TGIF… we made it to the end of Week 1 of the school year. 🎉🎉
Now, instead of celebrating yet, I need just one quick minute to be negative.
I have a Pet Peeve to get off my chest. The best representation for how I feel about this current situation is:
Here we go. So, Asher is joining a new soccer club this fall.
However, over half of the team are starting high school this fall, and half the team (including Asher) are only starting 8th grade. (It goes by birth year, so anyone born in 2009 would be on this team, regardless of grade in school.)
Anyway. So he’s joining a new club, and since 1/2 the kids won’t actually play in the fall due to high school season (they will return in the spring), Asher + the other 8th graders are getting lumped in with another team temporarily for the fall only.
The new coach has been TERRRRRRRRIBLE about any sort of communication, though, and it is driving me absolutely bananas.
One parent already sent an email to the whole email list last week (which they swiped from an automated email from the club about uniforms…) asking, “Has there been any communication about practices, etc yet for the fall??” They were wondering if somehow they weren’t receiving messages. Several people replied all, saying, nope, nada… to which neither the Coach nor the Director of Coaching responded, either. (Wouldn’t you think they’d immediately apologize and send a response?! I checked, and they were on the email.)
Finally last week we got an email on Monday around 3 p.m. just saying, “We will be combining 2 teams for practice in the fall; first practice tomorrow from 2-4 p.m.”
Okay, great. Thank you for less than 24 hours’ notice before hosting practice at 2:00 p.m. on a freaking Tuesday!!! Because you know, nobody works.
After that practice, I heard nothing about when the next practice would be, so I emailed the coach & director of coaching on Wednesday morning and asked if we could please get the whole practice schedule, because “we have a lot going on and I need to know when/ where I’m driving people…”.
I got a one line response back that said, “Practices will be Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5-6:45.”
So I wrote back again and said, “Okay, thank you. Today is Wednesday. Does this mean they have practice tonight, then??”
And he responded, “Oh, no, this week they’ll practice again on Thursday from 2-4 p.m.”
Fabulous. And we were supposed to know that….how??? 🙄🙄🙄🙄 eye roll, eye roll, eye roll!! He claimed they would be sending an email “soon” with more details.
But meanwhile, I am now sitting here on Friday evening attempting to plan out my week for next week… and I have no idea when Asher’s 2? 3? soccer practices are. Could be during the day again, since school doesn’t start for him yet. (Which could affect my work schedule). Or will they move it to the evenings? (Which could be a real problem next week, since we have several evening conflicts including at least one night when neither Ivan nor I will actually be physically home to drive him.)
Ooh, I’m on pins and needles here waiting to find out. ARGH. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙄
*Can I just say… and I mean no offense to men…. but I’m sorry, this is such a MAN MOVE. Clearly these two guy coaches are not the ones organizing carpools and dinner schedules at their house. This is very, very annoying.
(Note- Ethan played for this club last year but had a different coach and we had nothing but a great experience!! I’m hoping they get their act together here asap.)
In a more positive spin, I had a good chiro appt today where my back cracked just right and felt quite good. I had a spot that had felt “stuck”, and when she adjusted me, it definitely helped release it.
I love this quote that hangs on the wall. VERY VERY TRUE. Amen to that.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a successful first week for Ethan.
GRATEFUL KAE 
sorry to hear about the poor communication style of the new coach. that will drive my nuts too.
hopefully the parents together can find a solution to that.
LikeLike
100% this! We are having the same problem with my son’s cricket team. They pick the team for matches about 4-5 days in advance – for games that last ALL day in locations that can be up to 3 hours away. So I basically get 4 days notice that I need a day off work. It seems to be entirely based on the premise that one parent does not work.
LikeLike
Oh my gosh!! That sounds terrible! We have had some swim meets and things that have occurred on a Friday, but we at least usually get a heads up far in advance. I can’t imagine not knowing until 4 days before! In many jobs that would just literally be impossible. I’m thinking back to when I worked as a nurse in the hospital… NO WAY could I just take off like that. Even now with my more flexible role it would be a huge challenge.
LikeLike
What in the world! That is so awful!! I hope they get their act together. Is this the coach he will have all year?? Sheesh. You’d think they would have this all planned out in advance? Like surely they understand that families are busy and need a schedule? Ugh.
LikeLike
I have no idea what is going on! I don’t understand how they think people are supposed to know the schedule. Like are they just totally oblivious to the fact that we are not inside their head and we can’t “mind read” to know when practice is?!
LikeLike
Ooooh, that would drive me crazy. In general, messages about extra events specifying “please have your child there at 2:45” and it’s an hour away AND
WAIT A MINUTE I HAVE A JOB are so annoying- but the fact that they can’t give you a clear schedule and don’t seem to care… yes, I agree this is coming from someone not concerned with dinner schedules and carpools, ahem. I hope this gets straightened out SOON.
I’m glad you had such a successful chiropractor appointment! My chiro has a sign in his office that says “Never, ever give up.”
LikeLike
Haha, exactly! Usually I feel like with school stuff AT LEAST I have some heads up in advance and can plan around it… but it is still rather shocking the number of things that occur during working hours, for sure.
LikeLike
ARGH! That would drive me round the bend. We didn’t know if we had our wraparound spots last year until 10 days before school started and I was going nuts wondering what on earth we were going to do. People have schedules/responsibilities, they need to make a spreadsheet for the team.
LikeLike
I just always think, thank goodness I don’t work in the hospital anymore. I used to get my schedule a full month at least in advance, so “last minute schedule changes” for kids activities was basically impossible. I could trade with another nurse, but obviously you can’t do that constantly! And it’s never guaranteed, AND it would then probably mess up another day down the road. So grateful to have a more flexible schedule now, but still- flexible JOB still means it’s a JOB and I have to, you know, DO IT a certain number of hours per week! Haha.
LikeLike
sheesh! I think you need to direct that coach over to some Best Laid Plans content!
LikeLike
Haha, right!!!!! Somehow I feel like they aren’t regular listeners. 😉
LikeLike
My long-standing pet peeve: communication. Why is it so FREAKIN’ hard for so many people to communicate clearly and effectively? I would be so annoyed, too.
Interestingly, I just read an article that “mental load” is mostly a women’s problem. Ugh. (No news there, I know.)
LikeLike
I agree, it really is a woman’s problem! (In most cases, it seems, though I am sure there are exceptions. I just haven’t really seen one yet 😆)
LikeLike
So true! I watched an interview with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes the other day and they were talking about how she keeps both of their lives together. Organization, communication…these are largely a woman’s game.
LikeLike
I’m angry on your behalf. WHY is it so hard to keep the lines of communication open and clear?? Agree with the other comments on mental load and planning priviledge. I hope it improves after a few strong hints to the coach.
LikeLike
Still waiting… all weekend has passed and NO new emails came out with any more information…. argh.
LikeLike
Oh my goodness, how frustrating. I have a feeling they actually don’t know when practice is themselves, and maybe making it up on the fly since school hasn’t started yet.
LikeLike