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A famous proverb:
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Folks,
None of the situations were ideal, but "rolling with it" is the best you can hope for in Downpour rain situations. It Stinks for those who had the short end of some tough decisions, but I thought communication was as forthcoming as possible considering the situation.
Adam, Tim, Guys...See you next year!
None of the situations were ideal, but "rolling with it" is the best you can hope for in Downpour rain situations. It Stinks for those who had the short end of some tough decisions, but I thought communication was as forthcoming as possible considering the situation.
Adam, Tim, Guys...See you next year!
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It wasn't the rain that people are complaining about, that's one thing that can't be helped ....it's the decision at( 11:30 or midnight)to call coaches and tell them the time has changed ? from 8:00 am to 9:30 am and back to 8:00am and expect ?teams that have an hour + drive to be there at the right time.
I also agree with osubuckeye.. the bald coach has no business coaching young girls, with his lack of sportsmanship,and yelling at other coaches/parents in front of fields of young girls was totally uncalled for.
I also agree with osubuckeye.. the bald coach has no business coaching young girls, with his lack of sportsmanship,and yelling at other coaches/parents in front of fields of young girls was totally uncalled for.
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I am a parent of a Shockwave 14U player. ?We had no difficulties regarding the scheduling at this tournament. ?Certainly there was some luck involved as we played 2 pool games on Friday, and 1 on Saturday. ?We were told to arrive early on Saturday, which we did, and our game was played an hour early. ?If we had recieved a call at midnight changing the time of our game on Sunday, we would have made it without being offended by the inconvenience. ?Our coach often tells us to check our email early just in case there are changes. ?This is travel ball on rainy weekends. :'(
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OK,
Here is my take on the situation. I have gotten to know Adam and I know that he tried his best to make the situation work. He admitted he made some mistakes and in retrospect, he probably would have done some things differently. I feel bad for Adam and the Twisters organization. If the weather would have been dry and sunny, none of this would have happened.
I told my parents I would never want to be a TD on a rainy weekend. There is no way everyone will be happy with your decisions. I have been coaching for many years (I am an antique) and I will tell you that some of the major venues had growing pain in their earlier years. GAPSS had them, Stingrays had them and even Compuware got a few pot shots (I remember the dust bowl comments from the previous year). They learned from their mistakes and became determined to improve on their product. Mistakes can either kill you or improve you - it depends on the resolve of the organization.
Now that being said... I have suggestions.....
1. If you made a decision while the coaches/teams were there on the schedule for the next day. Stick to it. Do not make changes. Make it work and if the weather wrecks those plans - few will blame you.
2. The Twisters had the concession stand revenue yanked at the last second (the park sold the concession stand rights to a private business) and if you know anything about tournaments - that is the backbone for revenue generation. This made it necessary to find an alternative way to offset that loss - hence - admission. Which I totally understand. My only suggestion there is to offer a weekend pass. $4 per day or $6/$7 per weekend.
Side note - On Saturday, there were some grandparents that were appalled they had to pay $4 to enter to see their 10U grand daughter play and wanted a phone number to call to see if this was "legal". They said they never had to pay to see her play before. (Assuming the girl plays until she is 18U - they are in for a shock)
3. Someone told me that there were more people to work on the fields than there were rakes. I might suggest that you buy more rakes. I have worked on muddy fields for many, many years and you put down diamond dry very liberally to soak up the water. Dump it on, rake it in and do it until it is ready to play. Pulling off the workers to let a field "dry" when it is cloudy is not going to work. 10 bags of diamond dry per field and a lot of raking, would've of had each field ready sooner. Yes, DD is expensive (ask GAPSS - they bought pallets of the stuff after their first tournament to make sure that they would have enough) It rained cats and dogs on Saturday and no one can help that. This is not a complaint - just a suggestion.
4. Learn from this experience. The other successful venues did. They sat down and reviewed what went right and what went wrong. Develop a plan for the wrong and have all your men in a row for the worse case scenerio. This can be a valuable experience.
Now, I am stepping off of my soapbox. I know that some will disagree with me and that's what is great about this country - would I consider a Twister's tournament in the future - Yes I most certainly will. Genshaft park will be history soon. They are tearing it down to build a Kohl's department store. They will be looking for another location. Choose wisely and get a concession stand contract.! I feel that the organization will do what's necessary to make their tournament a place to play. I have seen the growing pain of many tournaments, as I have mentioned earlier. Their future is in their own hands.
johnnies
Here is my take on the situation. I have gotten to know Adam and I know that he tried his best to make the situation work. He admitted he made some mistakes and in retrospect, he probably would have done some things differently. I feel bad for Adam and the Twisters organization. If the weather would have been dry and sunny, none of this would have happened.
I told my parents I would never want to be a TD on a rainy weekend. There is no way everyone will be happy with your decisions. I have been coaching for many years (I am an antique) and I will tell you that some of the major venues had growing pain in their earlier years. GAPSS had them, Stingrays had them and even Compuware got a few pot shots (I remember the dust bowl comments from the previous year). They learned from their mistakes and became determined to improve on their product. Mistakes can either kill you or improve you - it depends on the resolve of the organization.
Now that being said... I have suggestions.....
1. If you made a decision while the coaches/teams were there on the schedule for the next day. Stick to it. Do not make changes. Make it work and if the weather wrecks those plans - few will blame you.
2. The Twisters had the concession stand revenue yanked at the last second (the park sold the concession stand rights to a private business) and if you know anything about tournaments - that is the backbone for revenue generation. This made it necessary to find an alternative way to offset that loss - hence - admission. Which I totally understand. My only suggestion there is to offer a weekend pass. $4 per day or $6/$7 per weekend.
Side note - On Saturday, there were some grandparents that were appalled they had to pay $4 to enter to see their 10U grand daughter play and wanted a phone number to call to see if this was "legal". They said they never had to pay to see her play before. (Assuming the girl plays until she is 18U - they are in for a shock)
3. Someone told me that there were more people to work on the fields than there were rakes. I might suggest that you buy more rakes. I have worked on muddy fields for many, many years and you put down diamond dry very liberally to soak up the water. Dump it on, rake it in and do it until it is ready to play. Pulling off the workers to let a field "dry" when it is cloudy is not going to work. 10 bags of diamond dry per field and a lot of raking, would've of had each field ready sooner. Yes, DD is expensive (ask GAPSS - they bought pallets of the stuff after their first tournament to make sure that they would have enough) It rained cats and dogs on Saturday and no one can help that. This is not a complaint - just a suggestion.
4. Learn from this experience. The other successful venues did. They sat down and reviewed what went right and what went wrong. Develop a plan for the wrong and have all your men in a row for the worse case scenerio. This can be a valuable experience.
Now, I am stepping off of my soapbox. I know that some will disagree with me and that's what is great about this country - would I consider a Twister's tournament in the future - Yes I most certainly will. Genshaft park will be history soon. They are tearing it down to build a Kohl's department store. They will be looking for another location. Choose wisely and get a concession stand contract.! I feel that the organization will do what's necessary to make their tournament a place to play. I have seen the growing pain of many tournaments, as I have mentioned earlier. Their future is in their own hands.
johnnies
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Genshaft had concession stand contracted out last year. Same people run it this year.
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I've read comments on this website for the past couple of years, but this is the first time I have ever wanted to take the time to register so that I can post a comment. ?The rain certainly made this a tough weekend. ?I have been around travel ball long enough to know that when the rain comes and games get moved and delayed people aren't going to be happy. ? That's what happened this weekend. ?Our team waited and waited... then came back to wait a little longer, then to be told the third game was cancelled. ?It was frustrating; however, the only thing that upset me this weekend was not the rain, the schedule changes, or delays. ?It was the bald 12u coach that used horrible language in front a park full of young girls and their families. ?It was the way he yelled at the other coaches and then turned on his own people. ?At one point it looked as if he was going to start a fist fight with the other twister coaches. ?What a disgusting display for these girls. ?I hope he has been removed from your coaching staff. ?He has no business ?coaching young people. ?As for the rest of the twisters... you were working your tails off to try to get those fields ready, and we appreciate it. ?
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sbmom910,
I hope this is not the only time you post. Chime in when you feel it is appropriate.
I did not see any 12U games, except the BH 95 games. I did not see the incident. I am sure the Twisters organization are looking into the situation. If this was a Heat issue...we would do the same.
I hope this is not the only time you post. Chime in when you feel it is appropriate.
I did not see any 12U games, except the BH 95 games. I did not see the incident. I am sure the Twisters organization are looking into the situation. If this was a Heat issue...we would do the same.
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However valid the criticisms of this tournament might be, we should also remember that being a TD is a no-win situation, sort of like being an umpire. This has been pointed out. On this forum and others TDs are criticized for cancelling games too early in the event of rain.
On a happier note, we at the Buckeye Heat 95s would like to thank the new 12u Twister head coach and the heads of the organization for their sportsmanship.
We also want to commend the Twister officers for acting decisively in making certain, shall we say, "administrative changes" in their organization.
Good luck to the 12u players and their parents during the rest of the summer.
On a happier note, we at the Buckeye Heat 95s would like to thank the new 12u Twister head coach and the heads of the organization for their sportsmanship.
We also want to commend the Twister officers for acting decisively in making certain, shall we say, "administrative changes" in their organization.
Good luck to the 12u players and their parents during the rest of the summer.
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johnnies
great post....if Adam would have done your rule #1...everything would have been fine!
what changes did the twisters make?? mr clean fired!??
one good note..twisters parents who did the fields..great job in a bad situation.
great post....if Adam would have done your rule #1...everything would have been fine!
what changes did the twisters make?? mr clean fired!??
one good note..twisters parents who did the fields..great job in a bad situation.
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All, again I apologize for all the confusion andsince the cat is already out of he bag, yes there an embarrassing incident on Saturday with our 12u coach while we were determining what to do. I was called by an umpire to come over. I had to handle the situation and get him to leave the park. I apologized to th players, coaches and families of the Ohio Magic and I apologized to all our 12u players, parents, and assistant coaches. I tried to keep all of this in house, but I should have known better on OFC. This was one of the reasons all of the calls came later than expected on Saturday, we had a huge problem that we needed to resolve internally that night, we were on the phone with the assistant coaches and parents of our 12u team and it took longer than I expected to get out of the park. I had no idea what time it was when i left the park until I got into my car and looked at the clock. Again, I am not making excuses, I agree the phone calls needed to be made earlier, but I was relly upset about the incident in which I ended up getting into it with him and so did our pitching coach. I know it embarrassed the organization that it happen at all, but to happen at a tournament you are hosting was even worse. In order to not ruin the reputation of the organization, a decision needed to be made on Saturday, unfortunately with all the rain we had two major issues we were trying to resolve. Again, I apologize for the lack of timliness in the phone calls.
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Second_Base said:
Second Base: You are only partially correct. While the concessions were sold last year, the Twisters ran them. We found out about 2-3 weeks ago we were not going to be able to run them this year.
For those complaining the brackets were already set, that is not true. The brackets were not set until all of the games that could be played were played. The letter designation listed on the brackets should have read A1st, A2nd ... instead of A1, A2 ... a LITTLE confusing yes, brackets set before games played no way.
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Brackets: Our team showed up Saturday BEFORE the rain and the Brackets were set then.
Hey Twisters 12U, you guys came Sunday ready to play looked like a whole new ball team!
Congratulations on the change! It helped your team completly! Good luck with the rest of your season!
Hey Twisters 12U, you guys came Sunday ready to play looked like a whole new ball team!
Congratulations on the change! It helped your team completly! Good luck with the rest of your season!
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twisters 12u must have new life...can only get better without the bad apple.
he might have to move out of state..he has burned bridges with ALOT of teams.
TEAMS BEWARE AT 2009 TRYOUTS THIS AUGUST OF SHORT BALD MAN! ;D
he might have to move out of state..he has burned bridges with ALOT of teams.
TEAMS BEWARE AT 2009 TRYOUTS THIS AUGUST OF SHORT BALD MAN! ;D
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Well, I started at the top of this message and here's what I see.
A guy, Adam, who doesn't even have a girl playing, put alot of time and effort into a tournament with 36 teams scheduled to play. 1, maybe 2 teams are upset. It rained all weekend. The grounds crew did great. A coach got out of hand, resigned/fired. Adam had to contend with that and the parents of his organization. NSA person pointed out a gliche in the game schedule. He dealt with that after making certain his organization was okay.
Sounds like that organization has a guy that went above and beyond. Who could be a tournament director, a coach, a counselor and controlled the weather?
I was at the tournament and the organization did a great job. At the end, the girls that were awarded the medals and trophies were yelling and screaming so it looked like they had a great time.
Kudos to the organization. We'll be back. Hope the weather is better for you.
A guy, Adam, who doesn't even have a girl playing, put alot of time and effort into a tournament with 36 teams scheduled to play. 1, maybe 2 teams are upset. It rained all weekend. The grounds crew did great. A coach got out of hand, resigned/fired. Adam had to contend with that and the parents of his organization. NSA person pointed out a gliche in the game schedule. He dealt with that after making certain his organization was okay.
Sounds like that organization has a guy that went above and beyond. Who could be a tournament director, a coach, a counselor and controlled the weather?
I was at the tournament and the organization did a great job. At the end, the girls that were awarded the medals and trophies were yelling and screaming so it looked like they had a great time.
Kudos to the organization. We'll be back. Hope the weather is better for you.
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adam was doing alot of yelling but the "bald guy" started the entire thing then continued with adam..good riddens!
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oh, I guess it wouldn't be softball without a little agruement. Oh well on to the next tournament. I wonder what will happen next. Hopefully no rain
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Adam dod what he had to. The "bald guy" is gone. I tip my hat to Adam to do what he had to. That being said is done and gone. Now, for the tourney? I will readily give them another chance. They were caught in a theaterical version of a "Perfect Storm". I would NOT want to be a TD in those circumstances. They will be better next year. Some of the better venues started off worse... trust me.
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I had to remove my daughter and thhe other players on our team from where we were standing because of the fight. ?It was the bald guy who was acting like an idiot and using bad language. ?He is the one that acted like he was going to attack the older gentleman from the twisters. ?That's when the TD got upset and started yelling. ?The TD did what he had to do to get that idiot out of the park. ? It's funny he was yelling about the field not being ready and yet he was sitting on his bucket doing nothing while the othre twisters people were working like crazy. ?At our tournament all of our coaches and parents helped out. ?Not sure what makes him above helping. ?I am sure his team will benefit from the profits of the tournament. ? I remember the bald guy from a year or two ago at a tournament. ?I think his team was called the purple crush at the time. ?He was a jerk then. ?It's pathetic that I can even remember a particular coach after a year or so, but when you act like a big idiot people remember you. ?As for the rain and the delays... It's part of travel ball. ?The TD couldn't do anymore than he did. ? Our team thinks ? that the twisters did a great job trying to get the games in. ?What can you do when that much rain comes so quickly??? ?
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I want to thank Adam and the Twisters organization for all of their hard work. It's unfortunate to let the behavior of one hi-jack the thread. Up until the weather ended the tournament, there was some very good games being played and that was played. We had fun and I too believe Twisters will right their wrongs for next year.
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