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ANNUAL PARTICIPATION SURVEY SPOTLIGHT: SHOCKWAVE
To best help our kids and community, we need to:
- ask the questions
- actively listen to what you are saying
- then create a plan to follow through
One way we do this is through the Annual Participation Survey.📝
Today we’re sharing some feedback we received from Danielle States at Shockwave Baseball Club ⚾
Q: How has your organization had to make concessions?
A: First, we have teams traveling to Tacoma, Port Orchard, and the Key Peninsula to find fields for practices.
We’ve had to reduce the number of teams and league size, share field space, and shorten practices due to insufficient outdoor lighting before daylight savings.
There have been times we’ve put 5 teams on a field at once rather than the ideal number of 1 or 2. Even for training sessions, we’re squeezing 8 -10 teams onto a field instead of 4 MAX!
Q: What specific facilities and/or resources does your organization need to be most successful?
A: It comes down to MORE!
More indoor gymnasium space with basketball hoops, more outdoor fields with artificial turf to allow practices and games to happen year-round, more storage facilities, more outdoor lighting for these spaces, and more volunteers and coaches.
More isn’t always the answer to every problem, but it certainly is for the current youth sports needs in Gig Harbor!
Q: What challenges are your organization (and others) facing with distance and times of practices and games?
A: As mentioned, families are forced to travel for outdoor field use, leading to additional costs, gas, vehicle wear and tear, and MASSIVE complications to evening schedules. It’s all an immense frustration!
Later practice times mean our younger kids lose out on necessary sleep and rest during the week. Or, you can choose not to have a weekly practice, but then everyone loses in that scenario too. Our family even stopped Little League because of the impact the late hours had on our son and family.
This type of schedule may work for older youth in high school. But even then, we must consider homework demands, school schedules, other extra-curricular activities, and family time. Our children are not professional athletes and should have different time demands placed on them.
Q: What impact is the lack of appropriate venues having on youth sports organizations?
A: It places strict and challenging limits on us to be a host for games or tournaments.
Soccer teams must play at multiple places and create makeshift pitches on baseball fields to have a tournament, which leads to difficulties in planning and participation. Some teams don’t even bother to come because it’s not deemed worth it.
Baseball teams don’t have any venue that fits all ages for tournaments. They are forced to play most of their games far away, which means even more time and cost for extended family to attend and support.
With limited turf field options, there are more and more rainout games which lead to fewer games for the season. Yet the cost for our kids to participate is still the same. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone involved!
Q: What challenges do your organization (and others) face with development?
A: When baseball and soccer players are forced to train in indoor facilities for more extended periods, it causes a delay in player development. Why? Because they aren’t playing and training in an environment that accurately recreates gameplay.
When players cannot participate on an actual field until their first game, it shows a HUGE discrepancy in their awareness of play. They don’t fully understand how a game will unfold in real-time.
Kids get burnt out with limited space to participate fully in practice and games. They lose interest because they aren’t in the intended setting for play. They end up lacking growth because it’s all too predictable.
Our kids are disadvantaged compared to others with access to appropriate outdoor facilities.
It’s also a significant reason for unsuccessful programs within Gig Harbor, lower-level development in athletes, and a huge factor in why well-rounded athletes leave Gig Harbor to play elsewhere.
My daughter loved soccer, and my son loved baseball! But, because of the limitations in our community with facilities, the resulting limited development, limited coaching, and limited opportunities, both have lost interest in the sports.
Q: What do you want to see from better resources and facilities?
A: Youth sports are a platform for growth beyond the sport itself. When kids have more accessible opportunities to participate in sport IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITY, they are more willing to…
- Commit to something
- Get stronger in a skill that gives them confidence
- Create relationships with peers throughout high school within their town vs. elsewhere
- Create stronger relationships with coaches and families as they play on teams within their town
- They feel more pride in playing for their hometown at a young age as they anxiously wait to do it in High School
- Having extended family come to cheer you on locally while being able to also spend time together at home
- And if sport becomes a journey a child chooses to end, it's because they are ready to move on to something else or narrow down their choices. NOT because the sport was limited based on the current challenges we face in our community.
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