Well, its 2006, a new season is coming, and once again, I can't find a field to practice on.
Here's my situation. Since we've moved to the big field, I've been fighting the town tooth and nail trying to get field time. What the town says is that there is a pecking order. First comes any high school request, then the local Babe Ruth League, local Senior league, local mens league. After that, I can use a field. (We have two good fields and one practice field in town).
Well, over the last ten years or so, the guy that runs the Babe Ruth league just tells the town that he needs the field from 8am to 8pm, every single day. He has scheduled the field for basically all groups. If you want a field, you call him. Even though he should only be scheduling rec (Babe Ruth) events, all the travel teams have gone through him as well.
Interestingly, he owns a local sporting goods store and he happens to sell uniforms. He makes a ton of money on supplying all the uniforms to the local little league, babe ruth, etc. I'd be suprised if he actually sold any sporting goods in the store, its so small and out of the way, and he basically has no stock.
Anyway, for some reason this guy doesn't like me. After I won championships in my last two years in little league, with his store as our sponser, I went into the store and introduced myself as the 13yr old travel team manager. His first response was "I don't recognize travel teams". Uh, okay... Since I managed travel, he wouldn't let me coach in rec (Babe Ruth). He picked guys that were his buddies (and not very good coaches). Every time I asked for a field, he told me they were booked, even if they weren't.
So, I went to the town (rec. dept.) and complained. I emailed them every time he didn't use the fields when he had it scheduled. I let them know that I would've used it. We had to play almost every home game away, and rarely even got the practice field. The rec. dept. said they would keep on top of him, and they did scold him a bit, but nothing really changed. After my constant complaining b/c the situation never changed, they told the guy that he couldn't schedule the field anymore. They named someone else to do that. Guess what. The new guy is a manager in Babe Ruth and basically in this guy's pocket.
I went online to fill out my field request earlier this week, and again, every hour of every day is booked with the Babe Ruth group. And now since its an online procedure, all I get is an automated email stating that my request was denied. So I called the rec. dept. and told them, and they said that they can't do anything, that this is the new process.
The rec. dept. supports the Babe Ruth league with a stipend every year, so they consider them the first choice for using fields. Even if I did get a field, they could bump me off with 24 hours notice if they want to schedule something (and they've done that).
Even though my kids are all from the town, and we all pay taxes, we get treated like 3rd class citizens. I make recommendations like "let them use it 75% of the time, and have it open to others 25% of the time", but no, that's not okay. They get whatever they want.
Over the last year or two, since I've been in the town's face, the main BR guy has started giving fields to some of the younger (13,14) travel teams. To me, that's out of process since they're not affiliated with BR. They're playing in the same travel leagues as we are. But the rec dept says that they are playing "under the umbrella" of the BR league, and even using their insurance (I have to pay about $300 a year for our own insurance).
The BR guy is still pissed at me b/c my kids won't play BR. So when the district tourneys start in June, our age group goes 3 and out real quick, and makes him look bad.
So we will always have this battle. I thought it might get better this year with the automated system, but it looks like it might get worse.
What do I tell my players this year? "Sorry guys. you're the best 15-16 yr olds in the town, but the town won't give us any fields. The fields may go empty, but we can't get any support anywhere".
Sorry for the rant, but I was trying to start this year on a positive note with going to American Legion, but now I feel we're getting screwed again...
ughh...
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