It's not so awesome, actually....

[monster]

When you have a very determined 10 year old who decided to take up hockey in January despite not being a strong skater, who has worked very hard to be good enough to play on a team, has attended a checking clinic and a draft skate and is all excited about finding he is good enough and that teams will be announced in a couple of days .....and then you find out that they changed the practice day without telling anyone.

They apparently did notice that there was a "typo" on the website some time last week (a couple of months after registration happened), and it said Wednesdays when it should have said Thursdays ....and so they "fixed" that. But they didn't announce the "fix" or change the printout on the office door, or the official start date, which is still a Weds (14th)

It particularly sucks when said 10yo is also on a soccer team. Which practices on Thursdays. And his dad is a coach and there are only 9 kids (7 players + 2 subs), so dropping out would hurt others. And of course NOW it's too late to move practice. Weeks ago, that could have been a possibility.

Maybe he could attend soccer games but no practice. Well yes, but he will need a ride there and if his dad is still coaching he cannot provide that... Being new to hockey and this being the season checking is introduced/allowed, no hockey coach worth his salt or mother worth theirs would allow him to play games without attending practice.

So it seems we have a choice between having paid out $300+ for a sport the boy loves and desperately wants to do but cannot, or letting down the team in the boys other favorite sport -the team he has been with for 6 years -and still paying $100 for that.

If karma works, then we're all destined for glory because no way have any of us been bad enough to date to deserve this shit.

[Clodfobble]

Man, that sucks. Sorry monster.

[Shawnee123]

WEll, it sucks all right, but in my very humble opinion:

Let the boy play what HE wants. I wasn't that good at basketball, but I played from 4th grade until senior year. I loved it so much I worked SO hard at it, and was always complimented on my 'hustle.' I won the Viking Award senior year (prestigious, given to the team member who exemplified teamwork and spirit and attitude) because I stayed on the team and went to every practice (hopping and shooting from on the side baskets) and dressed for every game even though I was sidelined by a severe knee injury...it was still my team. I got in one game for 15 seconds before my knee blew out again.

My point is, I loved it, and wanted to excel, and it taught me so much about working within the confines of things I wasn't so good at and things I was, and taught me how much my effort and loyalty could pay off in important ways.

Just mho.

On the other hand, my younger brother coaches his daughter's basketball and softball teams, and he gets so much out of that experience. So, that part really sucks.

[monster]

he wants to do both.

[Shawnee123]

I'm sorry.

[monster]

Well, I've been checking around and I was right, no-one else knew about the day change either, so I'm hoping beyond hope that It annoys enough other people that they fix it properly.

[Sheldonrs]

Three little words can solve everything...


Soccer On Ice!



(but please don't call it Hocker cuz that's just gross)

[glatt]

Excellent. Nothing like an angry mob of parents to get things done. Seriously.

[monster]

names have been changed to protect the guilty, here's the reply I got. Bolding and italicizing mine.


Monster,

I sincerely apologize for the misprint on the website that was posted originally. Unfortunately changing our schedule at this point is not an option. Your right many families do run tight schedules with multiple sports running simultaneously and with siblings playing different sports. There will be kids missing hockey to play soccer, football, and baseball which is typical for this time of year. There was not a change from the original plan thus no announcement was necessary, it was human error on the website.


Again at this point all I can do is apologize and offer a refund of $205 for the program if you wish to drop. Please let me know asap as we draft teams tomorrow and I would like to know if your son will be participating so we can place him.


Wanker

[Juniper]

Damn, that sucks. I've also experienced the schedule change/conflict problem, since I have 2 kids with busy schedules. Wrestling and Boy Scouts were a major conflict . . . but we knew that going in. It really bites to have them change it mid-way through. We've had problems with cheer/gymnastics, cheer/Girl Scouts, cheer camp/summer camp, yadda yadda. Always a problem signing your kid up for something when the schedules aren't nailed down ahead of time. I always wonder how other people do it, not knowing. Don't their kids have stuff going on too?

So I'm guessing that the deal is this - the coach wants it on Thursday and at some point he saw the site and thought "oh shit, Weds is no good for me! I have my small penis support group on that night . . ." and he figured that if he claimed it was that way all along, everyone would just go along with him and be embarrassed for being out of the loop.

If I were you, I'd get in touch with all the other parents, get them all riled up about the day change, and en masse threaten to quit unless he sticks by the original practice day.

If this is not possible, unfortunately, you're going to have to quit hockey and take the refund. Good thing they're offering a refund. Yes, it sucks, but life isn't always fair.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

I wasn't that good at basketball, but I played from 4th grade until senior year. I loved it so much I worked SO hard at it... My point is, I loved it, and wanted to excel, and it taught me so much about working within the confines of things I wasn't so good at and things I was, and taught me how much my effort and loyalty could pay off in important ways.

A little OT but my bro had the same situation, except that he simply wasn't good enough at his chosen sport, football (soccer) even to be a sub for the second team.

So the school made him a "reporter". Bless. He got to go to all the games, and feel like he was a part of things, then wrote them up when he got back. He was damn good too, in fact for a while I was worried he might go into sports journalism. Worried because I was supposed to be the writer in the family.

Mons, that is truly a sucky situation. No advice, just sympathy for a boy who's learning early that life isn't fair.

[wanderer]

Tragedy defined! Sorry man, thats real awful situation

[glatt]

That is a really crappy situation. That coach is completely disorganized, so this is probably just a precursor of what you could expect if you went with the hockey. I'm not going to say you're better off without him, because clearly this sucks for Hector (we're talking about Hector, right?) But this coach is bad news so it's not all bad that you won't be spending a lot of time with him.

[monster]

yeah, well a few (fairly unpleasant) email exhanges later, he's doing the hockey because he's decided that's what he really wants to do. And now I've made myself extremely unpopular there so i hope to hell we can find somewhere else for the fall. this is a different place from where Thor plays -the place we already left once, but Thor's place doesn't (yet) cater for Hector's age group.

I asked the coach to forward my response to that email to the rest of the board -which he did, so if there's a decent one among them, hopefully it won't happen again. The thing is, in organizations like this (and I have shitloads of experience running organizations like this) it never hurts to tell people stuff you think they should already know. Sure, they'll think your incompetant an unorganized, but the program will run smoothely because everyone will know what they need to know.



I don't mind dealing with known schedule clashes -we do have a lot of activities, they required juggling and we're pretty goddamn practiced at it, but huge problems like this THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED really piss me off. And the coach had the temerity to imply I ws a tosser for enrolling my kid in two sports on the same day. hello? HELLO? Anyone home? tit. that is all. maybe.

[glatt]