An exploration of my experiences with the Ontario Lacrosse Association – an exposé into the state of lacrosse today… … More Our Shared Experience

At first appearance, the father was your typical ‘lacrosse dad’ coaching or helping out with his kid’s teams.
… More Chapter 1 Father and Son

The end result of all of this is that the mother was so disgusted with the situation, she stopped volunteering for the club and her son stopped playing lacrosse.  He plays baseball now … More Chapter 2 Something is Wrong Here

I truly believed, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary, that once I got a hearing with the OLA, rational minds would prevail. … More Chapter 3 Target and Isolate

What you need to know is that it is real and it exists for everyone to experience. … More Chapter 4 Kangaroo Courts

You can invest all the resources you want in our beloved sport, you can invest all the goodness at your disposal, all the money for your kid’s equipment and team fees, all the time and effort into getting a club or a league running for the benefit of others and if someone doesn’t like you, doesn’t like the way you look, or acts on gossip, you can have all that work erased.  It has happened to others and it has happened to me – are you next? … More Chapter 5 Obligations

The main problem stems from what every OLA members eventually becomes familiar with if they stick around long enough: politics. It’s there in every team, every club, and every association; it’s there in every sport organization in the country and likely the world. … More Chapter 6 Protect Yourself

Despite the complexities of trying to gain consensus on any issue, it is always better for all to aim for a situation of mutual agreement rather than ‘my way or the highway because I said so.’ … More Chapter 7 Overtrust

A common sense approach to designing a volunteer recruitment plan means a clear understanding is developed about what is expected of the volunteer. To me, the expectations around volunteering are very, very important and the first expectation is that there is actually a volunteer recruitment plan. How many clubs and associations out there can claim they have such a plan other than some verbal agreement or a tick-box on a form? … More Chapter 8 The Volunteer

At the club level, the mishandling of the basic ethical principles can have devastating effect including the loss of volunteers and a rapid decrease in membership. People talk; and with the wide menu of youth sports available, they talk with their feet. It doesn’t matter how many innovative programs you can come up with, if people hear the club mistreats its members, they will stay away. … More Chapter 9 – The Club (And What Isn’t)