State Champs Presentations

I had an interesting conversation with someone the other day. We were discussing having to wait around at the State Championships for the presentations. The person felt it was unfair to be expected to have to wait from 9.30am on Monday morning (their last game) till 1.30pm in the afternoon. Yes I can understand that sometimes especially on a hot day this could be a little inconvenient but we need to look at the overall picture. Some years it is quite embarrassing when presentations come around and you know there have been approximately one thousand to one thousand three hundred players playing over the weekend and all of a sudden you see seated before you around five to eight hundred. You may ask why view it as embarrassing. Well number one is for the sponsors, remember these sponsors help keep your nomination and participation fees down pay for trophies, pennants, ground hire and many other things. To secure sponsors such as the City of Perth you need to inform them of the number of players attending, the number of people attending the event and the advantages to the City for sponsoring the event. Of course when we tell them that there are some twelve hundred players from around the State attending with some four hundred support staff and one thousand five hundred to two thousand parents, that is what they expect to see. It makes it hard to obtain future sponsorship when they think you may have fudged those numbers. Remember these people are special guests over the weekend and also attend the presentations. I also get embarrassed for the sport when I see people leave after the last game as I wonder would they have stayed if their child’s team had of won their division and where due for a trophy. What are we teaching the children, I do not blame the players they generally want to stay.
So before you go to leave after your last game this year, if the above is not a consideration for you then please consider those players who have worked so hard since December, honing their skills at training and carnivals. Be there to cheer them on at the presentations. One day it may be your child’s team who wins and how would you feel if not so many people were there to congratulate him or her.
So please stay after your child’s last game, support the other teams from your club and support all the players at presentations.

Editor
Teeball News