Time To Renew Those National Membership Cards! Or Is It?
October 27, 2008
Membership Renewal: Make Those Dues Speak for You
USATF
USA Track and Field USATF tells us that a membership purchased before November 1, 2008 will expire at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2008.
Does that mean you should go ahead and send your dues to Indianapolis on November 1? NO! Before our track family sends any more dues to USATF we need to have a nice, long track family discussion about the future of USATF youth programs under soccer guy Doug Logan. ( Have his investigators learned that sprinters are not supposed to kick a relay baton?)
Amateur Athletic Union
Every week we get a couple more urgent e-mail reminders from our friends in Orlando that we need to hurry up and renew. Well, yes if your kid is running during cross- country season.
But otherwise? Your clout in the marketplace AAU would like to start earning interest on your money, so your power grows every day you wait. Considering that Jeff Hammer, co-Chairman of the AAU Finance Committee, was senior managing director of Bear, Stearns Asset Management, I think I’ll keep my money in the coffee can for now. In case you’re not keeping up with the global financial crisis, the hyper-bullish Bear collapsed after gorging on subprime mortgages and effervescent real estate deals.
Wall Street rival JP Morgan resuscitated the stricken Bear for ten cents on the dollar maintains the troubled company on life support. Seize the moment . Here’s how you can make the financial crisis work for your kids: You have fourteen dollars (per kid.) AAU wants your fourteen dollars like never before.
Advantage:Parents
Think of those fourteen dollars as your vote, your chance to speak to the leaders of AAU, to stand up for your child’s happiness, health, and future. (And keep the same thought in mind regarding your USATF dues . We’re considering AAU first because its renewal date and conventon come first on the calendar.)
Money talks
Are you thinking, “They won’t listen for a measly fourteen bucks”? With a reported national budget of $15 million, probably not…if yours is the only voice. But if a hundred parents, temporarily unshackled from the AAU Codebook, raise our voices together, we will get the attention of the AAU leaders. If $1400 is not material in the AAU budget, why was the Junior Olympics so stingy with hip numbers?
If the parents of only a thousand kids speak up–just one tenth of those of the crowd that spent a small fortune travelling to Detroit for the AAU Junior Olympics– we might see some real progress. $14,000 is real money, even to the poo-bahsof AAU. President and CEO Robert Walker Dodd considers $16,000 a good payday. That’s how much he was paid by nation AAU for appearing in his home town of Memphis at a tournament (boys’ basketball of course) hosted by his own club, the Youth of Memphis Competitors ‘ Association, Inc. (YOMCA), according to best-selling critique of youth sports, by ESPN investigative reporter Tom Farrey (See Tom Farrey: Game On! : The All- American Race to Make Champions of Our Children. Chapter 8)
The Customer is King
Mr Dodd likes to throw around business terms, referring to youth sports as an “industry,” implying that we “consumers” are anonymous victims of impersonal forces in the “marketplace.” (What’s all this business talk from the “volunteer” leader of a tax-exempt charitable organization?) Sorry, Mr Bobby Dodd. If you insist on calling me and my family ”consumers” I’ll have to remind you that in America, customers hold the ultimate power in the marketplace. In other words, Mr Bobby, you work for me and my kids.
Free to Choose
Track parents, if you send your money to AAU right away, without comment, Mr Bobby Dodd and the AAU brass can safely assume that you are either completely satisfied or completely powerless. Either way, your silence signals the AAU leaders to stay on course.
What changes would you like to see in the national AAU? I’ve already hinted at a couple, and I’ll be share some more in the coming days. A president who doesn’t demand an appearance fee to show up at the world’s largest youth track meet would be a nice start.
Visit Trackmom.com for my “virtual” coverage of the AAU convention in Cancun.
Now it’s your turn. I want to hear your fourteen dollars’ worth.
Write me soon here at TrackMom.com comments or via e-mail trackmom1@gmail.com
Until Next Time
Related posts:
- 2009 Invitational and National Meets
- AAU Youth National Cross Country Championships
- One Down.. 2 More To Go! National Meets Start With A Bang!!
- The Golden Girl… Kendall Williams A National Champion Extraordinaire
- All That Fine Print
I certainly feel; that with all that my family and I do to support our local AAU events, without any compensation, still pay for our children’s participation fees, give freely of our time and resources to better the cause; that our National President would not charge for an appearance to one event or even to multiple youth events. We have several families that have been negatively impacted by the failing economy, yet they continue to participate in local, regional, and national events. Many families have multiple national appearances and we’ve yet to see grants or scholarships at the youth level to support these efforts from AAU.
USATF does offer several grants and has a grant fund that local teams have the opportunity to apply for each year to help with expenses. AAU greatly benefits from our volunteerism, our dollars, and our Children (being the most valuable of the supporters). Why can’t they give back to the youth sports community in the same manner? I sent the planning committee my comments regarding the poor shading that was provided to our youth at the 2008 track and field Nationals, but I have yet to get a reply. Yes, I will be holding our $64.00 until track season thank you. Will you join me?
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