I'd be a little leery of the fact that they want the fees BEFORE the meeting. I'd want to get more information and ask some questions before I gave them any more money. So far you have gotten nothing for what you've already paid so why pay more until they answer some of your questions. I wouldn't give them a dime more until I got some information.
BINGO!
I am only one coach of one team, but I can tell you this...when we got the girls together at the end of tryouts & we had our first player/parents meeting, our first practice started while this parents meeting was going on. That was in late August & I have lost count of the practices, friendlies, games, tourneys, meetings, etc that have taken place since then. Why is all of this important? I might have one or two players whose funds are paid in full. No team needs ALL of the funds before the first practice.
Get the girls some work. You have plenty of time to collect the $.
Uniforms don't HAVE to be ordered yet.
Bat bags don't HAVE to be ordered yet.
Helmets don't HAVE to be ordered yet.
Most tourneys accept deposits, but I know some require full payment. So, what do you REALLY to have collected by this time of the year? 4 tourneys requiring full payment....this is 16U, so they are probably showcases costing $650 each. That's $2,600. $100 deposits on 4 other tourneys. My math says this team only needed to shell out about $3,000 by now.
10 players. Simple math.
Nothing more than $300 should have come out of any players pocket yet, according to these basic calculations.
Show me WHY more $ is needed already when the first practice hasn't taken place before my checkbook opens back up.