There is a schedule change for the 13u and 16uW teams for Sunday. The 13u is now playing at 1:55 at HVCC Court 1. The 16uW team is now playing at 9:30 at Cohoes High School Court 6.
I know this change comes last minute, but the teams should have been informed by their coaches earlier in the day. However, the 13u coaches were not informed of the change until after their first game and their players had already left, leaving them with no way to communicate with their players until the late game. The reason for the change had to do with the many schedule requests that our program made to the tournament director last week to accommodate our coaching staff and player requirements. We tried to satisfy everyone so that all of our teams could participate this weekend. In addition, our program is not the only program with requests. The tournament director has a very difficult task meeting all of the requirements. In the end, the tournament director missed one of OUR Sunday requirements that we gave him and we didn’t catch it until today. The original schedule that was sent to us had the 13u team playing at 1:55 and the 16uW team playing at 9:30. But another program teams request caused another change requirement which inadvertently switched the two teams game times. This change also helped alleviate an already difficult schedule for our 13u team because of the long layover for Saturday games. But by doing so, it violated one of our teams requirements that had previously been met. The change that was made today was simply going back to the original tentative schedule that was sent to me earlier in the week. So, this schedule change was, in part, my fault because I authorized the director to go back to the original schedule. I see now the impact that this change has on the 13u team, making a bad schedule for them even worse and I apologize for that.
Our teams have to understand that when we commit to playing in any tournament, it may require us to to play sometimes on Friday, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Our Saturday games can vary in time, with sometimes late ranging game times. For Sunday games, especially in tournaments that will provide for four games, our teams have to be prepared to play up until Sunday evening at 5pm…sometimes later. It’s the nature of the beast.
No one wants these things to happen. And, fortunately, it doesn’t happen often but it does happen. I apologize for the inconvenience. There will be a time that all of our teams will ask for special consideration for scheduling which we will try to meet. In the end, in this tournament, our teams have a chance to play four games, which would require an afternoon game. In fact, some of our teams may be playing in a 5pm game on Sunday.
It is my responsibility to communicate any and all changes in a timely manner to our teams. It is also my responsibility to try to alleviate unreasonable requirements. This one was unreasonable and I just didn’t catch it and I again apologize for that.
Thanks for your understanding.
Jim Santoro