softballgonebad
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? New Jersey
We started an ASA softball team for girls this past January. We had several try outs for girls in the age bracket of 8,9, & 10. We chose 4 coaches and the girls.
The organization has been in existance for many years and they had to allow us to become part of their organization which we did. The stipulation was that i was to be the manager/coach and the team make up would be as this:Manager (who takes care of all paperwork, insurance, setting up tournaments, talking to parents if they have a problem as well as the child if they are upset, hurt or have a question regarding softball etc) the head coach (who coaches the team and has his assistants. He runs the practices, tells his coaches what to do at the practices and on game days, he stands on third base and gives out the signals to the girls as to what to hit or steal).
We went to the first tournament and the head coach was out of control. He was cursing at the parents and the girls. He was calling the girls names. He was upset because they were not doing well. THis was a first year team and very young. I had told the parents at the practices that we may not win a tournament but the girls will improve by the end of the season. I did not try to pull the wool over the parents eyes but the head coach was upset with me for telling them that we would not win the tournament. These are 2 day tournaments so that night, after several phone calls to our house by parents upset because of the way the coaches were acting and saying to the girls, I called the head coach and after several minutes of yelling back and fouth & so forth, I FIRED him. He called the other coaches and told them what I did & they called me telling me that they all back him and they would not be at the game on Sunday.
I calmed down after several hours and called the head coach back and apologized for yelling and firing him and that i have a quick draw and sometime say things before thinking them out and I should not have done that and that i was wrong and we then discussed the situation in a calm matter and needless to say, they were all at the game on Sunday. Then, he gathered the parents together with kids around and proceeded to tell them if they did not like his style of coaching they can take their kids and hit the parking lot becuase he did not need them. He took a mom & dad of one of the girls and confronted them about a comment that they made about his coaching style on Saturday and he told them to take their F>>> daughter and get out of there. THe parents were not talking to anyone but each other & apparently one of the other coaches wife heard that and told her husband & the head coach. He had a little girls crying uncontrollably as well as the parents all upset. It was a horrible weekend.
The next night, we (all coaches and myself talked and aired out the issues that we new of) We all determined that we were there for the girls not ourselves. Practices continued and I left them do their thing even though I did not agree with some of the tactics that the head coach did like yelling constantly at the kids, making them run everytime they missed the ball, stand behind them and yelled catch the ball and when they missed out of shear nerves, he yelled louder. No parent came to me so i did not say anything. I did have to talk to some of the girls at practice because they were in tears and needed to be calmed down.
Our next 2 tournaments were cancelled by the host team and was beyond my control. He was mad about that and wanted to get scrimmages together with other teams. I said it would be a good idea but when i called the teams in our age bracket, they did not want to scrimmage because they were all playing tournaments and wanted to rest the girls and do only their practices. I respected the coaches and told my coaches this and they were not happy with my answer so he started contacting a recreation town team to scrimmage against. I told him that he had to clear that through me and no response. He continued to try and get the rec teams to scrimmage. (This is not the caliber of the girls at this point, we do fastpitch and the town teams don't, fielding is more precise etc) I tried to tell him that they are bringing the girls down not getting them the competition to better themselves . He disagreed with me. We went to the next tournament and the girls lost all three games on Saturday but the defense was really good and the failure was the hitting. The scores were not runaways. THey were all close. The girls looked really good and I expressed that to them and the parents. He and the other coaches walked away from the group and left.
That week, they called a parents meeting and did not invite my wife who we have a child on the team. I had gotten a new job and was working late. I was not able to attend this meeting. My wife even though she was not invited went anyway. They had a rep from the organization there and the meeding was a bashing of myself. I was called a dictator because i had the last say and he didn't like that. The head coach had called 3/4 of the parents and got them to agree with him that if the team was to continue, I would have to go. If i did not go, they would walk. My wife sat and took all this crap from the parents and coaches and in the end fell apart. He went around the room and told each parent that their child was not good etc. Needless to say, I did not walk and they did. They quit that night of the meeting.
We are registered with the NSA out of Southern NJ and by the rules of NSA, if the girls want to go to another team, they must complete a NSA official relase form and have the current manager (me) sign the relase and they need to make out a check for $15.00 and send the release to the State Youth Office. They sent copies of release that they made up with each child's name and parent signed saying they were no longer on this team. They were contacted by the organization telling them that the girls were all still rostered and they could not play anywhere until the correct releases were signed. THey did again get the correct relase from NSA and filled it out but they did not send the orginial to me to sign and they only sent me copies. The fee was never sent to the NSA and on the official relase and NSA rule book, ALL EQUIPMENT DISPERSED TO THE GIRL MUST BE RETURNED BEFORE THEY CAN BE RELEASED> Theforms all had that crossed off and they wrote no way it is mine, n/A etc. THey have all the equipment and were never released from the team and are not playing for the team.
My question to you is, can we do anything to get this equipment back from each and every child/parent? They also ordered sweat clothes and jackets and some of them never paid for them and will not pay for them. It amounts to approx $1000.00. This money has to be paid and if not, i will be sued by the company. I will have to pay this out of my pocket at this time. THey gave us 2 weeks to get the money for the sweats/jackets to them. Do I have any recourse??? Please respond. We are from the Southern New Jersey area.
We started an ASA softball team for girls this past January. We had several try outs for girls in the age bracket of 8,9, & 10. We chose 4 coaches and the girls.
The organization has been in existance for many years and they had to allow us to become part of their organization which we did. The stipulation was that i was to be the manager/coach and the team make up would be as this:Manager (who takes care of all paperwork, insurance, setting up tournaments, talking to parents if they have a problem as well as the child if they are upset, hurt or have a question regarding softball etc) the head coach (who coaches the team and has his assistants. He runs the practices, tells his coaches what to do at the practices and on game days, he stands on third base and gives out the signals to the girls as to what to hit or steal).
We went to the first tournament and the head coach was out of control. He was cursing at the parents and the girls. He was calling the girls names. He was upset because they were not doing well. THis was a first year team and very young. I had told the parents at the practices that we may not win a tournament but the girls will improve by the end of the season. I did not try to pull the wool over the parents eyes but the head coach was upset with me for telling them that we would not win the tournament. These are 2 day tournaments so that night, after several phone calls to our house by parents upset because of the way the coaches were acting and saying to the girls, I called the head coach and after several minutes of yelling back and fouth & so forth, I FIRED him. He called the other coaches and told them what I did & they called me telling me that they all back him and they would not be at the game on Sunday.
I calmed down after several hours and called the head coach back and apologized for yelling and firing him and that i have a quick draw and sometime say things before thinking them out and I should not have done that and that i was wrong and we then discussed the situation in a calm matter and needless to say, they were all at the game on Sunday. Then, he gathered the parents together with kids around and proceeded to tell them if they did not like his style of coaching they can take their kids and hit the parking lot becuase he did not need them. He took a mom & dad of one of the girls and confronted them about a comment that they made about his coaching style on Saturday and he told them to take their F>>> daughter and get out of there. THe parents were not talking to anyone but each other & apparently one of the other coaches wife heard that and told her husband & the head coach. He had a little girls crying uncontrollably as well as the parents all upset. It was a horrible weekend.
The next night, we (all coaches and myself talked and aired out the issues that we new of) We all determined that we were there for the girls not ourselves. Practices continued and I left them do their thing even though I did not agree with some of the tactics that the head coach did like yelling constantly at the kids, making them run everytime they missed the ball, stand behind them and yelled catch the ball and when they missed out of shear nerves, he yelled louder. No parent came to me so i did not say anything. I did have to talk to some of the girls at practice because they were in tears and needed to be calmed down.
Our next 2 tournaments were cancelled by the host team and was beyond my control. He was mad about that and wanted to get scrimmages together with other teams. I said it would be a good idea but when i called the teams in our age bracket, they did not want to scrimmage because they were all playing tournaments and wanted to rest the girls and do only their practices. I respected the coaches and told my coaches this and they were not happy with my answer so he started contacting a recreation town team to scrimmage against. I told him that he had to clear that through me and no response. He continued to try and get the rec teams to scrimmage. (This is not the caliber of the girls at this point, we do fastpitch and the town teams don't, fielding is more precise etc) I tried to tell him that they are bringing the girls down not getting them the competition to better themselves . He disagreed with me. We went to the next tournament and the girls lost all three games on Saturday but the defense was really good and the failure was the hitting. The scores were not runaways. THey were all close. The girls looked really good and I expressed that to them and the parents. He and the other coaches walked away from the group and left.
That week, they called a parents meeting and did not invite my wife who we have a child on the team. I had gotten a new job and was working late. I was not able to attend this meeting. My wife even though she was not invited went anyway. They had a rep from the organization there and the meeding was a bashing of myself. I was called a dictator because i had the last say and he didn't like that. The head coach had called 3/4 of the parents and got them to agree with him that if the team was to continue, I would have to go. If i did not go, they would walk. My wife sat and took all this crap from the parents and coaches and in the end fell apart. He went around the room and told each parent that their child was not good etc. Needless to say, I did not walk and they did. They quit that night of the meeting.
We are registered with the NSA out of Southern NJ and by the rules of NSA, if the girls want to go to another team, they must complete a NSA official relase form and have the current manager (me) sign the relase and they need to make out a check for $15.00 and send the release to the State Youth Office. They sent copies of release that they made up with each child's name and parent signed saying they were no longer on this team. They were contacted by the organization telling them that the girls were all still rostered and they could not play anywhere until the correct releases were signed. THey did again get the correct relase from NSA and filled it out but they did not send the orginial to me to sign and they only sent me copies. The fee was never sent to the NSA and on the official relase and NSA rule book, ALL EQUIPMENT DISPERSED TO THE GIRL MUST BE RETURNED BEFORE THEY CAN BE RELEASED> Theforms all had that crossed off and they wrote no way it is mine, n/A etc. THey have all the equipment and were never released from the team and are not playing for the team.
My question to you is, can we do anything to get this equipment back from each and every child/parent? They also ordered sweat clothes and jackets and some of them never paid for them and will not pay for them. It amounts to approx $1000.00. This money has to be paid and if not, i will be sued by the company. I will have to pay this out of my pocket at this time. THey gave us 2 weeks to get the money for the sweats/jackets to them. Do I have any recourse??? Please respond. We are from the Southern New Jersey area.