parents come to one practice 1/2 hour early so he could do this parent meeting.)
4. Team pics were scheduled for the middle of August, originally... on a SATURDAY... the same week that practice started... with no official uniforms. I sent the president an email, which went unanswered for a month. I resent it, with a little more irritation, and received, "It will probably be rescheduled, since we don't have uniforms yet." Um, whose idea was it to schedule it so early in the season? How about from now on, we just assume we'll have uniforms by JAMBOREE, and schedule it for the Monday after that? It can then be rescheduled if needed, but that gives the uniform company a little more time, and parents less stress.
5. "Cheer Clinic" was scheduled for the middle of August, as well... on a Thurs & Fri (after the *first* Mon/Wed practice). They were supposed to get their Practice Uniforms (consisting of a team tee & a pair of black shorts) during clinic. First real game starts today, they've had four weeks of practices, and they STILL DON'T HAVE THESE!! If we don't get them, I feel we should get some sort of refund of our fees, since these were supposed to be included.
6. We were told the last week of August that due to having only three girls in the 7th grade team, the coaches decided to merge 7th & 8th grade squads. We were also told we would have the finalized game schedule (since they couldn't exactly go to BOTH games every Saturday) by that Monday. This didn't happen. THIS screwed up my Saturday work schedule, making me look unprofessional.
7. JAMBOREE was on Sat, Aug 24th. The girls got their uniforms Wed, Aug 21st... However, they were missing pom poms & cheer socks. Two of the girls' shells were missing their letter. Those were fixed in time, but they cheered without poms, and had to provide their own no-show socks (another item that is supposed to be covered by our fees).
8. Last year, hair bows were also part of their uniform (included in our fees). This year, we were told at Jamboree that the new ones were $11. Why the change? Why the last minute additional fees? I think they're awesome, but that is something that should have either been part of our original fees, or parents should have been asked for input (with more warning).
9. September's game schedule was finally emailed to parents Friday 30th, with the promise of October's on Wednesday 4th (as Monday was a holiday - no practice). I proceeded to put it in my calendar, and confirm my tentative Saturday clients. Wednesday, I get the rest of the schedule, and two of the four September games/times were CHANGED AGAIN! I had to reschedule, yet again, two clients. I CANNOT PROPERLY RUN A BUSINESS THIS WAY! The *FINALIZED* schedule should have been set by the end of August... at the LATEST! Additionally, why are we playing games so far away, without a game bus available to us? If the games are not within the immediate area, there should be a bus for the team, and a bus for the girls. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the kids aren't there, or are late, because of this.
10. It is now the date of their first game... They never received practice uniforms or cheer socks, and we're supposed to get poms TODAY. This is horrible planning on SOMEone's part. I know this is a volunteer organization, but we've been part of multiple volunteer-based organizations for the last 10+ years, and not one of them is this poorly run. I sincerely hope the association fixes these problems, because my daughter plans on being a part of it for at least four more years (this is her last year as a Youth, but she hopes to coach as a Freshman next year, and continue coaching every Fall through high school).
No comments:
Post a Comment