Tim,
We participated in the Park's rec center system for a number of years with our two boys (now 17 & 19), I'm pretty sure they started with T ball, and basket ball and field hockey and soccer. Our older son later went to Blackhawks also with a friend, but didn't enjoy the competitiveness. He left when he was move to an upper division and his friend didn't.
I always enjoyed the recreational aspect and I ran into two types of bad coaches. They were the unknowledgeable about the sport and art of coaching (like yourself) and then there were the competitive ones who forgot why they were there. I ran into one who let three people doing batting practice at the same time that lead to my younger son having a fractured skull with internal bleeding. And she was an extremely nice person. These folks were all volunteers and I lost my right to bitch when I didn't volunteer. But we were still involved and a lot of parents were. We didn't just drop them off (though watching some of that early baseball could drive you nuts). And my wife could enjoy it better than I could (she's much more friendly)
But I did run into many good coaches - about 80% would be my guess - and the others were good by definition. I only ran into one or two who shouldn't be there, and one of them discovered it for himself the same day.
I had a good experience with the centers and I don't remember feeling like the staff gave bad service. (its been about five years since we've used them) I do remember a bit of understaffing at times, and I thought that sometimes some of there staff were volunteer also or really young themselves. I always thought that since they relied on volunteers so much that perhaps an elementary class in it would be good (only one person at batting practice when you have others in the field).
You won't get people in trouble if you bring to management's attention that things are not going they way you think they should. They will appreciate the comments. Overall I'd give em a 'very good' rating. And by the way our home areas were both Edgecumb and Linwood.
Pat Byrne St. Clair and Lexington Parkway Neighborhood.
At 11:58 PM 4/18/2005 -0500, you wrote:
At 11:40 PM -0500 4/18/05, Paul Gleeson wrote:In my experience, most (not all) Rec Center youth sports programs emphasize the recreational aspect of sports. My experience with Rec Center soccer was similar to yours. Not very well organized, nor well coached.
I understand that the philosophy is meant to be recreational and that the coaches are pretty bad (actually, some of them were very good). I was one of the bad ones, coaching kids in a sport I knew almost nothing about.
I also understand that there are alternatives.
I'm not complaining about the lack of competitiveness or untrained coaches, I'm complaining about some REALLY bad customer service. I'm complaining about a city program, that based upon my experiences reflects poorly on the city.
- If we are going to have a recreational sports program, we ought to do it well.
- Rec Center staff, ought to be able to answer basic questions about the programs that they are offering.
- And volunteers coaches should be handled appropriately.
But, maybe my experiences were isolated or extreme, which is why I'm eager to hear from others.
There were times during the last season, in which I wasn't sure if it wouldn't be better to shut down the program at one park, rather than offer such a really bad program. It was almost funny how bad it was.
Best wishes,
Tim Erickson Hamline Midway [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------------------------- JOIN the St. Paul Issues Forum TODAY: http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/ ------------------------------------------------- POST MESSAGES HERE: stpaul@mnforum.org To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul
Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
-------------------------------------------------
JOIN the St. Paul Issues Forum TODAY:
http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/
-------------------------------------------------
POST MESSAGES HERE: stpaul@mnforum.orgTo subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul
Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
