(This is an email that went out to all Nolensville Leagues on 11/4, please share) Coaches, Parents, & Basketball Community, This email does not apply to 95% of you that are receiving this, but I would still ask that you read it and help support us where we need it. I have been involved in Nolensville Athletics for the last 12 years. I have primarily served in Soccer, but also volunteered on the Recreation Board for the last 6 years and as President for the last 14 months. This email is directed to any coach and or individual who have felt the freedom to directly or publicly disregard and disrespect the difficult decisions that have had to be made with the Basketball program in an extremely tough environment. So here are a few points I want to make clear as the President of the Recreation Board and my oversight of our Basketball Program. Nolensville has more people wanting to play basketball then there are facilities. We are not able to use the Nolensville Recreation Center Gym or the Historic Center Gym as we did in years past. We have Nolensville Elementary, Sunset Elementary, & Sunset Middle when they are available. Schools have the right, without warning, to take space away from Nolensville Recreation anytime they need to for school events at any point in the season. Despite our best planning, as happened this week, the school can claim an entire hour block of time every night of the week, and we lose that spot we thought we had. The Recreation Board Members are all 100% volunteers (other than a couple PT administrative roles). It is 100% unreasonable to expect: -Specific Practice Times to match personal schedules -Multiple Practice Times with such limited resources. -Bringing Teams into the league (this is a county request for all programs not even our choice) -Expecting administrators the manage player (parent) or coaches requests for coaches and or players in an environment where drafting teams for parity is the primary goal. -Expecting exceptions to be made for your child in a league of 575 kids. -Expecting the Recreation program to force the schools to adhere to our schedule. I have been extremely disappointed by a few individuals who have either taken to email, phone or Facebook to discredit the program and the volunteers who have literally spent 100’s of hours working to create a program for our kids. It sucks the wind out of them. Instead, in return they receive constant, selfish complaints and worse. There is a certain amount of that in all volunteer programs, but these are people working to create programs for our kids! For those that have partaken in this kind of conversation, would you volunteer knowing the result would be that kind of treatment? This kind of action will result in NO basketball program. Believe me, not having to balance the lack of facility and incredible demand would be much easier to manage and take the weight of several people. But our kids would not be playing basketball in Nolensville. In short we cannot tolerate this. This is not a perfect scenario, but we have to work with what we have and that is what all the volunteers are doing. They have been given 100% authority to make those decisions and we expect 100% compliance by all coaches and families. We get into this kind of volunteer work because we care about the kids. But it seems there is always a parent or coach who feels their own needs supersede those of the kids. I hear from my volunteers (your volunteers) how thankless these jobs are. That is truly disappointing in a community where we have so much. I believe we are better than that and I believe most people in Nolensville understand that this is part of our growing pains. Our frustrations for facilities need to go to the County Commissioners, who are voted in and paid to represent our district and control all funding. Lew Green and Tommy Little are your county commissioners. Participation fees for recreational sports are simply designed to cover expenses, not build facilities. If you have an issue with decisions that are being made there is a right way and a wrong way to handle that. The right way is to share your thoughts respectfully in conversation or writing with the clear understanding you will adhere to what the league decides to do, like it or not. You can also get involved and understand the many challenges and help determine solutions. The wrong way is to throw tantrums over the phone, during drafts, on Facebook etc. However, if you still feel you deserve something more I ask that you contact me directly and I will be more than happy to educate you on the challenges and why you should support your volunteers of these programs. Trust me when I say those that complain the loudest do not understand the variables at play, the decisions that have to be made, and the no win scenarios. The only way this program works is with your help. We have 575 kids registered with about 5 or so people managing the basketball proram. We could use another 10 volunteers to help with the program and you should email basketball@nolensvilleathletics if you would like to be part of the solution. So I ask you all to share this message for Basketball and all Nolensville Recreation Programs with all of Nolensville. The only way we continue to improve programming for Nolensville is if we first support those who have stepped up to put these programs together. I would ask that you also take the time to thank those who work full time jobs, raise families and then plan a program, deal with the administration issues, coach issues, school issues, decisions, logistics, etc, etc. hours and hours of time so that our kids can show up and have memories for a life time. Regards, Jeremy Smith President Nolensville Recreation Board president@nolensvilleathletics
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:03:33 +0000