Response to the letter I sent to the Girls Fastpitch President in Columbia, TN

Not sure how I feel about it...well, I'm pretty disgusted...please comment and tell me what I should do next...? Letter to the editor of the local paper???

Dear Terrance and the parents of Winning Moves Team,

First off let me say that I do apologize for the bad experience that you have had for the 2008 softball season. To answer your questions and concerns to why Sam Hills and MTB & Joint had more experienced players on their teams is because the Sam Hills team has been together for 3 years, so therefore she already had enough players on her team before the season began and then her team dropped below 9 players and more players had to be recruited for her team. Stephanie Baker took over the team MTB & Joint clinic from last season because their coach decided not to return, so therefore that team has played together for more than 3 years with the exceptions of 4 players. The reason Stephanie's team has so many players is because she had players that were on the MTB & Joint team that signed up later and had to added to the team they played on the year before. If you read the League rule book on returning players and teams, you would understand how that works. We do not have blind draws for coaches and teams. Terrance ended up with the girls that were left after the draw and even then there wasn't much of a draw because neither established teams had to draw for more that 2 players. Again, these are rules that are explained in the rule book. If you do not have one, which I gave 2 copies league rule books along with 12 copies of the and parent/player handbooks.

I was never made aware of the fact Winning Moves was in need of players. Had I known we could have taken the necessary steps to get additional players for Winning Moves. I am not a hard person to find nor call. I have been at the ball field every single night throughout the season.(I can't believe he added this part...our coach has complained after every game, and why hasn't he noticed? everyone else has)

We cannot be responsible for injuries, sickness, and players going out of town, that is something that is beyond our control. (of course) If these were issues that began at the beginning of the season, then I or another board member should've been told. As far as the game being rescheduled, I wasn't aware of it, because to my knowledge, there were no changes made to the schedule without the changes being sent to the coaches via email or being called if no email address was available.

Unfortunately, we cannot give any refunds on player registrations because the season has come to an end and those fees went towards uniforms, umpires, field maintenance, and insurance for the players. We are having closing ceremonies on Saturday at 3:30 if you and your players would like to attend. All players get a participation award and I also need the name of a sportsmanship winner from your team. I have forwarded this message to all of the board members along with my response. Again, I do apologize about the bad experience that this has been for the team and parents. Please understand that we need some type of communication from the coaches also.
Jamie Lovett
Columbia Girls Fastpitch Softball League President
931-548-0067
931-797-6525

NOW WHAT???