As long as the payments were disclosed and fair value there is no issue with board members companies providing services to a non profit.

Keegan runs camps and a spring hockey program outside of MYHA, both good values and well run. He is entitled to make money for providing service and experience. I never felt any of his things were money grabs.

Weiss was scheduler for MYHA and that is quite a job and he made sure all the teams scheduling needs were met. I am not speaking to any involvement with BBSG and that debacle. That's a different animal.

Anonymous wrote:I had two kids go through MYHA, one into TM. MYHA was and is one of the best run programs any of my kids ever participated in and my oldest son ended up at one of the top Hockey programs in the country. Keegan was alway fair and unbiased in everything he ran. MYHA tryouts got team placement right almost all of the time. Of course some kids underperform or work hard in the off season and improve well enough to be on a higher level team, but that is life.

I never had issues with him or any other coaches running camps and clinics to make enough money to live and raise a family on. Of course there are bad actors that give favoritism, but Keegan never that I saw, not even close.

You can not fairly incorporate MYHA in and of itself into the basis of the article. I saw much of what the article covers first hand, from the start of it.

As much as you'd like to believe that MYHA is all wonderful because many strong players go through the program, because they are competent in running coaching and a big club, and because you enjoyed your kids' experience there, it's just a fact that it's not legal or ethical for a non-profit to pay expenses to companies in which the board members have an interest. From the linked article: "Federal laws prohibit nonprofits from diverting charitable dollars to enrich insiders or their companies, said Laurie Styron, executive director of Charity Watch, a nonprofit that investigates other nonprofits."

Robert Weiss and Robert Keegan have both been compensated MYHA board members, and at the same time, MYHA paid Weiss's private company for scheduling and related services, and Keegan's company for coaching & related services. This went on for at least a decade through 2022, and even though the rest of the board turned a blind eye, it's still illegal and Weiss, at least, replicated this scheme with other non-profits. Note that these particular disclosures of the tax filing do not occur in the 2023 and 2024 filings that are available online, but the fact that it went on for at least a decade while no one noticed does not make it ok or legal retroactively.
It's all right there in the tax filings, Schedule L. (Separately, the favoritism for players paying for services is only hearsay, but there's enough of it to warrant finding the situation suspicious.)

I had two kids go through MYHA, one into TM. MYHA was and is one of the best run programs any of my kids ever participated in and my oldest son ended up at one of the top Hockey programs in the country. Keegan was alway fair and unbiased in everything he ran. MYHA tryouts got team placement right almost all of the time. Of course some kids underperform or work hard in the off season and improve well enough to be on a higher level team, but that is life.

I never had issues with him or any other coaches running camps and clinics to make enough money to live and raise a family on. Of course there are bad actors that give favoritism, but Keegan never that I saw, not even close.

You can not fairly incorporate MYHA in and of itself into the basis of the article. I saw much of what the article covers first hand, from the start of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend. Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area.

It's not a mystery. You could just check to see how much the person in question (Keegan) is "taking home" from MYHA because it's posted on the tax filing I linked to earlier. I'll save you the effort--it's $80k.

But I'm not sure you're a hockey parent either, nor that you read the article at the top of this thread, because otherwise you'd realize that the scenario you describe is not what happens in youth hockey around here. You're correct that there are numerous modestly-paid coaches in the area (of high school teams, or clubs like Tri-City). But they are not running clinics at scale like Keegan is. Nor are they typically doing private lessons in their down-time. The ice is simply not available for these area coaches to use for that purpose. Plus Keegan is--if memory serves--at tryouts for all age groups and deciding the placement for teams he will not coach. But he still can, and apparently does, favor players of different ages who take his classes.

Keegan is not actually a paid coach. He's paid by MYHA to be Director of Hockey Operations and I suppose as part of that, he has taken on a team to coach, just like all the other (volunteer) coaches at MYHA. Because MYHA doesn't pay coaches--they rely on the free labor of parent volunteers. At Tri-City (and I don't know about the others), coaches are paid, typically non-parents. Tri-City fees are not higher for players IIRC, so it's not like MYHA uses volunteer parent coaches to save players money. Meanwhile, he also runs the fee-extra NBN hockey classes/clinics/camps.

The situation with Keegan is problematic in two ways. First is that it is somewhat of a monopoly serving the MYHA families; the second is that when it comes to team selection, the people who choose to pay for his company's services are (by the looks for things) favored for their patronage rather than skill, despite the fact that the club runs tryouts (that imply that he selects based on skill).

I assure you that I am a hockey parent, and I did read the article. We were a Medstar family, and have taken clinics and small group lessons from a myriad of coaches around the DMV in the off-season and during the season when there are breaks. NBN was highly recommended by some other (non-MYHA) families because it was good coaching and good ice time. So, from a non-MYHA perspective, there is a market. We know many coaches at Loudoun, Reston, Medstar, MYHA, St. James, Loudon Ice Center, Rockville, Haymarket, Laurel etc. who moonlight with morning sessions, and have skated with them from time to time. There are lots of coaches giving lessons in their downtime. (In fact, we were at Haymarket this past weekend, and there was a coach wearing a Little Caps jacket giving a lesson during stick and shoot.) If you go to a free skate at Medstar on any given day, there's usually at least one coach (might be a figure skating coach) working with a hockey player. Both of my kids took 'private' skating lessons with one of the Medstar hockey coaches during open skates when they were small. This was a paid coach who definitely had a say in who did and did not make the teams. FWIW, those lessons made them great skaters, but did not pay immediate rewards in getting them on a top travel team. That didn't happen until later. Not everything is a conspiracy. Again, I am not a MYHA parent, I don't know about the inner-workings of that organization or all the political pitfalls. It's a free market society and if you're not happy, there are other options.

Apologies-- I stand corrected. I also agree with several things you said: that NBN offers clinics that many families consider good, and that separate from that, there'd be coaches occasionally giving a private lesson during public skate or similar. But the point I was making (or should have been more clear about) was to counter the main gist of your post where you are inclined to give Keegan and his MYHA associates the benefit of the doubt because it was somewhat understandable if (A) coaches gave private lessons on the side and (B) this private tutelage ended up making them unintentionally favoring these private students. No argument for me about A or B.

But my point is what people are talking about with MYHA is a whole different kettle of fish than what you describe. Keegan regularly runs clinics for groups of say, 40 players(?) at certain age groups, including pre-tryout clinics, and it just so happens to closely coincide with the age level(s) where he selects the kids for the teams (because he doesn't only make the choice for the team he coaches...he's overseeing tryouts generally if I understand correctly.) And various PPs report noting kids who aren't as good but make the team, including kids who are customers of his clinics and sometimes even private lessons. "pay to play." Certainly taking a single NBN class/clinic doesn't guarantee a spot on MYHA's AA team, because there would be too many players to fit on a top team. But perhaps paying for multiple classes, and taking the chance to cozy up to the decision-makers is part of the formula.
Not to mention, the coaches from other clubs aren't offering these clinics at Rockville Ice Arena, because only a small cohort of guys can use it for their business. It's a free market, exactly as you say... But monopolies do not help a free market. And it happens that the supply/demand for ice in the DMV is tight as it is, so it's not as if a family can easily find the other options without incurring a lot of travel time. And the other professional coaches in the area (ie not the volunteer parents) don't have the chance to make much side $, because their only chance is to squeeze in a single person lesson at a free skate, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend. Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area.

It's not a mystery. You could just check to see how much the person in question (Keegan) is "taking home" from MYHA because it's posted on the tax filing I linked to earlier. I'll save you the effort--it's $80k.

But I'm not sure you're a hockey parent either, nor that you read the article at the top of this thread, because otherwise you'd realize that the scenario you describe is not what happens in youth hockey around here. You're correct that there are numerous modestly-paid coaches in the area (of high school teams, or clubs like Tri-City). But they are not running clinics at scale like Keegan is. Nor are they typically doing private lessons in their down-time. The ice is simply not available for these area coaches to use for that purpose. Plus Keegan is--if memory serves--at tryouts for all age groups and deciding the placement for teams he will not coach. But he still can, and apparently does, favor players of different ages who take his classes.

Keegan is not actually a paid coach. He's paid by MYHA to be Director of Hockey Operations and I suppose as part of that, he has taken on a team to coach, just like all the other (volunteer) coaches at MYHA. Because MYHA doesn't pay coaches--they rely on the free labor of parent volunteers. At Tri-City (and I don't know about the others), coaches are paid, typically non-parents. Tri-City fees are not higher for players IIRC, so it's not like MYHA uses volunteer parent coaches to save players money. Meanwhile, he also runs the fee-extra NBN hockey classes/clinics/camps.

The situation with Keegan is problematic in two ways. First is that it is somewhat of a monopoly serving the MYHA families; the second is that when it comes to team selection, the people who choose to pay for his company's services are (by the looks for things) favored for their patronage rather than skill, despite the fact that the club runs tryouts (that imply that he selects based on skill).

I assure you that I am a hockey parent, and I did read the article. We were a Medstar family, and have taken clinics and small group lessons from a myriad of coaches around the DMV in the off-season and during the season when there are breaks. NBN was highly recommended by some other (non-MYHA) families because it was good coaching and good ice time. So, from a non-MYHA perspective, there is a market. We know many coaches at Loudoun, Reston, Medstar, MYHA, St. James, Loudon Ice Center, Rockville, Haymarket, Laurel etc. who moonlight with morning sessions, and have skated with them from time to time. There are lots of coaches giving lessons in their downtime. (In fact, we were at Haymarket this past weekend, and there was a coach wearing a Little Caps jacket giving a lesson during stick and shoot.) If you go to a free skate at Medstar on any given day, there's usually at least one coach (might be a figure skating coach) working with a hockey player. Both of my kids took 'private' skating lessons with one of the Medstar hockey coaches during open skates when they were small. This was a paid coach who definitely had a say in who did and did not make the teams. FWIW, those lessons made them great skaters, but did not pay immediate rewards in getting them on a top travel team. That didn't happen until later. Not everything is a conspiracy. Again, I am not a MYHA parent, I don't know about the inner-workings of that organization or all the political pitfalls. It's a free market society and if you're not happy, there are other options.

The nothing but net clinics and camps have very good coaching, are open to all players. It isn’t like it’s really bad coaching but people feel forced to signup so their kid is in with Keegan and gets a spot on the team. They do make your player better. My kids have done a variety of other stuff too including tri city clinics and new era hockey. I found nothing but net to be the best, followed by bozzone. The worst is New Era Hockey. Stay away! So expensive and not good. Their tryout camp was the worst.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend. Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area.

It's not a mystery. You could just check to see how much the person in question (Keegan) is "taking home" from MYHA because it's posted on the tax filing I linked to earlier. I'll save you the effort--it's $80k.

But I'm not sure you're a hockey parent either, nor that you read the article at the top of this thread, because otherwise you'd realize that the scenario you describe is not what happens in youth hockey around here. You're correct that there are numerous modestly-paid coaches in the area (of high school teams, or clubs like Tri-City). But they are not running clinics at scale like Keegan is. Nor are they typically doing private lessons in their down-time. The ice is simply not available for these area coaches to use for that purpose. Plus Keegan is--if memory serves--at tryouts for all age groups and deciding the placement for teams he will not coach. But he still can, and apparently does, favor players of different ages who take his classes.

Keegan is not actually a paid coach. He's paid by MYHA to be Director of Hockey Operations and I suppose as part of that, he has taken on a team to coach, just like all the other (volunteer) coaches at MYHA. Because MYHA doesn't pay coaches--they rely on the free labor of parent volunteers. At Tri-City (and I don't know about the others), coaches are paid, typically non-parents. Tri-City fees are not higher for players IIRC, so it's not like MYHA uses volunteer parent coaches to save players money. Meanwhile, he also runs the fee-extra NBN hockey classes/clinics/camps.

The situation with Keegan is problematic in two ways. First is that it is somewhat of a monopoly serving the MYHA families; the second is that when it comes to team selection, the people who choose to pay for his company's services are (by the looks for things) favored for their patronage rather than skill, despite the fact that the club runs tryouts (that imply that he selects based on skill).

I assure you that I am a hockey parent, and I did read the article. We were a Medstar family, and have taken clinics and small group lessons from a myriad of coaches around the DMV in the off-season and during the season when there are breaks. NBN was highly recommended by some other (non-MYHA) families because it was good coaching and good ice time. So, from a non-MYHA perspective, there is a market. We know many coaches at Loudoun, Reston, Medstar, MYHA, St. James, Loudon Ice Center, Rockville, Haymarket, Laurel etc. who moonlight with morning sessions, and have skated with them from time to time. There are lots of coaches giving lessons in their downtime. (In fact, we were at Haymarket this past weekend, and there was a coach wearing a Little Caps jacket giving a lesson during stick and shoot.) If you go to a free skate at Medstar on any given day, there's usually at least one coach (might be a figure skating coach) working with a hockey player. Both of my kids took 'private' skating lessons with one of the Medstar hockey coaches during open skates when they were small. This was a paid coach who definitely had a say in who did and did not make the teams. FWIW, those lessons made them great skaters, but did not pay immediate rewards in getting them on a top travel team. That didn't happen until later. Not everything is a conspiracy. Again, I am not a MYHA parent, I don't know about the inner-workings of that organization or all the political pitfalls. It's a free market society and if you're not happy, there are other options.

We need to stop private equity from buying and destroying everything

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend. Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area.

It's not a mystery. You could just check to see how much the person in question (Keegan) is "taking home" from MYHA because it's posted on the tax filing I linked to earlier. I'll save you the effort--it's $80k.

But I'm not sure you're a hockey parent either, nor that you read the article at the top of this thread, because otherwise you'd realize that the scenario you describe is not what happens in youth hockey around here. You're correct that there are numerous modestly-paid coaches in the area (of high school teams, or clubs like Tri-City). But they are not running clinics at scale like Keegan is. Nor are they typically doing private lessons in their down-time. The ice is simply not available for these area coaches to use for that purpose. Plus Keegan is--if memory serves--at tryouts for all age groups and deciding the placement for teams he will not coach. But he still can, and apparently does, favor players of different ages who take his classes.

Keegan is not actually a paid coach. He's paid by MYHA to be Director of Hockey Operations and I suppose as part of that, he has taken on a team to coach, just like all the other (volunteer) coaches at MYHA. Because MYHA doesn't pay coaches--they rely on the free labor of parent volunteers. At Tri-City (and I don't know about the others), coaches are paid, typically non-parents. Tri-City fees are not higher for players IIRC, so it's not like MYHA uses volunteer parent coaches to save players money. Meanwhile, he also runs the fee-extra NBN hockey classes/clinics/camps.

The situation with Keegan is problematic in two ways. First is that it is somewhat of a monopoly serving the MYHA families; the second is that when it comes to team selection, the people who choose to pay for his company's services are (by the looks for things) favored for their patronage rather than skill, despite the fact that the club runs tryouts (that imply that he selects based on skill).

I can tell you from personal experience that taking Keegan’s clinics does not always help or guarantee special placement at tryouts. I am not just a one off, I know others whose kids did his clinics regularly and still didn’t make a spot or was put on a much lower team than they hoped. I’m sure there is some help for really well connected people, but it is not true that just regularly taking his clinics helps.

Anonymous wrote:This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend. Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area.

It's not a mystery. You could just check to see how much the person in question (Keegan) is "taking home" from MYHA because it's posted on the tax filing I linked to earlier. I'll save you the effort--it's $80k.

But I'm not sure you're a hockey parent either, nor that you read the article at the top of this thread, because otherwise you'd realize that the scenario you describe is not what happens in youth hockey around here. You're correct that there are numerous modestly-paid coaches in the area (of high school teams, or clubs like Tri-City). But they are not running clinics at scale like Keegan is. Nor are they typically doing private lessons in their down-time. The ice is simply not available for these area coaches to use for that purpose. Plus Keegan is--if memory serves--at tryouts for all age groups and deciding the placement for teams he will not coach. But he still can, and apparently does, favor players of different ages who take his classes.

Keegan is not actually a paid coach. He's paid by MYHA to be Director of Hockey Operations and I suppose as part of that, he has taken on a team to coach, just like all the other (volunteer) coaches at MYHA. Because MYHA doesn't pay coaches--they rely on the free labor of parent volunteers. At Tri-City (and I don't know about the others), coaches are paid, typically non-parents. Tri-City fees are not higher for players IIRC, so it's not like MYHA uses volunteer parent coaches to save players money. Meanwhile, he also runs the fee-extra NBN hockey classes/clinics/camps.

The situation with Keegan is problematic in two ways. First is that it is somewhat of a monopoly serving the MYHA families; the second is that when it comes to team selection, the people who choose to pay for his company's services are (by the looks for things) favored for their patronage rather than skill, despite the fact that the club runs tryouts (that imply that he selects based on skill).

The solution is simple - switch to roller hockey. Wait until hockey ice time opens up.

But then Anthony’s travel will find away…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have to give USA Today a ton of credit. You don’t see investigative reporting like that anymore.

Look…it just makes me question even more why anyone signs their kid up to play hockey. The entire system all through these junior hockey teams appears so broken and stupid.

What's weird about juniors and fake pro hockey is some of my sons' best friends were sucked into this and now they are in their late 20s still making nothing on this pseudo pro circuit in random podunk towns. Meanwhile my sons, who graduated high school with these same kids, are working professionals with five plus years of experience, promotions, wages, and retirement savings.

It's as if these hockey boys don't know when to cut their losses and begin real life?

Breaking news: Jocks aren't very smart and aren't academically ambitious. Even the hockey kids who go to university, it's not like they're getting engineering, pre-med, or economics degrees. They're all in the easiest concentrations to goof off, play video games, and party.

This bolded part at least is often untrue. Plenty of hockey-playing engineering majors at places like RIT and Northeastern (plus tons more in ACHA programs around the country)

Anonymous wrote:Murry Gunty served as Chairman of Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena from 2021 until fairly recently. Bob Weiss of Rockville Ice Arena also was named to the Board back then.

https://www.washingtoninformer.com/new-chair-board-members-tapped-for-fort-dupont-ice-arena/

It looks like neither is on the Board anymore post-renovation and after DPR took over the arena's operations. Anyone have additional background on their tenure with FDIA?

He tried to run to join the PVAHA board a few years ago but luckily the voting clubs knew him well, so he lost the election badly.

Murry Gunty served as Chairman of Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena from 2021 until fairly recently. Bob Weiss of Rockville Ice Arena also was named to the Board back then.

https://www.washingtoninformer.com/new-chair-board-members-tapped-for-fort-dupont-ice-arena/

It looks like neither is on the Board anymore post-renovation and after DPR took over the arena's operations. Anyone have additional background on their tenure with FDIA?

This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend. Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left myha after one season. I always thought the rink was owned by the city of Rockville, so I ignored that aspect, but it was very clear that, on both the boys and girls side, paying for the coaches group/private clinics influenced team selection and ice time. Parents assistant coaching (sometimes the teams will have 4 dad assistant coaches on the bench!) or sucking up to the head coaches also has a huge impact on team selection. If you pay attention, some of the kids have 1-1 regular midseason skill and strength training sessions with the head coach. Myha/rockville is a cesspool but I feel like the chickens are coming home to roost. Tm and pride are afterthoughts in the aaa world, no myha boys aa teams qualified for nationals this year. Only one girls team did outright and the other got there by playing the at large game to both districts and nationals. There are some good people in the organization, but I feel like the couple of attorneys on the board need to lay down the law.

I know MYHA is huge but I always found it odd that the try out clinics and coaching clinics are run separately by the coach, not the organization. And that the try out clinics and pre season clinics are unofficially mandatory. I think it’s the only local organization like that. At MedStar, TriCity, St James the camps/clinics are run by the organization. Medstar does offer private and small group coaching sessions, I’m not sure if those become “mandatory” as players progress.

The years my kid played for TM had the same conflict. Both coaches for his first two years at TM ran the outside clinics and private lessons. It was no secret ( particularly with one coach who is still with TM) that the kids who took outside lessons from him got more playing time. I was lucky since my kid was a good player and got playing time without the extra sucking up but it was pretty ridiculous.