A word about last season

[daholly]

Parents & Players,

Now that club season is set to begin some information needs to be
shared.

Last Fall Apex was a new club with a lot of eager kids in the
community looking for a local organization to play with. In the
beginning no one thought the idea would work. Numbers had dwindled at
another club in the area and people were driving out of town to clubs
in Bloomington and Champaign in increasing numbers. After the first
parent's informational meeting last Fall, even I was a little
skeptical that enough people would buy into the idea that a club could
exist that met the needs of players who wanted to improve their
skills. Eventually a group of kids was assembled and two high school
teams were formed in the 16 & under and 17 & under age groups. When
Spring came several new high school players joined us and we were
launching five teams in the Jr. High/Elementary age groups.

All the teams experienced a degree of success and there was immediate
talk of what the future would be for Apex. However, the club was in a
difficult financial situation and tough choices had to be made. The
completion of the announced schedule was in realistic danger of not
being completed without completion of payment plans or a generous
donation from the community. Ultimately the generous contribution came
from me personally to allow the 17u, 16u, and 14u teams to pay for and
participate in the ASICS National Championships at a cost of over
$1,800 and the Jr High and elementary programs to finish their season.
The only other option was to remove the players who weren't current
and cause some of the teams to be short-handed and possibly disbanded.

On some teams, players families just hadn't been able to continue
making payments and to prevent those particular teams from having to
disband due to no having enough players, I allowed these athletes to
continue playing after talking to parents about finding a way to pay
their remaining balance. When the season was completed the staff still
had to be paid and I again dug into my own pockets and wrote out
checks from personal funds to coaches who asked to be paid. To date,
I've written checks for partial payment in the amount of $3596.00 that
have been given to Apex coaches. There is still more outstanding that
needs to be paid and if Apex can't recover it, the expectation is for
me to pay more out of pocket.

The goal of the club was to make it as affordable as possible. There
wasn't much of a financial "cushion" to handle going over budget and
most of the fundraising that took place went to help out individuals
or to help recover what was lost. At the time I felt even the paying
parents would feel more cheated if the season was ended prematurely
because players were removed and teams were short.

After making a final request to everyone who still hadn't paid, these
records were turned over to MidState Collection agency and the names
of the players were turned into the USA Volleyball office to place a
block on any attempt to register for any club (including Apex) until
they are notified the debt has been resolved.

During the club season I also interviewed for a new job and was
offered a position in St. Louis, Mo or the opportunity to stay in
Decatur, IL. I declined the St. Louis offer for personal reasons
which included finishing what I had started in the community with Apex
and knowing that I was happy in Decatur and still had an opportunity
to be involved in working with kids in volleyball in this area. I
still believe in the original idea of forming Apex in the first place
and although it has placed a financial hardship on me I believed in it
enough to take on the club's debt to the best of my ability because it
was never an option to go forward without resolving those issues.

While I have worked extremely hard to work with some of the families
and resolve the club's debt as well as work with the Decatur YMCA to
pay the remainder of the gym rental it has been extremely difficult
and in the face of all the rumors that have circulated I think
everyone needed to hear something from me for a change. Yes, mistakes
were made to try to accomplish exactly what was promised when the club
started. ALL players (those that paid and those that haven't finished
paying) received quality coaching, a competitive schedule, and the
full season as was promised but the cost was high.

This season there are several safeguards in place to make sure the
same issues are not repeated. I hope those that wish to return believe
in the concept of Apex as much as I did and remain with the club this
season. I've talked to a number of people and businesses about ways to
raise money for the club and obviously welcome any fresh ideas or
thoughts.


To people that have been negatively affected I apologize and hope that
this all gets resolved as quickly as possible. I've had to accept that
after everything that has happened some people are just finished with
Apex (and myself) on any level and that is a regret that I'll have to
carry for a while.

Tony

[Jennifer Beasley]

I think a good way to stop all the rumors and the negativity about the
club and the association with the Y is to submit the financial records
and let it be public knowledge. After all the parents who did hold up
to their end of the responsibility of the club and paid their dues
have a right to see for themselves just where the money went and just
who dug deep into their own pockets to help the club. That should put
the negativity and the rumors to rest.

[Stacy Domescik]

I agree with Mrs. Beasley. There needs to be complete transparency
not only should you release financial records also release Board
Meeting Minutes so that the right individuals receive credit for the
good and/or the bad. I think a lot of people would be shocked!