organising next year

[Amaya Dunworth]

Hi again Softball Cork, 

I posted this on Facebook 

"any chance a meeting can be set up for organising the committee for next year? some place where we can all talk?"

But as there has been no response from current committee members I figured an email would get a better response. Any chance a meeting could be organised?

Thank you, 

Amaya

[Amaya Dunworth]

The social was already done October 12th. I actually think that we need to just start organising for next year and discuss the challenges we met this year so that they don't happen again. The rain is clearly something we need to discuss, maybe together we can find a way to train despite the rain.(indoor,sliding...) Payment and fees are another. Things need to be out in the open so everyone can move forward. This year, even though we only trained a few times, was so much better than last year. That comes down to people discussing and suggesting a more structured session and you in particular offering to coach. This all happened at the end of year/season meeting. The same should happen this year.

The group/team need a treasurer's report, a captain's report, a coach's report and a forum to disscus issues. New people should be assigned to tasks and everyone should be aware of the diffiuclties faced by each task so that everyone can understand the frustations faced and help constructively.

Long reply Ciaran, I know. But I just think that if issues are not addressed Cork Softball will just dissappear.

On 20 Oct 2012 22:24, "Ciaran O'Sullivan (E-mail)" <coachc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Amaya,
I got saw the posting on FB.  I am not sure that people will be in a positive frame of mind about the sport just now.  It was a bit of bust of a season to say the least.  I would suggest a social type meeting first maybe. 

Ciaran

On 19 October 2012 18:46, Amaya Dunworth <amayad...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hi again Softball Cork, 
>
> I posted this on Facebook 
>

> "any chance a meeting can be set up ...

Amaya

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XXIII

[Ali Twomey]

Hey,

Well, yes there was an social gathering on Friday, 12 Oct, but not many turned up. Perhaps clearing the air through AGM might make for a better turn out for social occasions - that's my opinion, but as I've not been an active participant this year, I'll happy defer to the majority...

Steve and I spoke about an AGM a couple of times since end of Aug but, trying to a get time that suits me with work is always going to prove difficult. So, Amaya, why don't you post to FB, providing a date, time, and venue for the AGM. You're eager and seem to be willing to move things forward, which is what the club needs:>

Can you also send an e-mail with the same details to corkso...@googlegroups.com? I don't have an FB a/c, nor will I ever have one; there are others like me in the club. If I can make it, I will. If not, here's the financial report:

Total at start of season -- 1152.60
Incoming for the season (ie membership fees) -- 135
Outgoings for the season (ie pitch hire) -- 1200
Total at end of season -- 87.60

As you can all see, pretty poor reading.

Re: next year etc. I strongly encourage new committee members, but even a committee needs club members to support, and everyone must take an active role in running the club. I've done my 2 year tenure and I will not be involved in the committee next year. While there's not much in terms of treasurer duties, I still don't think anyone should commit to a committee role if they can't even make training on a regular basis:> [I'm living proof!!]

As we already discussed on numerous occasions, UCC fields are great but expensive; this location is certainly not tenable when people do not pay membership fees. True, asking for them near the end of the season is not acceptable either. All the money that we had planned to use for equipment from the old softball a/c, went to pay for the pitch. We won't be so fortunate next year, because there are very little funds left.

People need to plan for the possibility that Munster league won't get off the ground again next year, unless there are also Cork members actively involved in organising it. All the good intentions from the AGM in Sept '11, came to naught in terms of promotion and building numbers for the Cork club. Either we get numbers in Cork to have our own league or expect that members in the cork club or a sub-committee of the cork club will have to organise matches with Leinster teams and hold one or many Cork blitzes, go to blitzes in other counties, provinces etc.

If the club can sort out a free pitch, Michael Mannion had suggestions [Ballinlough or Kennedy park] or Ballincollig regional park, then there's no reason why there can't be a weekly formal training session and then a 2nd day to practice or hold the training session should the weather be crap.

Indoors cost money, and is more dangerous unless playing with indoor equipment. Again, fees paid at start of season to sort out insurance!

Right, enough of my essay. Hopefully, there'll be a AGM, and we can discuss it further. If not, well the future of this club is in everyone's hands, take action and don't expect someone else to do it for you!

Thanks,
a

[Ciaran O'Sullivan (E-mail)]

Hi

If I were to do a coaching report it would not be focused on the Softball side of things.  Pretty much softball is an ‘anyone can play” sort of game.  I think the bit we did, put people on the right track and improvements were made. 

 

A few issues would form the bulk of my report.

 

1.       Team Building

2.       Time

Team Building in the current format is very difficult.  Most teams have set opponents and/or a focus which the team works towards.  This normally includes structured competition (league) or bigger events (overseas trips/national championships).  The absence of common objective (sure we all want to play softball – but at different levels of intensity) undermines the very point of a team.  It does not matter what format is chosen for next season, I suggest strongly that it is chosen early, fixtures set in stone.  This will give our team something to work towards. 

 

Time: People need to commit a little more of their time than they are doing to be softball players – even at recreational level.  The once a week format does not allow for this.  Should training conflict with player’s other (real life or sporting) priorities softball will always lose.  That is BEFORE we factor in weather breaks etc.  Again with a deadline (see above) the time is limited and treated more preciously.  Currently (over the past few years) it would not be unusual to see a person every third or fourth week.  We are all happy to see them and that, but what are they learning & contributing. 

 

Last season I suggested the 7aside thing as a way to address the above and other issues.  I am not doing so again.  But the problems are the same.  Unless we face common enemies we have no reason to become a team!!!  Once we face a common enemy we will work harder as team to beat them!  Until then we will look for enemies where we should be looking for team mates and nothing constructive or positive will come of the that!

 

C

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XXIII

[Sanjay Nayak]

Hi,

As somebody who did not play the last year but has been for previous several years and put a lot of personal time into it (like you Ali) and is very interested in future of the club, this is amazingly shocking that there was 135 euros of membership collected, i.e., approx 2 people paid full subscription or equivalent there-of!! And at this time those who paid must feel real stupid. Was the money not collected or not asked? I've seen several discussions and emails about membership charges and such in the past couple of years, which either sounded like people were either apologetic about charges or giving out about them. I had people give out about them to me when I was there. Why does it feel so hard to ask for subscription?!! There is no such thing as free anything, and it looks like a lot of it went for free this year. Its a recreational sport, its the same as any other, pay and play. Any subscription charges in last couple of years cost at-most 5 euro per day, and less if paid for the season. That's less than most other sports/activities, and one doesn't have to purchase any gear.

I know numbers coming to play does matter a whole deal for the money collected, and pitch costs are a killer. But at least the simple things must be done well, and collecting money, I'm sorry is a simple one, everyone needs subscription. Once the subscription charges were agreed at start of season, they must have been collected, period.

Anyway, I still am not sure when I myself can return to softball, hopefully some time soon. But I hope and wish the best for the cork softball club to continue.

On 22 October 2012 19:51, Ali Twomey <alit...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Peter O' Keeffe]

I'm sorry again but to say that people didn't pay this year and that that is shocking is disingenuous. There has been little to no opportunity to pay. As I have said in the past I am happy to pay my subscription but when a fee isn't decided upon until just befores second last training session, and no one shows up at the session after that, that allowed one night where people could pay, and if they didn't have the money on them that night, or didn't make it, or just weren't aware then it would not be possible for them to pay.

I know it was a tough year and I'm not saying its anyones fault but its unfair to say people didn't pay when there was no opportunity to pay.

[MYNOR MURPHY]

Hi all,

Sanjay is right. If you wish to be part of the club you have to understand that you need to pay the year or daily fee without waiting til people ask for money. That saving for previous year were spent and people were complaining a lot about the rain and lack of training but I didn't know that they weren't paying the fee. As Sanjay said: those that pay may feel very stupid. A club is not something that survives having member that avoid to pay their fee. I would suggest that the person that don't pay in the first 3 training session would be ask to leave the pitch. Playing softball in the past in Cork was something that everyone enjoyed and respect decisions from those that are ruling the club. You have voice and vote but not right to try to disorganize de club in any aspect.

Mynor. 

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Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 23:07:49 +0100
Subject: Re: [Cork Softball Club] organising next year
From: snay...@gmail.com
To: alit...@gmail.com; amayad...@gmail.com; corkso...@googlegroups.com; coachc...@gmail.com

[Peter O' Keeffe]

How can we pay the money when it hasn't been decided how much needs to be paid? Who is just gonna hand over money without knowing at least that much first

I'm sorry, I know that it sounds simple, but you weren't here this season and it wasn't that straight forward. We had small numbers this year and we didn't play very often. A fee should have been decided upon in the first few weeks but from what I know it wasn't known how often we'd play, how many people etc, I believe Stevie was trying to find somewhere cheaper as the fees were more than likely going to be muchhigher than usual this year which is why we were not asked to pay.

I don't like saying this but you weren't there during the season so you can't just say we should have done this we should have done that, because it wouldn't have worked out the way you suggest.

In the end I believe it ended up at €180 euro, we were informed of this late in the season, thats a large amount of money for people to come up with over night, there were two further training sessions, one of which almost no one showed up at and so there was only one opportunity to pay the fee this year.

[Ali Twomey]

Hey all,

OK. I think the points made by Sanjay, Mynor, and Peter regarding the fees are all valid. So, like anything else, we learn from it, determine how to resolve it, and put a plan in place to avoid it occurring next year.

Amaya, did you put up an FB post regarding an AGM?

Thanks,
a

[Alan Daly]

Hi All,

Understand where everyone is coming from, but I feel it would be best to keep these discussions over email / Facebook to a minimum.

Instead may I ask if everyone who has a vested interest to make a note of the issues / concerns / recommendations etc that you may have. These should be then forwarded to the secretary - please be concise in your points.

Once the meeting date and location has been decided, we can discuss all the issues in more detail on the night and hopefully we can move forward to getting things ready for the 2013 season.

If for a reason, you cannot attend that night, but want a your points brought up, then I am more than happy to be your spokesperson on the night...

Regards,
Al..

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From: okeeff...@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:09:23 +0100

Subject: Re: [Cork Softball Club] organising next year

To: myno...@hotmail.com
CC: snay...@gmail.com; alit...@gmail.com; amayad...@gmail.com; corkso...@googlegroups.com; coachc...@gmail.com

[MYNOR MURPHY]

Hi to all,

Alan and Alison has just made a good points in this discussion. We all know what was the problem and in our hands are the responsibility to work it out and find a solution. I know I'm not there and my apologize for my opinions and they are just done in the best interest of the club and the sport in Cork. I want to give ye the best wishes for the next activities, seasons to come and praying for nice summer in 2013.

Kind regards,

Mynor.

---

From: mrad...@hotmail.com
To: okeeff...@gmail.com; myno...@hotmail.com

CC: snay...@gmail.com; alit...@gmail.com; amayad...@gmail.com; corkso...@googlegroups.com; coachc...@gmail.com

Subject: RE: [Cork Softball Club] organising next year
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:14:37 +0000

[Amaya Dunworth]

Hey guys sorry I haven't organised a day yet, i've been very busy over the past couple of days. I must say it is obvious people need to talk and get together to organize next year. But I will ask this, who is secretary Alan? I didn't realize somebody was. Anyway for the moment I will take on the role and we can talk about nominations at the meeting. 

How does Thursday 8th November sound? That is two weeks away. 7.45 pm Imperial Hotel Bar. (as it's a Thursday night it might be a bit studenty in a regular bar, but feel free to change venue).

Please let everybody know about the venue and time. It is important that everyone be involved in the AGM especially if they will be playing next year, but also to get more views on things and examples from different years.

It would be great if people could let me know if the day suits because if it turns out to be a bust a new date will have to be arranged.

I'll make a list of people who will attend, an agenda including nominations for next year and write down the decisions made at the meeting. I think the best thing would be to have a structured meeting with somebody designated to move things along if we are getting too bogged down in certain issues, this can be discussed at the beginning of the meeting. 

Thank you, I look forward to hearing back from everyone.

Amaya

[Brian Turner]

Hi Amaya,
 
Thanks for agreeing to organise this.  I hope to be there on the 8th (unlike my poor attendance at training this year - work commitments and injuries conspired against me).
 
I know that Alan suggested leaving discussions until the AGM, but I would just like to make a couple of observations that people might like to reflect on between now and the AGM.
 
Firstly, running a softball club is not as easy as it looks.  I've previously been involved in the running of the Cork club and, before that, the club I played for in Dublin, and the level of time and effort it takes should not be underestimated.  Secondly, the weather this year made the running of the club even more challenging than usual.  And it's not just perception - Met Eireann reported that the weather station at Cork Airport (not a million miles from Bishopstown, as indicated by the low-flying aircraft at some training sessions!) recorded its wettest summer on record.  Thirdly, every year that I've been playing here in Cork (i.e. from 2006 onwards), efforts have been made to try to source a free pitch, yet every year we've ended up playing in Curraheen.  Unfortunately, finding a free pitch is not easy - if places are free then other people want them as well, and we might have no guarantee of being able to use the facilities from week to week.  If we end up playing in a public park or other public area, then we would need to be conscious about third-party liability insurance, which would mean that registering with Softball Ireland (and bearing the associated cost) would be a must in order to avail of their insurance policy.  In this regard, I think that it would be worthwhile for someone from the incoming committee to attend the Softball Ireland AGM to represent Cork's interests.
 
I hope these observations are of some use.  On the issue of paying subscriptions, if people want to pay but haven't had an opportunity to do so, could this be facilitated on the night of the AGM?  (Alison, would you be happy to do this?)
 
Thanks,
Brian
 

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Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:11 +0100

Subject: Re: [Cork Softball Club] organising next year

From: amayad...@gmail.com
To: myno...@hotmail.com
CC: mrad...@hotmail.com; okeeff...@gmail.com; snay...@gmail.com; alit...@gmail.com; corkso...@googlegroups.com; coachc...@gmail.com

[Alan Daly]

AGM reminder Thursday 8th (today) Imperial Hotel 19.45

See you all there.

[Maura kelly]

Hi All,    THanks for the reminder Alan. Sorry can't make meeting tonight.  Hope it goes well.    All the best, Maura --- On Thu, 11/8/12, Alan Daly <mrad...@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Alan Daly <mrad...@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: [Cork Softball Club] organising next year

[Ger Casey]

Hi All ,

With every good intention of attending tonight, I now need to offer my apologies and let you know that neither Graeme or I will attend tonight as Graeme is in hospital and will possibly have surgery today.  

Graeme and I did pay our fees this year and therefore are the only two valid voting members for the AGM .  As neither of us will be there this evening, can I suggest we begin all over again with a fresh start for Cork softball.

My son Seán who plays with suspects softball team in Dublin had agreed during the IOST to put some teams together for a day tournament in May to play and to do demo matches in order to get the public interested in Cork softball.   The other teams involved with him that he approached were 2 pack and Marlay, plus two other teams.   If you as a group are interested in this idea please let me know and it can easily be arranged, so that we can have an early start to the season, and perhaps get fees paid up early in the year as well as gaining new members. 

 

Best regards And good wishes for a good meeting for tonight,

Ger. 

Sent from my iPad

On 8 Nov 2012, at 10:19, Alan Daly <mrad...@hotmail.com> wrote:

AGM reminder Thursday 8th (today) Imperial Hotel 19.45

See you all there.

[Amaya Dunworth]

Thanks for letting us know Ger, I will forward your and Graeme's apologies, I do hope Graeme is ok? 

Regarding the agenda, I haven't heard back from anybody regarding any specific issues so here is a brief outline of the things that should probably be discussed tonight.

Accounts 

Treasurer's report

Price of field

Free field

Membership fee

Insurance to softball or munster ireland

Weekly fee

Training

Coach's report

Wet day training

Alternative day training 

Blitz

Friendly games

Official games

List of other Irish teams

Gear (new?, individual?)

Uniform

Team name

Increasing numbers

Advertising
Fundraising

Communication

Email list reform

Number list?

Committee members and roles

Captain
Coach

Treasurer

Any Other Issue

See you all (except Maura, Ger, Graeme and Peter) in a few hours

Amaya