Please share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with your tryouts this season (below). We really appreciate your input and would like to see how the early offer policy affected you.
Share both good and bad, and please remember this is a 'G' rated site so even in frustration, please keep your thoughts constructive.
Thanks for your input!
We want to thank all the kids who took interest in our club and the time to tryout. We wish we had more teams and could take all of you as this was one GREAT tryout with GREAT KIDS.
Our club made 30 offers in all. 29 of those 30 signed with Buckeyefire. That is a great gift to our hard working staff and coaches. It tells us we are doing the right things and getting our message out there. WELCOME our new and returning Buckeyefire girls!!!
STILL LOOKING FOR ONE MIDDLE HITTER. IF ANY OF YOU KNOW OF A 15 OR 16 YEAR OLD GIRL, WHO CAN PLAY OR BE CONVERTED TO MIDDLE HITTER, PLEASE EMAIL US. AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR A VERY SUCCESSFUL TRYOUT!!!
It's official...here's your 2012 Rosters:
CROSSFIRE 16A WELCOMES:
JACQUIE COMPANEY
BAILEY WATROBA
SARA KULA
HOLLY TAYLOR
PAIGE TANZER
EMILY PORTMAN
HANNAH ANDERSON
HANNAH SMAGOLA
JENNA COOK
ALYSSA WALLACE
SAFIRE 16R WELCOMES:
MONICA SUTKAYTIS
RACHEL SLONSKY
SAMANTHA STEETS
ANNIE WEBER
ANNA ZARLINGA
SHANNON RAFFERTY
ALEXIS SHORT
BREANNA BENNER
LOREN LENCZEWSKI
REDFIRE 18R WELCOMES:
MEAGAN ROBERTS
KELSEY WATROBA
KATIE SMOLENY
CARA GIAMMARIA
LINDSAY SHIRILLA
KATIE BICA
NICOLE DIEHL
TKEYAH GREER
MEGAN GLIVAR
CORIE NISCHT
Last season was the first year clubs were allowed to offer early contracts to players during a small window in the summer months. We do not doubt that the OVR is always attempting to improve and open minded to new ideas and concepts, however all should know that Buckeyefire will continue to operate under the old guidelines.
In reality, none of the staff here at Buckeyefire believes that a 15,16, or17 year old athlete should be put in a position to determine if she wants to come back the next season with the same team. As suspected, this new policy has created a nightmare for some of our young athletes as well as athletes who worked hard to improve in their high school seasons and now may not get the same opportunity.
Plain and simple, our club believes in honesty and making the kids growth both athletically and as young women, first. If we had offered any early contracts, we would be in a position of making promises we may not be able to keep.
Examples are:
· Which players will return with you? We can tell you who we offered but you won't know who's coming back or not. There is no way for us to promise this.
· The coach will remain the same. We don't know this to be factual. A coach isn't ready to make a commitment in July either and we have no way to tell you without doubt, that your coach will return.
· The policy gives the athlete an impression she is returning to the same team, same philosophy, same coach, same system and none of that can be promised.
· The policy creates ill will. Say what you want, but the young student athlete is put in a 'no win' situation. Refusal or acceptance has substantial risk and I'm not sure why we do this to our kids.
Instead, our club opposes the policy all together. We believe that it is our responsibility to perform as a club in a way that makes you return season after season because you 'want' to return. We are very proud that a high percentage of our players tryout with us every season. They understand that each year they must earn a spot, and they also understand that no player has been 'automatically' placed above them.
A great example of this is our 18's team this season. I couldn't be more proud of these girls, and they put an exclamation mark on our stand. We waited until after the high school season, then contacted our girls from last season. This was a very successful 17A team. We returned an entire roster on their own accord and our club accepted each and every one of them, with open arms, to complete their JO experience with us.
The message we send to other clubs is, treat these kids and their parents well. Care about their well being and the growth as a person. You don't need an early 'contract' to 'close the deal'. These are young and impressionable student athlete's looking for guidance. Not looking for more pressures that can eventually turn them away from the sport. Our job is to see them through to their adult lives!
Sincerely,
Grant Roberts
Club Director