Communication Issues

It just occurred to me that I need to put masking tape on the back of my coach's jacket to cover up "Loyola Park".  I need to write "LaFollette Park" on the tape before I can wear it to the boxing show coming up this week.

I also failed to put out a flyer about the boxing show.  It totally slipped my mind to do that.  The park supervisor and I will work on putting one out this week.  I really want a banner hung up outside the field house, but it's too late to produce one.

A new girl, Tandi, came in yesterday.  She's tall and lanky.  I thought she was going to say she was 15 or 16, but she's only thirteen.  Her punches are nice, and she appears to have picked up most of the techniques well.  She was the only person who showed up to the teen class.  Tandi doesn't want to spar or compete, which is unusual, because a majority of the kids, as opposed to the adults, want to fight.  I'm hoping she'll change her mind down the line.

Shanita, Julius, Lupe, BJ, as well as the other teens continue to be no-shows.  The teen class is the weakest link among the three classes I coach.  The slacker attitudes of the teenagers irritate me, despite my efforts in trying not to allow their behavior to bother me.  The excuses that Shanita and Julius keep giving me for not being present in particular, are wearing thin.  I dread seeing how this is going to play out during the boxing show later this week, especially since I've already set up a fight for Julius.

Parents keep showing up, now the class has been going on for two weeks already, attempting to sign up their grade school age kids for the gym.  Everyone's disappointed when they hear the class is full.  I keep wondering why, with all the printed information out there, as well as the information online, that the parents weren't aware the class had already started.  One parent whose kid is actually on the attendance list, just now started bringing their kid in.  "I thought the class began in July," they told me.  We had a lengthy talk several weeks before where I gave them a flyer and went over the dates of the class.  I don't get it.

Another parent was dismayed to discover that boxing happens at the same time another activity their kid participates in does.  I don't get that, either.  There seems to be a great disconnect regarding time management when it comes to planning what kids are going to do and when.

In addition to that, some parents have told me they are being told incorrect information about the boxing program when they call the field house.  Several parents had been given the wrong time for the start of the class.  Another parent told me they were told the class only meets one day a week.  There have been a few times that parents were told I wasn't in the building when I was.  I used to work for a suburban recreation department, and those sort of things did not fly with any of the parents.  The complaints wouldn't end with an irate phone call.  Parents would stomp down to the office, and if they still felt they hadn't received proper customer service, letters and emails would go flying to management as well as to the local politicians.  I haven't said anything as of yet about the miscommunication that has been given out as of yet.  But I do know that parents who are diligent about coordinating their kids' schedules do not appreciate not having correct information.  The last thing any of the staff needs are parents raising sand because of that.