In Five Years

Last weekend was our first of two tournaments this year. Overall it ended up a success, almost every game was on time and went off without any major hitches. We actually ran about 45 minutes early in one of the gyms, which is rare, but it’s nice when it happens. We did of course have a few minor controversies, but nothing that forced us to kick anyone out, and they were settled peacefully, only some minor yelling at me, mostly venting frustrations from a loss.

I normally wander between two gyms throughout the day, as I manage our main site at Lyndon State College. I’ll watch the games, make sure everything is running on time, handle issues when they arise, and sometimes just stop and chat with parents and coaches to see how their team is doing and get their thoughts on the tournament as a whole. Now I don’t mind people having differing opinions than I do, but one of the chats bugged me for some reason.

Obviously it costs money for us to run the tournament, so we charge each team an entry fee of $395. That’s pretty much the standard rate for a 2 day tournament, although a number of tournaments have started charging $425 in recent years. For that rate each team gets 4 games with certified officials, and a trophy should they win their bracket. Specific details of each tournament varies, round robin style vs regular tournament style etc, but those are the basics.

For our tournament, one thing we don’t do that almost every other tournament does is charge admission to the gyms. This parent/coach commented that he was surprised we didn’t (many people actually comment about it). I replied that we’ll never charge admission as long as we are running it. Parents pay hundreds of dollars, sometimes more, just to get their child onto the team (the teams use this money for uniforms, tourney registrations, etc), then they travel, pay for hotel rooms, meals on the road, and other misc travel expenses. Why should we then charge them another $2-$5 (per person) just to get into the gym to watch their own kid play?! Even at $1, let’s say the parents come, brothers and sisters show up, maybe even grandparents if they live in the area. So it’s another $10 to get everyone into the gym so they can watch. So what, it’s $10, right? Sure it’s not a lot, but it’s not necessary! The costs of the tournament are covered by the entry fee, that’s why the entry fee exists!

This particular parent/coach went on to say that we should actually be charging, the parents don’t care, because it’s only a couple extra dollars. This is a line of thinking I just don’t understand. They may be used to paying admission and just expect to shell out the extra money when they arrive, but that doesn’t mean they enjoy it, or don’t care about it. The amount of comments we get about NOT charging admission say to me that they DO care, they just have no choice, they want to see their kids play, so they pay.

We went back and forth for a bit about general thoughts on charging parents, but there was clearly no way I was changing his mind. In my view it’s just taking advantage of parents that just want to see their kids play and have fun. I suppose it was a little naive to think that other parents/coaches thought that as well. In the end, we will never be charging admission, and I think we will remain as one of the most well respected and enjoyable tournaments in New England as long as people think it’s worth playing basketball.

Well my last update was that we had no more cable, which isn’t entirely true, we do have basic cable for $10/month. I figured it was worth the $10 so we could have the networks, and at least make use of the TiVo in the main room for those shows. The TiVo is long since paid for as I got the lifetime account when I first got it.

Since not having cable I haven’t missed a thing. We still watch TV because I got Apple TV and installed Boxee for the bedroom television. But I’m finding that we watch it less, and when we do watch, it’s old shows that we just rewatch because it’s been a long day and we want to zone out or something.

I have to say, I do love having Boxee on there. I would love it even more if Apple TV could play avi files. I don’t actually use any of the internet TV features of Boxee, the only reason I use it is because it can play the stuff I already have without me converting it. I find I prefer the Apple TV interface to the Boxee interface, and I suppose I could convert everything, but it takes forever to do, so Boxee it is for now.

So as of tomorrow I am calling Comcast to cancel our cable TV service. We’ll still be keeping internet and phone, since we both need the internet for work and personal and our cell phones aren’t the greatest in the house, but cable is going.

It’s been something I’ve thought about doing for awhile, but we were getting a deal on the bundle so I didn’t bother. Well that’s over and my last bill was nearly $200, which gives us the great privilege to watch mostly crap. I will most likely sign up for Netflix so we can get shows on DVD for what we want to watch, as well as some movies and such. Maybe even pick up and Apple TV and throw Boxee on it, but haven’t really decided yet.

The only way I’ll probably be keeping it is if they for some reason give me an incredible deal that brings the bundle price under $100, which is where I think it should be anyway. Other than that… no more cable.

So I’m a little late on a new year’s post… but at least it’s still January. The past few months have been pretty busy. Little Andrew came to join us on November 5th so he keeps us busy. He’s 10 weeks old at the moment and is now smiling and responding when you sit and chat with him.

Whitney and I have both restarted our “get in shape” efforts. Sounds like a typical new year’s resolution, although it just happened to coincide with the new year with Whitney’s recovery from the C Section. So far just on the diet I’ve lost about 8 pounds. Next up is adding in some workouts so I can rebuild some of my muscle mass that has been lost with sitting at a desk for the past few years.

We got a hot tub from my mother which has ended up being a much larger project than originally anticipated. However suffice it to say that it is now mostly working and we’ve been able to use it twice. The work is definitely worth it once you get in it for the first time.

Well I said quick update, so that’s all for now!

Haven’t really written anything in awhile, but then again, I’ve been too busy to think, nevermind stop and write. But I also realize I need to keep organized, and when I was writing more, I was more organized and disciplined in getting things done.

I’ll need to get back into some sort of regular workout soon, I’m really starting to feel that I’m out of shape, and it’s showing too. That will be one of my first tasks in the coming week. Of course, next week we pass the “one week to go” mark until baby Andrew arrives, so who knows what will actually happen.