This is a letter I wrote to Clayton County Athletics after our experience with Joey's T-Ball.
May 31, 2012
To whom it may concern:
I would like to voice my displeasure with the administration
of Rex Park T-ball this year. I have
three boys who all participate in sports.
My husband and I also coach a baseball team for special needs children
in Henry County. When our five year old
asked to play t-ball this year, we did not hesitate to sign him up! We thought it would be a good opportunity for
him to learn the sport, get active, and have fun. As his parents, we were surprised. I have never seen such disorganization as I
have seen with this season.
I was a couple of days late registering since he did not
tell me he wanted to play until after the sign up had ended. Because of this, I had to pay a late
fee. I paid this fee with no hard
feelings, since I was, after all, late registering. We were told we would be called be called by
our coach. After several calls to the
main office, we were asked to come to a special meeting at the park. Imagine our surprise when we arrived to find
the teams had not even been formed yet! By
this time, the other leagues had been practicing for two weeks already! If I have to pay a late fee for registering 2
days after the deadline, what accountability should the park county have to
take for being late?
Throughout the season, our team has struggled with equipment
shortages, mismanagement of practice schedules on the field, and having our
games cut short because of not enough time allowed between scheduled
games. We never did get helmets
provided! To say this has aggravated us is a correct assessment. However, nothing compares with the fiasco occurring
at the end of the season.
Our son has played the whole season looking forward to going
to his end of the year ceremony. He has
older brothers and has been to their award banquets. He was really looking forward to finally
accepting his trophy as his family looked on.
At the last game, we asked for the date and location of the end of the
season awards ceremony. We were told it
would probably be Tuesday of the following week, but that they would let
everyone know as soon as possible. On
Tuesday, my husband texted the coach.
The coach responded the get together had not been scheduled. On Monday of this past week, we again
contacted the coach to ask when the trophies were going to be handed out. At this point, we were told they had already
been handed out -- AT THE END OF THE YEAR PARTY! Our only option now is to pick up the trophy
from our coach and give it to our son- No banquet, no recognition of his achievement. The coach said the banquet had been planned
without his knowledge and he was only made aware of it after a mom called to
see if he was on his way! Did I mention
this was held about 3 miles from our house and had the coach called us when he
was called, we would have still made it?
He also mentioned only 4 kids showed up.
Really? Could it be because no
one knew that it was actually taking place?
Thank you so much Clayton County for making this season a memorable
one. My son will NEVER get this back.
This was his first season playing organized sports. This has taught us one important lesson… Pay
the out of county fees and let him play in a quality organization!
Sincerely,
Aaron and Karyn Campagnone
