I suspect organization of stealing player funds

[Momo'sDad]

Good point about doing the "honorable" thing, Indiana. There's no question that - legal questions aside - the fact that they wouldn't act in an honorable manner without hesitation was surprising to me. HC and our manager are taking the high road here, but as a loyal minion, I'm allowed to be deeply offended on their behalf. I don't know if it's more sad or more relieving when the true character of unscrupulous individuals is revealed. I suppose it's a bit a both, but I guess that's why I love karma so much.

 

[Rocketech1]

Yes, we'd like to keep what we paid for.

What do you think you actually paid for that should now be returned that you feel is rightfully yours?

I know on my DD 12u travel team that we paid $200 upfront and have $110 monthly dues. We also have an occasional fundraiser. We play at least one tournament a month (which runs about $400 - $500 per team). Other weekends they have 4 game friendlies and/or 4 hour practices. Frequently the older division (14u, 16u, and 18u) will run practices and work with the younger players. The coaches all volunteer their time to coach and train my DD to be the best softball player she can be. Their compensation for all this hard work is zero.

I'm my opinion, travel ball fees is money well spent and I don't expect to get a dime back after the season.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

^ Rocketech1, Your costs are double what they are around here. I consider that expensive for 12U. Are you paying for an indoor facility?

 

[SoAZDad]

Each player of the 12U through 18U teams in my DDs org pays a monthly tournament fee of $100 and $50 monthly dues. I think the 10Us pay $50 and $25, respectively.

DD plays a couple tourneys a month. Tournament fees include paying for the HCs hotel room in out-of-town tourneys. ACs are on their own. Unused tourney fees often accumulate and are kept in personal player accounts for Nationals.

Monthly dues are used to replenish equipment and pay the org president.

Each player is responsible for ordering and maintaining their own uniforms through a local vendor's website.

The org has two categories of fundraisers, general ones that spread the profits throughout the org, and working sporting gigs. The pay for each parent that works the sports events goes directly into his/her DDs tourney account.

It all works pretty well and we always know our DDs tournament balance.

 

[Easton33]

What do you think you actually paid for that should now be returned that you feel is rightfully yours?

I know on my DD 12u travel team that we paid $200 upfront and have $110 monthly dues. We also have an occasional fundraiser. We play at least one tournament a month (which runs about $400 - $500 per team). Other weekends they have 4 game friendlies and/or 4 hour practices. Frequently the older division (14u, 16u, and 18u) will run practices and work with the younger players. The coaches all volunteer their time to coach and train my DD to be the best softball player she can be. Their compensation for all this hard work is zero.

I'm my opinion, travel ball fees is money well spent and I don't expect to get a dime back after the season.

That is pretty high in my opinion as well. Yearly fees are about $600, 2 sets of uniforms included, insurance, 4 months of indoor facility, year's worth of field rental, and equipment. The tournament fees are pay as you go and we play 3 a month. Think about that, with 10 players that is 6k and we play 90+ games a year.

 

[Rocketech1]

^ Rocketech1, Your costs are double what they are around here. I consider that expensive for 12U. Are you paying for an indoor facility?

We live in SoCal and they have been playing Triple Crown Sports qualifying events for USSSA in Utah in case we don't qualify it PGF this summer. They play at nice facilities like Big League Dreams parks.

Our monthly dues are less than some orgs. The real cost is overnight stays at tournaments and weekly pitching and hitting lessons which run $200 a month.

 

[Momo'sDad]

There are things an org often needs to maintain fields and facilities - tractors, hoses, drags, rakes, bases, plugs, etc. - but then teams typically have different needs - buckets, nets, balls, tees, etc. I'm talking about team stuff. If an org runs practices or clinics, etc, then yes, I could certainly understand them wanting to build up a cache of items for that purpose. I have no problem with that. Some do have that type of operation, but that's not the case here. As I've stated, we agreed to and did pay a set, per-player fee each season that went toward the collective good, whether it was used that season or not. Yes, that fee was paid along with our regular fees - just as the uniforms were - but it was a specific amount.

Because it's so expensive, I think it's prudent to keep an eye on the money. That's just smart money management.

 

[Rocketech1]

Because it's so expensive, I think it's prudent to keep an eye on the money. That's just smart money management.

At the beginning of the travel ball season our org sent us an estimate of the annual expenses so all the parents were prepared of what fees to expect throughout the season. They seam to be fairly transparent with the money.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

I don't really know what is wanted here. Opens with accusations of stealing funds (that honestly seems unfounded without more solid proof) to wanting the org to give you equipment because your team is not happy and wants to split from the org. But you also told a person in this thread that dd joining their team was a possibility. So is your whole team wanting to leave or just you and your dd aren't happy and want to leave?

Do you want to look into their books for fear of money theft...or do you just want to force them to give you equipment because of hard feelings?

 

[SoCal_Dad]

... teams typically have different needs - buckets, nets, balls, tees, etc. I'm talking about team stuff. ...

Teams usually carry and store that kind of stuff themselves - do you still have it? From a practical standpoint, this might be one of those cases where possession is 9/10's of the law because it isn't worth going to court.

Who determined the player fee amount - the team or the org? IOW, did the team budget the purchase of the "team stuff" while setting the player fees or was the org involved in it?

This is why every team we were on had its own checking account. We managed our own finances and rendered to Caesar what was Caesar's.