Clayton County T-Ball Letter

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