20130827 Youth Sports PresentationDiscussion on the Town Council
strategic goal: Develop a plan to
accommodate growth in youth sports
and Town recreation programs.
"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." -Ben Franklin
Issues as Growth Occurs
•Facility usage
•Improvements to different sports fields, what’s
most important
•Consistency in operations
•Communication
•Community feel
•More than one organization for one sport
•Accountability / financial controls
•Organizational self interest
Current Issues Identified
•Facility usage –coordination of multi use field space between sports
•Abuse of facility usage by Recognized League members
•Consistency in usage of fields for leagues
-scheduled seasons, reservations, downtime for maintenance
•Inconsistent procedures/operations, disciplinary actions, etc.
•Improvements to different sports fields, what’s most important
•Consistency in operations
•Accountability / financial controls
•Not prepared for growth
Solution: Centralization
•Objective leadership; fairness and equity as
leagues grow; consistency among sports
•Facility utilization
•Better oversight and accountability to ensure
overall financial controls for each sport
•Better objective planning and cohesiveness for
future facilities
•Keep a community feel
•Advisory volunteer group to the Town
Single Sports Organization Model
•One united organization providing all youth
sports leagues
•Annual election of sports commissioners
•Board over sport commissioners
Benefits of Single Sports Organization
•Looks out for entire community and all kids within, ISD relation
•Better service to multiple sport participants
•More accountability and financial controls –audit done by independent firm
•Sport heads can concentrate on sports and leave the accounting to the applicable admin. functions
•One association works with municipality and ISD
•One centralized website for all sports
•More buying power; look at the good for all kids and not just one sport
•Sponsors for one organization, power in unification
•Easier marketing/cross marketing
Board of Directors Model
“Prosper Youth Sports Commission”
•Each recognized sports league has a delegate member on the board
•Board:
–Delegates: President of member organizations appointed as delegates (PYSA, Soccer, Baseball);
–President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary
–May also have members that support Prosper Youth Sports Commission (i.e. Town, PISD or any other sponsoring org.)
–Any additional board members could be added as deemed necessary
Benefits of Board of Directors Structure
•Field allocation between sports, commission as whole looking at big picture and handles within
•Reporting and planning unified
•Consistency and strength among sports –discipline hearings (problem with parent/coach known by all and consistent process), coaching certifications, background checks
–Ethics Committee: evaluate, monitor and assist in the conduct of participants, attendees, coaches, and referees for all sports; over appeals & discipline process for all violations;
•Money still tracked per each league; Existing organizations are member organizations of the commission
•Groups not liking things/rules and wanting to start a duplicated sport less likely with a strong, unified approach; one co-sponsor/facility use agreement
•Overall accountability; option of paid staff member from registration fees
Town Facility Use
•Town Co-Sponsor/Facility Use Agreement is
with the centralized commission thereby
giving Town co-sponsored (preferred
organization) status to all member sport
organizations
"We must all hang together, or
assuredly we shall all hang
separately." -Ben Franklin