Last night I attended a Symposium hosted by the Welland Sports Tourism Alliance, whose goal is to bring together various stakeholders in an effort to promote a healthier economy and a healthier community through sport, a cause I can firmly support.
While I am not exactly what you would call athletic, there is no question that my lifestyle certainly revolves around sport and over the past several years I have tried to work behind the scenes to create a better atmosphere in the local sports scene.
As a team manager, I’ve always been appreciative of the sponsorship we have received for our sports teams and I’ve always tried to do what I can to drive business to those companies who help our sports teams and organization.
I’ve had some successes and a few failures along the way:
I had an idea a few years ago, the first year that I managed a lacrosse team, that I wanted to give out a Player of the Week Award to challenge my players and get the most out of them and encourage some friendly competition at the same time. Through my volunteer efforts, I already had a few gift cards that I had collected from various tournaments and other activities where I had given my time and been compensated, and I thought that if I approached local business owners, I might be able to get a few more to have enough to carry me throughout the season. I approached only businesses that I thought my players would actually support like Dairy Queen, Blockbuster and the Seaway Mall thinking if they provided me with say a $5 or $10 voucher at no cost, then my players who did not drive, would have to bring one or both of their parents along (and perhaps even other family members) and the business could make extra sales that way. A win-win situation for everyone or so I thought. At the time, I was not familiar with Deb Zarah of Boston Pizza or John Clark of M.T. Bellies, who might have actually gone along with the idea, so the experiment was a complete failure. I quickly exhausted my stockpile of $25 gift cards that I have been given for my volunteer hours and I decided that they only fair thing to do was to finish out the season by paying for $25 gift cards for the remaining weeks out of my own pocket. I don’t regret trying this experiment, but it certainly was not the smartest things I have ever done.
Thankfully, some of the other things I’ve tried have been more successful.
I started announcing and playing music during games several years ago after being asked to help out at the Ernie Clayton tournament one year. I didn’t see any reason why we could not provide that service on a weekly basis, instead of just a few times a year during the tournament weekends. What started as announcing for a couple teams grew to the point where I started announcing for everyone, and I mean everyone…house league, A, AAA, high school hockey, girls hockey, men’s league, all of our local tournaments and Championships and eventually even minor and Jr. B lacrosse as well. Not only was I providing entertainment to the players, but I was also providing extra value to sponsors by frequently mentioning their names throughout the games. After I began managing multiple hockey teams, my personal availability lessened and I had the idea that I could provide high school students (or even Niagara College students interested in a career in radio broadcasting) with the opportunity to earn some experience and volunteer hours and fill in for me when I could not make it. Unfortunately that plan has not worked out to date and I have stopped most of my announcing at present.
Let’s be clear, the vast majority clearly enjoy the music over silence, and love hearing the goals and penalties being announced. But there are always the few, usually the ones silly enough to sit right beside the speakers, who complain that it is too loud or that the music isn’t to their liking. I’ve put up with alot over the past five years or so: I’ve had equipment and personal items stolen, I’ve had to replace four or five laptops due to the constant wear and tear they receive during travel among many other issues that I won’t go into here, but the reason I stopped was there were just too many weeks where I would be at the arena from 1:30pm in the afternoon on a weekday for high school hockey right through till 11 or 11:30pm in the evening, and the last thing I would hear as I left the arena wouldn’t be thank you, but rather that someone was going to complain to the Executive and stop me from playing music because it was too loud. They are currently upgrading the sound system as I write this, so I may give announcing another shot down the road to see if the situation is improved, but I’m not sure yet as those complaints are still ringing in my ears.
The other major issue of course is that I made the arena a popular destination for youth to hang out. That’s right, instead of causing trouble in the streets, the skatepark or at the mall because they are bored with nothing better to do, large numbers of kids are at now the arena watching hockey, particularly on Friday nights. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want 20 kids up in the press box either, but what often happens is that I let in two or three and leave for a moment and they let in others before I get back. Most often these others will simply come up for a few minutes to say hi to who’s there, or see what it’s like for a few minutes if they’ve never been there before, and then they leave and go back to their seats. If anyone should have a problem with there presence up there, it would be me as it’s often my personal belongings up there. I’ve never had a single parent ever complain about their kids being up there, and in fact many actually encourage their kids to go up there so they can keep better tabs on them because they know they up there actually paying attention to the game instead of running through the parking lot or arena halls, but I hear it both from the Executive and the Arena staff on a regular basis whenever anyone is up there. Over the period of five years, there have certainly been a few isolated incidents (in truth, a very few, and almost exclusively with out of town players who did not have permission to be up there) and I’m very quick to deal with those as they occur. It’s an issue greatly blown out of proportion by some, but the reality is that if I am going to resume announcing at some point, I will need at least occasional help.
My Rink Rat Rants sports blog was another success story. Unfortunately, once I started managing teams is was clearly suggested to me that I needed to watch what I posted online, and it was even recommended by a few people that I shouldn’t post anything on Facebook or similar sites, which many will now find humourous since I have literally hundreds of followers simply because of the photos that I post there daily. At one point, I was seriously considering posting short video interviews and player profiles on here and filling the void left by our declining local news media, but I simply do not have the time to do that when managing multiple teams and trying to fit in as much photography as I do.
Finally, my biggest success has certainly been my photography, my photo-evangelism, if you will. I love taking photos probably even more than announcing because they are a permanent reminder of the great memories we are creating through sports. Despite having equipment that cost me less than $1000, and that frequently doesn’t co-operate fully, I’ve been fortunate to capture numerous memorable images, and even have had a few published despite often competing against much more expensive equipment and talented photographers. I’ve been reluctant to charge for my photos to date, even as their quality has improved with better equipment, but not hesitant to share them. I’m frequently e-mailing out-of-town teams to share the galleries with them, or creating DVDs for special occasions and ceremonies where they can be featured. It’s not that I couldn’t use the extra money, I simply think it’s more important to share the images for the enjoyment of all rather than hide them behind a pay wall where only those who choose to purchase them, can access them.
Unfortunately, this situation does pose limitations. One, I’m not able to upgrade my equipment as I would like and with Cogeco no longer offering unlimited bandwidth, I have to be careful in the timing of uploading my images to avoid excessive charges that I simply cannot afford. Still, I do the best with what I have, and while my jdisher.fotki.com account may not be up to date, you can always find my photos on Facebook.
It’s my hope that my efforts, even the ill-advised ones, have promoted and encouraged more people to be active and involved in sports on whatever level they can be than if I had simply chosen to do nothing. May the future of sport be as bright as its past.
Thank you for reading.
Dish
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October 20, 2011 Stops and Starts
Last night I attended a Symposium hosted by the Welland Sports Tourism Alliance, whose goal is to bring together various stakeholders in an effort to promote a healthier economy and a healthier community through sport, a cause I can firmly support.
While I am not exactly what you would call athletic, there is no question that my lifestyle certainly revolves around sport and over the past several years I have tried to work behind the scenes to create a better atmosphere in the local sports scene.
As a team manager, I’ve always been appreciative of the sponsorship we have received for our sports teams and I’ve always tried to do what I can to drive business to those companies who help our sports teams and organization.
I’ve had some successes and a few failures along the way:
I had an idea a few years ago, the first year that I managed a lacrosse team, that I wanted to give out a Player of the Week Award to challenge my players and get the most out of them and encourage some friendly competition at the same time. Through my volunteer efforts, I already had a few gift cards that I had collected from various tournaments and other activities where I had given my time and been compensated, and I thought that if I approached local business owners, I might be able to get a few more to have enough to carry me throughout the season. I approached only businesses that I thought my players would actually support like Dairy Queen, Blockbuster and the Seaway Mall thinking if they provided me with say a $5 or $10 voucher at no cost, then my players who did not drive, would have to bring one or both of their parents along (and perhaps even other family members) and the business could make extra sales that way. A win-win situation for everyone or so I thought. At the time, I was not familiar with Deb Zarah of Boston Pizza or John Clark of M.T. Bellies, who might have actually gone along with the idea, so the experiment was a complete failure. I quickly exhausted my stockpile of $25 gift cards that I have been given for my volunteer hours and I decided that they only fair thing to do was to finish out the season by paying for $25 gift cards for the remaining weeks out of my own pocket. I don’t regret trying this experiment, but it certainly was not the smartest things I have ever done.
Thankfully, some of the other things I’ve tried have been more successful.
I started announcing and playing music during games several years ago after being asked to help out at the Ernie Clayton tournament one year. I didn’t see any reason why we could not provide that service on a weekly basis, instead of just a few times a year during the tournament weekends. What started as announcing for a couple teams grew to the point where I started announcing for everyone, and I mean everyone…house league, A, AAA, high school hockey, girls hockey, men’s league, all of our local tournaments and Championships and eventually even minor and Jr. B lacrosse as well. Not only was I providing entertainment to the players, but I was also providing extra value to sponsors by frequently mentioning their names throughout the games. After I began managing multiple hockey teams, my personal availability lessened and I had the idea that I could provide high school students (or even Niagara College students interested in a career in radio broadcasting) with the opportunity to earn some experience and volunteer hours and fill in for me when I could not make it. Unfortunately that plan has not worked out to date and I have stopped most of my announcing at present.
Let’s be clear, the vast majority clearly enjoy the music over silence, and love hearing the goals and penalties being announced. But there are always the few, usually the ones silly enough to sit right beside the speakers, who complain that it is too loud or that the music isn’t to their liking. I’ve put up with alot over the past five years or so: I’ve had equipment and personal items stolen, I’ve had to replace four or five laptops due to the constant wear and tear they receive during travel among many other issues that I won’t go into here, but the reason I stopped was there were just too many weeks where I would be at the arena from 1:30pm in the afternoon on a weekday for high school hockey right through till 11 or 11:30pm in the evening, and the last thing I would hear as I left the arena wouldn’t be thank you, but rather that someone was going to complain to the Executive and stop me from playing music because it was too loud. They are currently upgrading the sound system as I write this, so I may give announcing another shot down the road to see if the situation is improved, but I’m not sure yet as those complaints are still ringing in my ears.
The other major issue of course is that I made the arena a popular destination for youth to hang out. That’s right, instead of causing trouble in the streets, the skatepark or at the mall because they are bored with nothing better to do, large numbers of kids are at now the arena watching hockey, particularly on Friday nights. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want 20 kids up in the press box either, but what often happens is that I let in two or three and leave for a moment and they let in others before I get back. Most often these others will simply come up for a few minutes to say hi to who’s there, or see what it’s like for a few minutes if they’ve never been there before, and then they leave and go back to their seats. If anyone should have a problem with there presence up there, it would be me as it’s often my personal belongings up there. I’ve never had a single parent ever complain about their kids being up there, and in fact many actually encourage their kids to go up there so they can keep better tabs on them because they know they up there actually paying attention to the game instead of running through the parking lot or arena halls, but I hear it both from the Executive and the Arena staff on a regular basis whenever anyone is up there. Over the period of five years, there have certainly been a few isolated incidents (in truth, a very few, and almost exclusively with out of town players who did not have permission to be up there) and I’m very quick to deal with those as they occur. It’s an issue greatly blown out of proportion by some, but the reality is that if I am going to resume announcing at some point, I will need at least occasional help.
My Rink Rat Rants sports blog was another success story. Unfortunately, once I started managing teams is was clearly suggested to me that I needed to watch what I posted online, and it was even recommended by a few people that I shouldn’t post anything on Facebook or similar sites, which many will now find humourous since I have literally hundreds of followers simply because of the photos that I post there daily. At one point, I was seriously considering posting short video interviews and player profiles on here and filling the void left by our declining local news media, but I simply do not have the time to do that when managing multiple teams and trying to fit in as much photography as I do.
Finally, my biggest success has certainly been my photography, my photo-evangelism, if you will. I love taking photos probably even more than announcing because they are a permanent reminder of the great memories we are creating through sports. Despite having equipment that cost me less than $1000, and that frequently doesn’t co-operate fully, I’ve been fortunate to capture numerous memorable images, and even have had a few published despite often competing against much more expensive equipment and talented photographers. I’ve been reluctant to charge for my photos to date, even as their quality has improved with better equipment, but not hesitant to share them. I’m frequently e-mailing out-of-town teams to share the galleries with them, or creating DVDs for special occasions and ceremonies where they can be featured. It’s not that I couldn’t use the extra money, I simply think it’s more important to share the images for the enjoyment of all rather than hide them behind a pay wall where only those who choose to purchase them, can access them.
Unfortunately, this situation does pose limitations. One, I’m not able to upgrade my equipment as I would like and with Cogeco no longer offering unlimited bandwidth, I have to be careful in the timing of uploading my images to avoid excessive charges that I simply cannot afford. Still, I do the best with what I have, and while my jdisher.fotki.com account may not be up to date, you can always find my photos on Facebook.
It’s my hope that my efforts, even the ill-advised ones, have promoted and encouraged more people to be active and involved in sports on whatever level they can be than if I had simply chosen to do nothing. May the future of sport be as bright as its past.
Thank you for reading.
Dish
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