Blog posts of '2018' 'October'
Parents,
The season is starting to ramp up for us.
I want to start off by saying
thank you. There are options to play elsewhere, I appreciate you staying in your community and making it stronger.
This year brings unbelievable growth. When I started this role 8 years ago we were at 87 players. Today we are at 266, and we may still add a middle school team.
We have officially tripled as an organization, blows my mind. That being said, it is pretty much become more than one man can handle in many ways. So if you think you have a desire to make your community better, reach out to me and lets talk. There are some things that have to be done by me.. but there are many things I could shift some responsibility to over time (things like some of our K1 stuff, the uniforms, the practice schedule, Lindsey Law stuff, and more).
Finally the personal note, and I promise this will be the only time I use this medium to push this. Batavia schools has a levy up for vote. I can confidently say that many of your children would not be playing for BCRL (maybe at all) if not for a great partnership with the school system AND the nice new elementary. If we were still in that old elementary we would be in big trouble and probably not have K1 or 2nd grade basketball (as most of our Clermont and Brown county neighbors offer to their children). I expect a new middle school to equally transform our organization and community. The middle school gym is old and on its last legs before a MAJOR reinvestment is needed. The floor is nearing the end of its life, and the overall setup of it is not real great anymore. The high school is just not a good building in my opinion. Never has been, and with our phenomenal growth.. it just isn't good enough. Your support for the levy would go a long way in it passing, the last levy to replace a 100+ year old elementary only passed 2521 to 2477. So your vote matters.
Look forward to seeing your children play basketball and getting to know each of you.
As always, you can read past messages here. If you are new to this list (as late signups are.. please take the time to read each post especially the one about communication. Many of you should turn on notifications for our Facebook group for basketball.
https://www.bataviayouthsports.org/blog/tag/basketball2018
Parents,
Teams are 2nd-6th grade teams are formed. I've asked all coaches to reach out by this Friday.
If you've not heard from your childs coach by then, please email and let me know.
I am working on confirming K1 coaches and will communicate that information out soon.
Practices will be starting soon, many of our teams are coached by the same people who coach in soccer and football so they may be conflicted out a bit.
The first batch of uniforms have been ordered. Just a few of you need to order still.
As a reminder, you can read prior emails at the link below. Please take a moment to review if you are a recent signup as it answers many questions you may have (especially the one about staying informed.. our FB page is just few likes short of 400.. will you put us over the edge).
Parents,
I want to act on this super fast. I have 164 children that need uniforms, so this is not something we can just order a few weeks before the season. Read this email closely. I will email you frequently until you order. You are getting this email because I feel you have to order one.
I will place two orders. One will be placed on 10/21. The other will be placed in mid-November.
PLEASE ORDER for the 10/21 order.
ALL orders must be placed online:
https://www.bataviayouthsports.org/basketball-2?orderby=15
You do not have to pay there, you can choose to pay when you pick up the uniform.. but I want all orders placed there as that gives us all an official order to look at if a mistake is made. If you want to pay, by all means.. do.
A few things:
- People with K1 players, place your order separate from all other children as you should NOT pay for them online. The jersey will be given to you by BCRL. If you order shorts, that is on you.
- I have your jersey number documented.
- Did I mention that ALL orders need placed online?
- 5th grade boys will get a second email on this topic. Do not see Valerie, she does not have samples of your uniform.
- Those on Jen Whitakers team, do not order online. Need to talk to her and likely remove you from this list.
Regarding sizing. If you need to try a uniform on outside of the times below, please contact Valerie @ 513-319-8869 or vklopfstein@outlook.com. You order at your own risk if you don't try on the uniform first.
One of us will be at the BCRL soccer fields (2487 Bauer Road) for the following schedule:
10/11 - Thursday - 5:45PM - 7:45PM
10/12 - Friday - NOT THERE
10/13 - Saturday - 11AM - 3:30PM
10/14 - Sunday - 12PM - 6PM
10/15 - Monday - 5:30PM - 7:30PM
10/16 - Tuesday - 5:30PM - 7:30PM
10/17 - Wednesday - 5:30PM - 7:30PM
All other times will be arranged with Valerie.
I thankfully don't get much negative feedback on this topic, the coaches have historically managed playing time pretty well. However, I want to be clear on the topic.
Here are the requirements for CPYBL teams:
K1 - Seriously... have never had an issue here, but it should be close to equal. Sometimes kids don't want to play and while we do strongly encourage them to get out on the floor, we can't make them.
2nd and 3rd grade - Two quarters
4th grade and above - 1.5 quarters
If you have a complaint about this and approach me on the topic, I'm going to ask two very simple questions:
- What grade is your child in?
- Did your child play <insert requirement> minutes?
If the answer to number two is yes, I won't discuss it any further. This is not to be dismissive of the topic, but they've met the requirement expected of them.
I will be direct in that I've had this complaint for three reasons:
- Player didn't play close to the minimum. Not often, but I've gotten it.
- Player always plays the minimum.
- Some other player plays much more than others.
One is an issue that I do want to hear about. I won't promise something will be done on the first occasion, but I'll at least discuss with the coach.
For two, I'd hope it isn't "ALWAYS" but this is how it goes at times. Playing time is the coaches discretion.
For three, this happens. I'd hope the child playing deserves it by talent and such, but playing time is the coaches discretion.
I'm a firm believer that if you take a families money, they deserve to play. I believe this at all levels of competition that even at the AAU level, if you take a families money you should play that child.. or cut him.
Okay, back to back "negative" emails. I promise, not a lot of those but I do have to cover the bad as well as the good or administrative.
Sometimes you're not happy with a coach, referee, or situation. I ask that you wait until Monday morning to reach out to me about any issues you have.
Already addressed approaching an official is a SERIOUS, suspension (for you AND your child) grabbing no-no.
However approaching a coach is a huge no-no as well. You will have times you disagree with your childs coach. After a game is a terrible time to approach them. You will get a reaction that is much more over the top than if you ave it until Monday morning to discuss (generally the rule is 24 hours.. in the case of practices and such).
Give it time to see if you still think it needs addressed and then address it. 100% of the time you will at least address it with less emotion than if you did it in the moment.
Your childs coach is a volunteer. We don't even give a break on registration fees. So giving them a super hard time is usually frowned upon.
Fan behavior
-Thursday, October 4, 2018
As parent behavior has gotten worse over the years in general, leagues have tried many things to curb that behavior. The CPYBL is no different. Thankfully parent issues in Batavia have been very minimal over the years, but that can't be said for other places.
With that the CPYBL, the league that our 2nd graders and above play in, have created a new rule.
If you are suspended as a parent, your child is also suspended.
This was discussed at length at a league meeting. I honestly spoke against it at length, but after a vote of the communities I was one of just a couple no votes. I am against a child being suspended due to a parent being out of line, but rules are rules and this will be enforced.
As the league president said, "Nobody has ever been kicked out for cheering too loudly."
- Bad referees are not an excuse for bad behavior.
- A physical game is not an excuse for bad behavior.
- There is no excuse for bad behavior.
"But somebody is going to get hurt"... I'm going to be honest here, I've seen my share of poorly officiated games. I can think of one where I thought there was a safety issue and this was 7th graders who moved a bit faster than our players.
NEVER... EVER... approach an official. Not for "good job," not for "you suck." Both could get you and your child suspended for two games. I can't stress this enough.
If an official or gym worker tells you to do something, do it. That is not the time to argue.
If you feel you can't control your emotion and/or anger, then get up and leave the gym immediately.
A future email will discuss conflict resolution and what you should do.
So I sent out a lot of emails tonight letting people know when the player evaluations will take place. Still a few more I need to notify, so if you didn't get it.. hold tight.
We are doing evaluations for the following grades (2B, 3B, 4B, 5G and 6B). All others do not require an evaluation to form teams. Due to the massive amounts of kids at most of these, the gym is closed to parents and siblings. It becomes a bit of a mess otherwise. NOBODY gets cut in this, everybody is on a rec team. This just helps coaches balance out the teams.
Our K1 teams are formed by me. I get a player ranking from you and then divide the talent as even as possible. Most years, I get it pretty close. Last year, not so much. So new this year, after week two I may trade a player or two to fix an imbalance. Please keep that in mind!
Regarding request for certain teams, coaches, or with other players. This is never guaranteed or implied to be met. The coaches form the teams via a draft. I am usually minimally involved, but sometimes I do have to get involved a bit to help iron out differences. The coaches are made aware of most request, but they are not always honored for various reasons. I walk the walk on this one, while siblings are put on the same team when requested... I am leaving my two 2nd graders up to the coaches to draft. If it means two different teams, that is what it means.
Finally regarding the "extra" teams we are looking to form for 3rd grade teams and above when it makes sense, if more than 10 kids show interest we have a tryout and it is an unfortunate thing but kids may be cut from that. If the interest is 8-10 kids, it is left more up to the coach on what next steps we need (tryout or just roll with it).
I'm a bit of an over communicator, I can own that. But there are places you can go to get the latest updates.
- Email. First and foremost I use email to communicate. Add me as a contact on your email provider so I don't end up in the junk folder. Yahoo is terrible for this (as a side note, as a tech guy.. seriously, get off of Yahoo.. gmail, Outlook, anything but Yahoo). By adding me as a contact this should lower that.
- Facebook. We have a group for basketball. It is protected, you need to answer the questions asked when you ask to join.
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/bcrlbasketball/
- Facebook is overall a very poor place for communication. They use algorithms and such to determine when you see updates. You can fix this by following the step in this post to get a Facebook notification when a post happens.
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/bcrlbasketball/permalink/926873747462147/
There are the two primary spots I put communication. I don't always do both (sometimes I'll send an email and not post it on FB and sometimes I'll post on FB and not send an email).
Finally I am posting all of these emails on our website.