"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 25 June 2012

The Time Has Come

The deluge I anticipated has not materialized. 
I am re-printing the comment below because it signifies so well 
how things have changed. It provides insight and information we could never have had or been able to use without  social media. 
I have known  Aurora Youth Soccer Club is serving a far larger area than Aurora. I did not know the extent. The name is a mis-nomer.
I've heard of people ousted from the executive for daring to speak against  their policies. 
I knew about the glossy magazine because I receive  a copy. . I have a sense of what these things cost and the revenue raised from   advertising.
I have an idea of membership dues and know they mean millions of dollars  are being handled by the club.
I knew about  rental of  a suite of offices because a request was made to the town to lend money to adapt them for the club's  use. 
I knew about the office staff, the foreign tournaments and the expensive coaches because it was all proclaimed in the magazine.
None of  it resembles in the slightest any other minor sports organization in town that struggles to keep dues reasonable.
There has never been an argument with staff , the club is anything but a thriving business.
But when it came to resisting demands for increased  facilities, arguments were limited because  there were  no percentages.No concerns expressed by parent members.
That has changed.Things always have to get worse before they get better.     

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Incoming Deluge":

Evelyn,
I am from a soccer family and coached for many years with AYSC. We have watched the club grow and change over the years. We have seen expensive programs and fancy soccer schools and high profile coaches command most of the clubs budget for years. The previous board of directors and management staff promoted a Doors Open policy for the club to include anyone who wished to sign up to the club, not just Aurora residents. Almost a if you come, we will build it mentality, and developed a fine friendship with our past mayor. Field space became difficult to acheive with the growth of the competetive division of the club. We have 10 age divisons, both boys and girls that support 2 or even 3 representative teams that all need lit full size fields to play on. If you had to poll all the competitive teams, you would find over 30% of the players are non residents.
We field as many teams as towns and cities 5 times our size. So that is a club problem, and not a town issue at all. The current AYSC does NOT support the glossy magazine and the shinanigans that went along with it. It would be in councillors best interest to realize that the current folks running the AYSC are completely different from the past management. Thank God. If the club actually reigned in on its number of rep teams, we may see the need for fields dropping in the near future. Time for the club to look really hard in the mirror before running to the town for more field
s.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a rude awakening! It's as if Aurora was under siege. We've mislaid a Museum and a Park. And now our kids are getting shafted. Will it never end?

Anonymous said...

This is like watching a car wreck. That guy on Alison's show sounded very plausible. Bringing all the sports groups together to raise the level of participation and training. He did say at the time that the town was NOT participating but he hoped that they would. Now it sounds as if he was blowing smoke.. makes one feel very small and insignificant - and stupid.

Anonymous said...

"Will it never end?"

The sarcasm? Never.

Anonymous said...

Use some of the money from the sale of Aurora Hydro and build the field. It seems to be lying around waiting for a rainy day, while the last of our green space is slated for development. Fight about who pays for what later.