Dear Barbarians:
Things happen suddenly no matter how long they take!’ It seems that as always, our indoor season came to an end just when our players and teams were making their greatest strides in their development and understanding of futsal and our style of play. We can ill-afford to continually begin each year anew only to have to begin anew all over again. While our numbers have grown significantly in some areas, our capacity to consistently convey our understanding of competitiveness and selection has not been fully appreciated by our families, nor have they good insight to the workings of what it means to be members of this club. Instead, many remain focused on a specific team or only their child, and how they can fit as many activities into their day as possible.
We ask no one to forgo their family time or the various activities they have planned but rather we do ask that if you are part of this club you accept that you must give an honest effort to fully partake in the opportunities afforded here in the manner they are offered. If we are to advance this club, your team, your child, then we are certain that common sense and common courtesy dictate the need to be committed fully and not based on what others feel, do, or think, with regards to what we know needs to be done, or how to go about doing so. Obviously it is problematic when there are too many chefs in the kitchen and no cooks to be found!
At times my newsletters are taken out of context and many are unable to get the gist of what is being conveyed. Simply put, if you are undaunted by what is being expressed then there is nothing that should worry you and, even if something I have written troubles you there is no need to fret. My writing concerns situations I have observed and often convey something we wish to avoid seeing take place within our organization. On other occasions my message is clearer conveying to all our aspirations. Our effort has always been to be consistent in our approach to the game and those who are members of this club. While we certainly appreciate having had families involved for more than 7 years in the Barbarians they are treated no differently than the newcomer. Hard for some to imagine but that is the way it works best. How would you favor one over another since, if we can do for one why not the other? Indeed, if we are able to do for any we do for all, at some point in time.
Our year began with a questionnaire for those who were members in an attempt to move our efforts in this organization forward. We appreciate the responses but were surprised by so few, and those who had nothing to contribute or nothing to add that would help guide us in our efforts. Several of the issues that were raised have been addressed and still others will continue to be monitored as we strive not only to improve our players and teams on a weekly basis, but our selves and this organization on a week-to-week, month-by-month, and yearly basis. The comment section of the survey provided me with some in depth personal views that allowed for a little levity as yes, your ‘benevolent dictator’ does have a sense of humor. More telling though, by so few responses is the lack of time that many of our parents have, to take time to respond. So stressed are those hours of the day that seconds are divided down and getting there to your appointed rounds on time becomes a matter of split seconds. It is never our intention to add to anyone’s stress and we have always reckoned that we are here to take some of the worry out of your day.
Unfortunately there are many who have adopted worry as their modus operandi and making others worry about the slightest thing that has no bearing on the outcome of life or death, nor our place afterward. Each of you know that if there is something troubling you about the Barbarians then you must ask me, no one else can provide answers on what we are doing. Needless to say, “I have met the enemy and they are we,’ so-to-speak, and will not allow any of this sort concern me in my duties as manager of this club. As our good friend Alfred E. Neuman once bespoke, “What, me worry?”
Troubling, as it may be for you who worry needlessly it is the least of my concerns. It seems many are accustomed to being caddied about by their well-meaning friends, who orchestrate all manner of understanding of how things should be done, as long as it is they and their friends who receive the benefit. Heaven forbid these individuals reap the fortune of their good guidance alone, forgetting of how their friends aided them, naively, but oh that was just a momentary fling, for they have lost all manner of friendship since they have arrived!
It is not my intention to cast any aspersion on however you came here or went there and does not hinder my service to you, nor do I concern myself with any of these scenarios. It is imperative for everybody to understand that our service to your family does not waiver even when you have done what you do in a manner that may be deemed detrimental to our club and the team with which you may have been associated. Suffice it to say that whatever measure you have taken we too can measure, not for the purpose of disciplining you but making certain to be consistent and continuous in remaining above the fray in our approach, unlike those who may be seeking that which we do not offer.
Common courtesy is the best that we can offer as well as common sense. They should be more than enough to provide each of us with a certain commonality in our endeavor with one another. When we are able to chart a course and stay on that course to journey’s end we will know success as individuals, team, or club. Adversity, trials and tribulation all play a part in the course we have charted but they are not what we seek. Ignoring them will not abate them nor will it allow you to know success. You have been made aware of them at the onset so that when we overcome them you will know success. We look forward to the enjoyment of success and truly hope that it is with, rather than without you.
__________________
As usual, I will see you on the pitch!
David W. Sayles