Coaches are just people: don’t raise them up as Gods, or forget they make mistakes like you and me. Coaching is a calling, a passion. NO true coach is ever in it for a paycheck. They CHOOSE to coach to make a lasting impact on children and their futures. If a coach is complaining about money, (unless that IS his career, I get it Ron Rivera) that should be a red flag about his morals/ethics.
An average NC high school football coach will get paid about a $4000.00 supplement for the year. Let me repeat that - $4000.00 FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. That includes: Spring workouts, summer workouts, and the entire fall season. Let’s look at JUST the fall season… A typical week will include practice M-W (9 hrs) games on Th-F (10-12 hrs) getting the field ready (2hrs) Weekly mtg (2-4 hrs). So approximately 23-25 hrs/week for 12-16 weeks, or about 300-400 hours ‘on the clock’ minimum for the fall season alone. That coach is already down to $10/hr and spring and summer workouts haven’t even been factored in. CLEARLY it is not about the money, and in my opinion it never should be.
We are relatively new to the travel ball arena, and just like that game ‘which of these is not like the others’, that would be us! We are NOT a typical travel ball family. This is not our weekend activity, where we toss away our money. I am a teacher, Jay works in a factory; we drive old cars and eat off the dollar menu so our kids can play ball. Our kids get 1 of what they need and use it until it wears out or breaks. That includes sneakers, gloves, bats, etc. Our kids have been well-developed athletically thanks to their daddy and growing up on sports fields. But it came to a point where they needed more, so we chose an organization that we believe in – MVP. Savy has been involved with their softball program for 2 years and we could not be happier. She has played on great teams (10U, 12U) and has truly benefited as an athlete from Carlos’ classes at MVP, particularly his catching class and the speed/agility class. Both kids benefited from the winter workouts; and that is where Justice was introduced to MVP where he would actually ‘tag-along’ with his little sister. It took us longer to allow him to play travel ball, but we eventually caved to the peer pressure from Carlos and Nick. He has loved playing on this team, so we are so glad that we caved ☺
But oh…the DRAMA…
Silence is golden. Drama is a lot like a fight or an argument. You don’t need to attend every one that you are invited to. Sometimes the quietest people are the smartest ones. And you never have to remember which lie you told who…if you only speak the truth, or just don’t speak at all.
Even after Savy’s first season of softball, I was NOT adequately prepared for the drama of the baseball diamond. Apparently my amazing MIL and “Aint” Sue could have warned me, but they didn’t 😀 LOL Now don’t get me wrong, I can get along with ANYONE (ok, just about anyone) so I really enjoyed all the parents, families, siblings, etc. And by siblings, I mean little brothers! Let me just explain our families – there are like 25 all boy families! Ok that may be exaggerating, but really we have 4 or 5 families that have ALL boys, and by ALL boys I mean 3 or 4 boys! When the little brothers run off to play it’s like Sandlot, for real.
I am a loyal person (more on that in the next blog) and I am VERY black and white. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Ok, so maybe he gets the Spectrum thing from me 😉 LOL So honestly, it’s not the people, but the DRAMA I just can’t handle. And this season became a negative fest. I get that those things happen, especially when teams are losing; and we did that, a lot. But it got to the point that it seemed like everything wrong and bad in the world was MVP’s (Carlos & Stephanie) fault and that our team, our coach had no accountability. Zero. Now I am not here to just slam our coach, I think he is a great kid. In fact I told him after the very first tournament (through tears) that he has no business being as good as he is at his age. I meant it; he ‘gets’ our kid, and that alone is no easy task. But he IS young, and he still has a lot to learn. There is much to be said for the wisdom that comes with experience. For example, I lost my mind at the first tournament when we made several 3rd outs at third base. And it was still happening at the end of the season ☹ Now I don’t keep the book, so I don’t know if it is the same kid, but it IS the same coach making that call. Learn from your mistakes.
We came to the party a bit late with this team, so we may have missed some stuff, but it seemed like part of the rift, negativity, he said/she said had to do with money. As I have said before, when I speak I state MY opinion, backed with facts. (I mean, it IS my blog LOL)
This is what I know:
I have heard several people say that our coach has not been paid from the organization (MVP)
~ I have seen $1200+ in checks that our coach has cashed from MVP, including one for the hotel in Greensboro.
I paid $200 in cash for Justice’s uniform.
~There is only $100 recorded on the spreadsheet as being paid.
Several boxes of new balls were just bought (by MVP) and given to our coach for the 14U team (within the last few weeks). They have never used these at practice.
~Our coach didn’t know we needed to bring balls this past weekend (although it was in the rules that HE sent to all the parents), so a PARENT went out and bought some.
A GoPro was bought for the 14U team (by the parents) for recruiting/promoting purposes. Having a HS athlete we were obviously very excited about this.
~I saw it for the first time this Saturday for a few minutes. When Jay asked on Monday about recording Justice in the cage this week he was told it is broken and being sent back for repairs.
Our team was NEVER registered for this 3 day, $800, wood bat SC tournament. We were originally registered for a 2 day, $250 tournament in Anderson.
~The Anderson tournament was cancelled due to lack of teams. OUR coach, OUR parents chose to play this tournament.
Here are some of the things that I have overheard:
Carlos has gone out and bought a boat with all the money.
~If you knew them at all, or spent any time at MVP; you would know that they eat, sleep, and breathe MVP. They are there all the time!
The facility is locked up, they’ve closed and Carlos has to use Heritage’s field.
~He did practice at Heritage all week, one week. The Showcase team was preparing for a tournament; I know because Justice was there.
The 11U team is terrible; they haven’t won a game. But we love Coach.
~WTF. I’m sorry. Sure he’s a great guy (well, maybe you should reread ^^), but he is coaching 2 teams that can’t win. I can’t speak for 11U, but 14U has the talent. And I have watched my husband out coach talented teams to win games for years.
THIS is what I truly do not understand…Why not ask? Why not question things? When I have a question, like I did about this SC tournament way back in June, I called and asked Stephanie. She registers the teams for the tournaments, so I went to the source. I would like to think that these parents don’t believe EVERYTHING that comes out of their own teenagers’ mouths (if so, God help their poor teachers! Lol) yet believe every word that comes out of another teen’s mouth! MVP is a business; it is this family’s livelihood. They have poured their hearts and souls into this endeavor. They are accountable to 14 teams, countless parents, families and the community. They have receipts, they have records – all you have to do is ask. Go have a conversation with Stephanie, with Carlos. But you will NOT like what you hear, because I haven't even scratched the surface. You WILL feel betrayed, because you have been lied to, you have been stolen from. And then if you are smart you will walk away and let the chips fall where they may. I have spent months encouraging people to take the high road, because that is what we teach our children. But sometimes, wrong is wrong and sometimes wrong is so wrong it is criminal.
