Basketball Blues

Early last spring, after the boys found out that some of their friends were playing basketball through a church league, they wanted to play. It was too late to get them signed up then, but I promised we'd look into it this fall.

In October I registered the boys to play basketball with Lake Pointe Sports, an outreach program of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall. In November I was notified that the boys' teams did not have coaches yet, but we would be notified as soon as they were in place. (Since it's a church-run activity, coaches are generally parent volunteers instead of hired.) A week or so later, I got an email from Caleb's coach, and things got under way. He's already had one practice and has another one scheduled for tomorrow night. His first game will be Saturday.

Two days later I still hadn't heard anything about Jacob's coach, so I emailed the program coordinator. Two days later, on a Friday evening, I received a reply that I should've heard from the coaches already. She cc'd Jacob's two coaches and asked them to contact me. It's now 10 days later and I still haven't heard anything. Since Thanksgiving was in the midst of that, I allowed for extra time, but now there's been a full weekend on either end of the holiday.

This morning I emailed the program coordinator again, and I cc'd the two coaches she'd included in her reply to me. I told her that we still haven't heard anything from either coach. I mentioned that Caleb has had one practice and has another one tomorrow night, just for emphasis that things have been taking place with other teams. Then I asked her if I needed to try to get Jacob's jersey when we pick up Caleb's this Tuesday night or if I need to formally request a full refund of his registration fees. I softened that a bit by asking if there was another team he could be fit in with.

I really want Jacob to be able to play. He's had his heart set on this since the spring. After receiving confirmation of his registration, he's been ready to play. I'm willing to give Lake Pointe Sports a shot this year, but if things don't improve with Jacob's situation, this will be our last time to do anything with them.

Update
Monday
This morning I got a reply from the assistant coach. He apologized that we hadn't heard anything, but the only information he got from LP Sports was a list of players, no contact info. He isn't sure if the other coach is another assistant coach or the head coach; he hasn't talked with him, I guess.

This afternoon I got a reply from LP Sports. The coordinator said this is not normal, that they had to find new coaches since many of the ones from last year haven't stayed on. (I wonder why...) She said we should have a practice day/time set tomorrow. (We'll see...)

Tuesday
Tonight after we got home from Caleb's practice, I had an email waiting from Jacob's head coach. Apparently he never got a list of his players' contact information or any kind of practice/location schedule. Thankfully that's all worked out now! Jacob's team will have practice one hour before Caleb's team at the same gym. That makes things easy!

Unfortunately Jacob's team will not get a practice in before their first game Saturday afternoon. I think it's going to be madness - and a hoot!