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FPC Bulletin, Volume 13, Number 21, 4/24/13

04/24/2013, 6:30pm CDT
By Bob Tomlinson

Fastpitch Bulletin

This Special Poynette Jamboree Bulletin is being written on Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. The first part in colored fonts is copied from last night's bulletin. If you didn't read the bulletin above this one, go back up and work your way down.

Here comes trouble!

I'm getting close to getting my small, colored Post It notes out and sticking on my master board. It's like a game of hide and seek once I get started. A team's post it note hiding on me while I seek it and seek a spot to stick it to the master board. About the time I'm ready to start posting notes to the board an e-mail comes in and says. "Hey, you promised me games at the Jamboree and I don't see us on the list of teams entered."

For me that's like being in a rundown and trying to figure out which person with a ball in their hands I can run into. Only in this rundown I absolutely must be safe at the next base. I'd prefer that base to not be a base at all but rather a plate. Yes, "Safe at Home" would be perfect. I might be out of breath and gasping for the next one but at least I'm safe, the teams are safe and the schedule is safe."

Take a close look at this list. If there is something array, I need to know right away if I'm in the rundown. The sooner I know about the rundown the better. Here goes!

Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree Update
I'm about ready to schedule the Annual Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree. Thank goodness I waited as some teams have withdrawn and for good and understandable reasons. To have put the hours into a schedule and then have to start over would have been frustrating. Here is a list of teams that we have contracts from and the number of games each team has requested. According to my calculations we are full-up.
Friday Teams (15) and games requested (23): Catholic Central (1), Columbus (2), Baraboo (2), Belmont (1), Bonduel (2), Johnson Creek (2), Juda/Albany (1), Luxembug-Casco (1), Madison East (1), Marshall (1), Poynette (2), South Beloit (2), Westosha Central (2), Union Grove (2) and Wauwatosa East (2) (That means 11 or 12 games)

Saturday Teams (35) and games requested (85): Adams-Friendship (2), Almond-Bancroft (2), Altoona (2), Beaver Dam (3), Belmont (2), Brookwood (2), Cambria-Friesland (3), Catholic Central (3), Deerfield (2-3), DeForest (2), Dodgeland (2), Edgewood (2), G-E-T (2), Holmen (3), Lodi (2), Luxemburg-Casco (3), Madison East (1), Madison West (2), Marshall (2), Oconomowoc (2), Pacelli (2), Pardeeville (2), Pecatonica (2), Portage (2), Port Edwards (2), Poynette (2-3), Randolph (2-3), Rice Lake (3), River Valley (2), South Beloit (2), Stoughton (2), Thorp (3), Union Grove (2), Wauwatosa East (3), Westosha Central (3), Whitnall (3), Winneconne (3) (that means games)

If you see a mistake, something or someone missing get in touch with me immediately. I want to do the schedule just one time instead of the normal four to five times.

We have diamond space available for 13 games on Friday the 3rd of May. We have diamond space for 44 games on Saturday the 4th. That would be a record 57 games played. Gus Grafics will be on hand to do a Commemorative T-shirt for the Jamboree. It's the largest high school fastpitch event in the state. Games are played on five diamonds/fields in Poynette, two fields in Arlington, two fields in DeForest and two fields in Portage. Imagine if you will, an umpire budget of $6840!

Also imagine attempting to take care/satisfy that many teams when they request/demand/require certain times and want to play certain teams. Normally the process takes me two weeks. I now have 10 days before the event gets staged. Imagine a combination of mailed contracts combined with electronic contracts that all must get put into a master binder so the guy who actually schedules the event has them all. Imagine coaches whose athletic directors forgot to mail the contract back and that issue. Imagine somebody calling the event scheduler nearly a year in advance and being promised games and at certain times on specific days. There are apt to be some mole hills to smooth over.

This morning I'm apparently trying to smooth out issues with a missing Dodgeland contract and a missing New Berlin West contract. I also experienced a missing Madison West contract two days ago.

This year, for the first time in the history of the Jamboree, schools must pay their entry fees in advance of the event and in advance of the actual scheduling process. There is most likely going to be an issue with that last part however. There are a handful of schools that have not forwarded the fees. Those umpires don't donate their time. They demand to be paid. The team entry fee covers one umpire for every game that team plays. It doesn't take a math wizard to figure out the "checks" and balances of the operation. If you are a coach of one of the above listed teams, make sure that your AD has taken care of that responsibility.

As I sit here and type this - there are eight schools on the list that have not forwarded the fees. That is total of 21 games or a total of $1365 in umpire fees outstanding before the event gets underway. I will be in direct contact with those coaches soon.

Take a close look today!
Keep it Rising!
Bob

Tag(s): Bulletins