Signs a Rec League is Dying

[Anonymous]

I think the one my kids' play in is possibly dying, but that may be because I'm involved and I see all the pain points.

Help me gain perspective - what are the red flags a rec league is dying or will be left limping along on life support but not healthy?

[Anonymous]

I don't really understand your question.

most rec leagues around here are run by community sports organizations that have many sports under their one umbrella, so how could the league be "dying"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really understand your question.

most rec leagues around here are run by community sports organizations that have many sports under their one umbrella, so how could the league be "dying"?

This is a single sport league not affiliated with any other organization. Dying would mean getting too small to continue.

[Anonymous]

If you’re involved, you should be able to poke around and slyly get some info from coaches and parents.

[Anonymous]

I'd look at the number of teams in each age group. If that number is consistently going down, then it is time to worry. If it is at 4 or fewer, that could also indicate that the rec league is dying.

[Anonymous]

Signs I've seen:

-not being able to get space reservations (field or gym) because they've lost priority or connections with a city/town and are being squeezed out by other leagues

-lack of coaches- rely on volunteers but can't get enough and so the season starts late with threats of "no season if we don't get x volunteers"

-financial weirdness- normal website or emails aren't going out, board members aren't updated or don't exist, and then it turns out that whatever funds the league had have been exhausted or mismanaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Signs I've seen:

-not being able to get space reservations (field or gym) because they've lost priority or connections with a city/town and are being squeezed out by other leagues

-lack of coaches- rely on volunteers but can't get enough and so the season starts late with threats of "no season if we don't get x volunteers"

-financial weirdness- normal website or emails aren't going out, board members aren't updated or don't exist, and then it turns out that whatever funds the league had have been exhausted or mismanaged.

OP here and this is helpful, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Look how many board members there are. Is every position filled or are there multiple vacancies and a 2-3 people have multiple positions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Signs I've seen:

-not being able to get space reservations (field or gym) because they've lost priority or connections with a city/town and are being squeezed out by other leagues

-lack of coaches- rely on volunteers but can't get enough and so the season starts late with threats of "no season if we don't get x volunteers"

-financial weirdness- normal website or emails aren't going out, board members aren't updated or don't exist, and then it turns out that whatever funds the league had have been exhausted or mismanaged.

All of this, except the coaches part. Everyone is having a hard time recruiting parent volunteers right now. It’s an effect of RTO.

[Anonymous]

RTO has not had any effect on our league's coach volunteers. For some reason after covid it became incredibly hard to get volunteers for anything. Weird since working from home should have opened up more free time. Everyone wants their kid to participate but they want to drop and run.

[Anonymous]

Not great fields, not enough coaches, therefore not many teams.

[Anonymous]

My kid's rec league team meets that definition of "dying", but the coaches are great and the players are learning the game and having fun playing with kids who will be their teammates in high school. If your kid is in a similar league you may want to help recruit to build it back up rather than jumping ship to a league that feeds into the neighboring high schools.

If the OP checks with her local high school I would not be surprised if the coaches are recruiting players with no prior experience in the sport just to fill the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RTO has not had any effect on our league's coach volunteers. For some reason after covid it became incredibly hard to get volunteers for anything. Weird since working from home should have opened up more free time. Everyone wants their kid to participate but they want to drop and run.

True for our league as well. Not sure what the explanation was. We can't even get parents to volunteer for one-offs like "check kids into evaluations".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RTO has not had any effect on our league's coach volunteers. For some reason after covid it became incredibly hard to get volunteers for anything. Weird since working from home should have opened up more free time. Everyone wants their kid to participate but they want to drop and run.

True for our league as well. Not sure what the explanation was. We can't even get parents to volunteer for one-offs like "check kids into evaluations".

OP here. Our league board feels like a bad PTA right now. Say they want volunteers, but then don't trust those volunteers. The individual board members are mostly really nice people who have worked hard for the league for just about ever, but getting them to accept new people to take over some of their six different duties is really hard. Drives me a little insane.

And then, yes, getting people to actually volunteer is hard. There's a "new generation" of volunteers, but it's the same 3 or 4 people over and over again. If the league survives they will be the new board who is oversubscribed with duties some day (if the existing board lets them actually step into bigger roles).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's rec league team meets that definition of "dying", but the coaches are great and the players are learning the game and having fun playing with kids who will be their teammates in high school. If your kid is in a similar league you may want to help recruit to build it back up rather than jumping ship to a league that feeds into the neighboring high schools.

If the OP checks with her local high school I would not be surprised if the coaches are recruiting players with no prior experience in the sport just to fill the team.

OP here. I cannot even tell you how hard I have tried the bolded. Countless hours of my time. But I can't do it alone.