Resignation in Protest
Dear Parents and HoopCamp Athletes ~
It has been a great pleasure to serve this community for 15+ years as a volunteer director of the HoopCamp Youth Program. I have made countless friends and you have welcomed me into your families. For most of this time I have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with our volunteer Adult Program director, Steve Garrity. I felt we were both equally committed to providing a high quality basketball camp, while at the same time ensuring that our Special Needs athletes received uncompromised attention to their safety and medical security requirements.
Over the past few years, I have witnessed a slip in our dedication to the needs of our athletes. I have spoken with Steve about this apparent change in focus yet do not believe my concerns are being addressed. Presently Steve and I have different opinions how best to format this year's camp. His final answer to me was, "We will have to agree to disagree on this one."
Due to my concerns for the medical safety of our Special Needs athletes, particularly our youngest members, I am unable to agree to disagree and have resigned from my position. Yet I feel it would be negligent on my part not to inform you of my concerns.
The primary disagreement with Mr. Garrity focuses on the dates of HoopCamp 2010. The Tualatin Hillls recreational facility, which generously donates the court time and facility administration to our endeavor, offered two slots - June 17, 18, 19 & 20; and August 30, 31 & September 1.
As you may remember, we hosted HoopCamp 2009 on June 18, 19 & 20, generally an excellent week for indoor/outdoor basketball competition. This year Oregon schools remain in session through June 17th. Thus the optimal days in this time slot are Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 18, 19 & 20).
Due to my concerns about possible extreme weather conditions in August, Mr. Garrity tenatively agreed to the June dates:
These are concerns we can resolve. My primary resistance to the Aug/Sep slot is HEAT and INTENSITY OF SUN.
Many of our Special Needs athletes must take medication; a significant number have developmental and behavioral disabiliites; and a large percentage of Oregon's children are not prepared for 6-8 hours of late summer sun on heated concrete and sport court surfaces. There is minimal shade at the facility. The indoor courts can become oven-like.
At HoopCamp we do our best to have a coach to athlete ratio around 1:4. While our 50 - 100 huge-hearted volunteers give 110% each day, few are trained medical personnel. We range between 200 and 400 athletes each session. We cannot know how each participant will react to the harsher climate. The medical and safety risk is simply too great, in my professional opinion.
I am not asking you to not attend this year's camp. You must make your own decision about my concerns. Only you can best know the needs of your children (if applicable). Hopefully older athletes are sufficiently experienced to judge for themselves. I simply believe I would neglect my duty to each of you by not addressing this openly. You have welcomed me into your hearts and lives for nearly two decades. I love you all dearly.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share in your lives and growth. Please remember: There are only winners at HoopCamp.
Scott Goold
HoopCamp Youth Director
February 16, 2010
Coaches Respond
Coach 1: Ahhhh no!!! :(
Coach 2: This makes me sad :/
Coach 3: NOOO!!!!! and thats insane. both groups on the same month? what if we dont have enough volunteers? WOW!!!
And most volunteers from last year are going on college visits. Aug is not the right month for anything. students have to get ready for school since it comes the month after. but i just hope there will be enough volunteers for those 2nd group. and XXXXX wont be there because of football. so there is one less helpful volunteers. im thinking it wont be as good this year.
Coach 4: Oh, Scott, this greatly saddens me to hear this news. Your presence was a huge part of what made HoopCamp so great. I like yourself have been concerned over Steve's decisions for sometime now. Our core team of volunteers may not even be available to help in August because a lot of them are college students and will be back in school by then. It's all just a lot to think about. At this moment in time I am unable to tell you whether I will stay on or not. There are positives and negatives to both sides of the decision and I will have to take some time to consider everything. I will keep you posted on my decision.
No matter what happens I hope that we will always keep in contact and hopefully have the chance to meet again.
Thank you for your interest in one of America's BEST sport camp domain names - HoopCamp.net.
This domain name is available for purchase: $10,000 plus applicable taxes and transfer fees.
In you are interested, contact InfoImagination.
Thank you.
Over the past few years, I have witnessed a slip in our dedication to the needs of our athletes. I have spoken with Steve about this apparent change in focus yet do not believe my concerns are being addressed. Presently Steve and I have different opinions how best to format this year's camp. His final answer to me was, "We will have to agree to disagree on this one."
Due to my concerns for the medical safety of our Special Needs athletes, particularly our youngest members, I am unable to agree to disagree and have resigned from my position. Yet I feel it would be negligent on my part not to inform you of my concerns.
The primary disagreement with Mr. Garrity focuses on the dates of HoopCamp 2010. The Tualatin Hillls recreational facility, which generously donates the court time and facility administration to our endeavor, offered two slots - June 17, 18, 19 & 20; and August 30, 31 & September 1.
As you may remember, we hosted HoopCamp 2009 on June 18, 19 & 20, generally an excellent week for indoor/outdoor basketball competition. This year Oregon schools remain in session through June 17th. Thus the optimal days in this time slot are Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 18, 19 & 20).
Due to my concerns about possible extreme weather conditions in August, Mr. Garrity tenatively agreed to the June dates:
"My gut tells me I will end up using both dates. Special needs athletes in June and non-special needs in Aug."I went in for major surgery to have work done on my hip and when I returned from my brief stay in the hospital, Mr. Garrity had unilateraly decided to use the August time slot for all athletes. I believe he has placed his personal, family and religious interests above the requirements of our Special Needs athletes, i.e, "the girls have church girls camp the same week ... we will be scrambling for [Mormon] volunteers on that Sunday."
These are concerns we can resolve. My primary resistance to the Aug/Sep slot is HEAT and INTENSITY OF SUN.
Many of our Special Needs athletes must take medication; a significant number have developmental and behavioral disabiliites; and a large percentage of Oregon's children are not prepared for 6-8 hours of late summer sun on heated concrete and sport court surfaces. There is minimal shade at the facility. The indoor courts can become oven-like.
At HoopCamp we do our best to have a coach to athlete ratio around 1:4. While our 50 - 100 huge-hearted volunteers give 110% each day, few are trained medical personnel. We range between 200 and 400 athletes each session. We cannot know how each participant will react to the harsher climate. The medical and safety risk is simply too great, in my professional opinion.
I am not asking you to not attend this year's camp. You must make your own decision about my concerns. Only you can best know the needs of your children (if applicable). Hopefully older athletes are sufficiently experienced to judge for themselves. I simply believe I would neglect my duty to each of you by not addressing this openly. You have welcomed me into your hearts and lives for nearly two decades. I love you all dearly.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share in your lives and growth. Please remember: There are only winners at HoopCamp.
Scott Goold
HoopCamp Youth Director
February 16, 2010
Coaches Respond
Coach 1: Ahhhh no!!! :(
Coach 2: This makes me sad :/
Coach 3: NOOO!!!!! and thats insane. both groups on the same month? what if we dont have enough volunteers? WOW!!!
And most volunteers from last year are going on college visits. Aug is not the right month for anything. students have to get ready for school since it comes the month after. but i just hope there will be enough volunteers for those 2nd group. and XXXXX wont be there because of football. so there is one less helpful volunteers. im thinking it wont be as good this year.
Coach 4: Oh, Scott, this greatly saddens me to hear this news. Your presence was a huge part of what made HoopCamp so great. I like yourself have been concerned over Steve's decisions for sometime now. Our core team of volunteers may not even be available to help in August because a lot of them are college students and will be back in school by then. It's all just a lot to think about. At this moment in time I am unable to tell you whether I will stay on or not. There are positives and negatives to both sides of the decision and I will have to take some time to consider everything. I will keep you posted on my decision.
No matter what happens I hope that we will always keep in contact and hopefully have the chance to meet again.
Thank you for your interest in one of America's BEST sport camp domain names - HoopCamp.net.
This domain name is available for purchase: $10,000 plus applicable taxes and transfer fees.
In you are interested, contact InfoImagination.
Thank you.