Question of ethics.

[LeftField16]

I have a friend who's daughter just joined a travel team. She had participated as a fill in before, but this was her 1st team. Today she posted that her DD coach had placed his daughter on another roster with another team having no intentions of completely their team. They had paid their dues and signed a player contract but the coach refuses with excuses to reimburse them their monies. He even threatened to file bankruptcy when she informed him of taking him to small claims court. What else can she do? I cannot name names for it isn't mine to expose. I will say the team is based out of NE, Ohio though.

 

[Pacerdad57]

at that point it would seem more along the lines of fraud, not just ethics. i'd go ahead and file claim on the coach. really no excuse for a plain money grab like this one seems.

 

[okiedad1961]

Leftfield,
Tell me if I got this straight,Your freinds dd had filled in on this team before ,Then committed too them and payed there dues.And then the coach placed her on another team within the org,without prior discussion of this possiblity.I'm allways very clear w the coachs intentions prior to starting a season w any team.Yes coach's do change there minds on there directions with your dd and there teams,but should be out front w there intentions and possibility's.You should be entitled to some refund minus expenses (tourney fee's,uniforms etc) if you were not informed of the changes that could be made in direction w your dd and team.The bankruptcy claim by the coach tells me one thing No Integity or class in that Org.

 

[spartansd]

Without any first hand knowledge or information from both sides I have to say this is just a good story.

Not calling you a liar or a fibber. It has just been my experience that these types of issues rarely are very clear cut.

Yes if it happened as you say then I would be pissed. But I have high doubts that there is not quite a bit of water under the bridge on this one.

So many different ways this could have come about.

 

[spartansd]

Leftfield,
Tell me if I got this straight,Your freinds dd had filled in on this team before ,Then committed too them and payed there dues.And then the coach placed her on another team within the org,without prior discussion of this possiblity.I'm allways very clear w the coachs intentions prior to starting a season w any team.Yes coach's do change there minds on there directions with your dd and there teams,but should be out front w there intentions and possibility's.You should be entitled to some refund minus expenses (tourney fee's,uniforms etc) if you were not informed of the changes that could be made in direction w your dd and team.The bankruptcy claim by the coach tells me one thing No Integity or class in that Org.

Remember this is all second hand. So already the water has gotten a very good stir. Then it is told from one perspective. Again another few spins. So we are already getting a very good mix of dirt and water......which makes mud in my world. Now it gets slung all over. Pretty soon their will be cries of wanting/needing to know who these dastardly dogs are.....all the while we have gotten at best a one sided second hand accounting.

 

[okiedad1961]

Agree Spartan, Not alot of clarity there .Parents interpret things they way they want to,And coach's do there part w little clarity,which equals a mess for the kid and her aspirations.

 

[LeftField16]

No, this was her team. But the parents found out that since October the coaches DD was rostered to another team with her dad as a coach. This is my friends DD 1st team with travel. She has subbed over the past years though.

 

[LeftField16]

I'm also well aware of 2nd hand stories. I'm just putting this out there if anyone has any advice of what actions can be taken. I know after a certain amount of time the monies are allocated to various expensenses.

 

[softballmom2000]

LeftField16 was just trying to help me out with getting information on what I can do to get my money. We are going to go the small claims route. If he files for bankruptcy, so be it, it will cost him far more in that then my refund.

Also, there were no expenses. No tournaments, no uniforms, no t-shirts, not even a practice, there was never a full team.

 

[spartansd]

LeftField16 was just trying to help me out with getting information on what I can do to get my money. We are going to go the small claims route. If he files for bankruptcy, so be it, it will cost him far more in that then my refund.

Also, there were no expenses. No tournaments, no uniforms, no t-shirts, not even a practice, there was never a full team.

Well if there has been very little expenses, I do not see how you can just be moved to another team without the option of a refund. Either you are not giving us all the details or this coach is being an idiot. If team collapsed then you should get full refund. Not seeing any other option.

I guess my issue with this stuff is simple. My wife and I have done this for years. And our sole focus was giving our DDs good coaching and helping other players and parents. Have never just yanked a girl off a team. Kicked a parent one time (and he was a good friend but needed intensity help....LOL). The point being that the second your focus is not on the players and getting better you are lost. This is a sport for the girls. Coaches do not play, parents do not play, umpires do not play. So if you focus is on anything but your DD and her softball you will quickly get off track.

And threatening to "declare bankrupt" over some team fees seems absolutely insane. I would be more worried about where the monies went at this point. We always had a couple of parents do the book keeping. So we had checks and balances in place.

 

[softballmom2000]

I am not sure where the moved to a different team came from, mine was never moved, there were no other teams, he only had a 12u and 14u. The team collapsed. His DD is on a different team in a different organization.

 

[spartansd]

I see now.

I coached a team that collapsed one year. 10U team and only had 8 after tryouts. One quit so I decided to just refund everyone back. To hard to piece a team together at that age group. The parents asked me to keep it together until Dec to see if we could make it happen. But come December we collapsed. Not a big deal. No money spent so it was full refunds. We have always had separate bank accounts for teams we ran and again a system of checks and balances. It is super easy to set up a functional system that keeps it all above board.

 

[okiedad1961]

Mrs 2000, Lets see East Canton/Alliance area. Dosn't sound like our usual suspects unless the moved recently or were forclosed on and had to move there.Hope you get something back,even if its that you can trust people.

 

[JoeA1010]

So basically the team went defunct and there is no refund, correct? You can file in Small Claims court. Just go to the local court and fill out the form and pay the filing fee, probably $25 or so. Take the amount you paid in player fees, subtract any expenses the team might have had in the fall for the player, and there is the amount you ask for. If the team played tournaments, just divide the entry fees by however many players were on the team. Of course, don't forget uniforms purchased, insurance, ASA or other sanctioning fees, equipment, etc., and pro-rate those as well.

 

[Louuuuu]

And threatening to "declare bankrupt" over some team fees seems absolutely insane.

Yes it does. It seems more likely that it is a poorly executed excuse for why they won't be refunding the money.

 

[Fastball19]

This is not like the old days, you have to meet strict criteria to file bankruptcy. Take him to small claims court. If he files for chapter 7 then they will liquidate his assets which seems foolish compared to a small travel ball fee!

 

[CarMad]

I may have misread the threads but a week or so ago I thought I saw 2 posts from a parent/coach. One looking for players for his team and another promoting his daughter and looking for a team. I found it to be a bit strange.

 

[gcg3refs]

Hi Scott:

Yes, the team my daughter made, the coach quit and told everyone to start to look elsewhere, I was asked to try to find more girls for the team. If that didn't work out, I also posted about my daughter looking for another team. I am just looking out for my daughter. Nothing weird going on, just didn't want to see all of the girls out in the cold after the coach folded the team out of the blue. I hope this clears up any questions that you have.

Thanks

George

 

[CarMad]

George,
I didn't remember who the post was from but when I read it I was thinking Hey...He just posted looking for players! I understand unusual things happen in the travel world. I hope your daughter and the rest of the girls landed on their feet. Good luck!

 

[gcg3refs]

Scott,

Thanks, pretty sure that was my post. My daughter made another team, working to find teams for the other girls.

George