Roo Recruit clinic debacle

[older saint]

After 2 years and 3 fantastic clinics with my son as part of the Roo's recruit membership today the club as dropped the ball in a big way and speaking to other parents the affects will be big for this membership option if what they say is true.

For those who do not know as part of the membership for kids you pay an extra amount, get a pack of goodies and 2 clinics per year in the school holidays. These have been fantatsic where there has been around 8 stations with 1-2 players at each station with kids in groups of around 12-15 per group. Players are fantastic interacting with the kids and my son has had a ball speaking to his heros like Dal, Rooey, Kosi, Fisher etc . At the end of each activity (tackling/handballing/kicking/ goals kicking/ marking etc ) the kids would line up and the players sign autographs and do photos before moving to the next group.

Today it was at Moorabbin and there are 4 stations including jumping castles. There are 4 players here and watching at the moment i am watching Tom Ledger eat an apple while talking to Beau Wilkes while the kids run around. Nick R is once again doing a great job mixing with the kids , he is a great ambassador for this club.

There are 4 groups with my son's group having just on 100 kids in it. He just lined up for a jumping castle for a long time to get a minimal go as he did't push in like some as he has been taught better and they ran out of time ( quite proud of that ). While waiting though they have had him standing in line in sox on the wet/muddy Moorabin surface.

4 stations - including jumping castles FFS , 4 players in total - this is an unmitigated disaster after doing things so well previously. It smells of poor planning and perhaps Sunday's result has casued some problems. Kids are moved on without time to get autographs. My son has already said he wanted to go home once as he is bored and cold standing in line in his sox waiting to go on a jumping castle.

If you are going to take the money then you need to deliver a service. Last year and the the first one this year were fantastic and i have no problem paying the extra but I would hope after this the club will send out some type of explanation as to why it has been so crap ! It has actually turned my son against wanting to go next year as he said" why do i want to go on jumping castles when last time we go to do footy stuff with the players " I can't make an argument against what he says.
I would be interested in any other parents thoughts who have kids involved now or previously.

[Con Gorozidis]

for an 'older saint' you dont sound very old if your kid is in rooeys recruits?
maybe change your name to 'medium aged saint' - youre not 100.

[Life Long Saint]

Older Saint, you would be better off addressing this with the club rather than on the forum.

I am sure that they would welcome this kind of feedback.

[Spinner]

for an 'older saint' you dont sound very old if your kid is in rooeys recruits?
maybe change your name to 'medium aged saint' - youre not 100.

Great reply to what seems like a serious issue Con. How could anyone ever question your value on here?



What's described above is not good. The club seems to be poor at generating revenue. Maybe because they take, deliver pool value as in this case, and then people are reluctant to re-commit financially again.

Not good.

[saintbrat]

sorry your experience was not as good as before

I too would suggest you contact the club- I would have suggested you do this at the event,
But a couple of questions

Numbers wise of children attending?
and age range?

just curious as to if this would be differant to the other events attendded.

[older saint]

I will be addressing the club on this just wanted to throw it out there to see if any others were ther, although was still on as i posted originally.

Numbers and ages seemed around the same as normal but half as many activities . It is run bycamp Australia and looked like the club skimped out on the cost getting half the staff and activities.

membership is aimed at kids around 5-12 or so off memory

[SaintDagz]

I wasn't personally there (had to work) but my wife took my son (and daughter, too young for Rooey Recruit) down today and have just had feedback from them.

Son still enjoyed it as the Camp Australia crew ran it well. However in previous clinics as the OP stated a large number of the senior list were present and did a great job with the kids on the various stations around the oval.

We can take our son anywhere to bounce on a jumping castle at a school holiday program, this was meant to be a chance to mingle with the players as has happened in the past. As with OP, will pass on this feedback to the club as well.

[chook23]

Phone call just now to SEN by parent (father)

thanking Roo especially for his efforts

also mentioned some other players including Wilkes

had nothing but praise for all concerned and said his son and he had a great day...

I suppose hard to please everyone.

thread title may be a bit harsh but your opinion.....

this was another one.

[Con Gorozidis]

for an 'older saint' you dont sound very old if your kid is in rooeys recruits?
maybe change your name to 'medium aged saint' - youre not 100.

Great reply to what seems like a serious issue Con. How could anyone ever question your value on here?



What's described above is not good. The club seems to be poor at generating revenue. Maybe because they take, deliver pool value as in this case, and then people are reluctant to re-commit financially again.

Not good.

Value? Do you judge posters on their value? Perhaps you should publish your ratings results? Are you Standard and Poors or something? Have I not reached the footy fan forum KPI's?

i wasnt at the clinic so I have no idea - just saying it is a misleading name. I was also trying to say something positive/kind to the poster to lift their spirits!

[GrumpyOne]

The club has a history going back years in not being interested in its grass roots fan base.

If you have a few thou to put in, they are all over you like a wet t-shirt. Otherwise, you pay for the privelege of being ignored.

They know we are never going to crack the s***s and start supporting the Filth.

[BigMart]

Phone call was probably from Nettlefold

[chook23]

Phone call was probably from Nettlefold

It was not.

Sounded like a genuinely excited father who had a great day with his son who had a ball.

[GrumpyOne]

Phone call was probably from Nettlefold

It was not.

Sounded like a genuinely excited father who had a great day with his son who had a ball.

At least they got one thing right...... pretty lousy clinic without a ball.

[saint66au]

Everyone has differing expectations of things like this..as has been shown by the difffering posts here

Last year I attended the pre-game player sponsor lunch before the Melbourne game at ES. had a really nice meal, a few drinks (admittedly at ES prices) got good L2 seats behind the goals, our table had good company and some great Saints chat..got to hear Lenny speak, and Francis Leach was a great MC. Even got to speak briefly to Gardy at half time. It was my first function of this type and I had a great time, as did everyone at my table

Clearly were far too easily pleased. I came on here that night to be greeted with a hail of abuse and whinging about the function. Food was crap, not enough players present, groups were split up, blah blah blah...I was genuinely surprised. Then I realised that clearly some people genuinely expect to be treated like Gods at these functions. Maybe its cos they are feted as clients all day out in the big corporate world and expect it from their football club, I dunno. Others just want to hang out with players so they can name drop to their mates at work and on Social Media "oh yeah and Dal happened to mention to me..." etc etc. Im neither of those groups..I just wanted a nice afternoon in good company...and a win. I got it

I know a function like this is different to a kids clinic..but Im just making the point. Some set their expectations far higher than others.

Im off to the Races on Sunday as part of the Player sponsor program. Im sure there will be people grizzle about that too lol.

[BackFromUSA]

I took my son and 2 of his friends also attended.

My son has attended the 3 previous clinics over the past 2 years.

POSITIVES

The food on offer for the kids was free, healthy, plentiful and well organised. A huge improvement on 1 bbq snag in bread and soft drink previously provided.

Having it at Moorabbin - the boys watch the old games and highlights on Foxtel, DVD and YouTube and understand what Moorabbin was

Improved catering for parents - especially the coffee cart (after all it is a 3 hour activity all up)

Camp Australia continued to supervise and entertain the kids well

The autograph and photo opportunity set up for Nick Riewoldt (orderly and quick even though my son was in a massive group of about 60 -70 kids)

Nick Riewoldt himself (more on this later)

NEGATIVES

Less actual footy activities - one of the highlights in the past has been the actual real footy drills and there were very few of these

The inflatable jumping castle and slide was stupidity because the kids had to take their footy boots off to go on

- result was soaked socks
- a nightmare to then put the footy boots back on the 7 year olds!

Vastly lower number of players and mostly the new recruits + Rooey (I actually think the parents cared more about this than the kids)

Started activities early before the players arrived (a poor snap decision) so the result was at the end they had to spend time coordinating missed autographs

FEEDBACK

I spoke with Rory Sackville after the event and pointed out the problem of activities without players and he assured me that they had learnt a lesson from starting early - it was not as planned but had sensed kids getting restless - but had not fully understood the impact that it would have on kids getting autographs through the day and then had to pay catch-up. At that point I did not raise the stupidity re the inflatable attractions ... as I think that one they will work out for themselves.

NICK RIEWOLDT

After spending more than an hour signing autographs and posing for photos with grace and great sensitivity with some kids, he must have been exhausted.

The formal event had finished. Loads of parents and kids left or were leaving. A few kids were playing with their footy - here and there.

As he was walking off the oval he saw my son and his 2 friends playing "Jack in the Pack" with me. He would not know us from a bar of soap. He took a detour and came over to talk to the kids and said to me "c'mon kick it up and see if the boys can out mark me" and up it went and the boys were in Saints Heaven playing "Jack in the Pack" with Nick who promptly took a one hander. He then said to the boys - "photo time" and he posed with all 3 beaming kids.

We didn't ask him to do any of this. It wasn't his duty. He did it because ... I guess he realises how HUGE this would be for the boys and because I feel he loves them for loving the Saints. It also created an example for a younger player who I believe was Daniel Markworth, because a few minutes later he also came over to play but to be fair to the kids he competed on his knees - very funny to watch.

What is for sure is that the boys had a great day EVEN BEFORE that ... I knew that because they all had huge smiles on their faces all day, but that was a special moment that they will remember forever.

SUMMARY

The club made some mistakes today ... obvuously trying out some new things (the infltables and the new food etc) and some things worked and others didn't.

I am sure that the events will be bigger and better next year.

[SainterK]

Could it have anything to do with the reported virus going through the club?

[saintbrat]

thank you BFUSA

[Teflon]

Could it have anything to do with the reported virus going through the club?

ahh....sainter k....theres always an out isnt there?

"maybe it was the flu"
"couldve been told to play like that"
"how do we know the players werent setting this up for an even bigger clinic next year?"

...

[older saint]

Back from USA- Seems you had a similar type expereince and your story re Nick R reiterates that he seems to be a genuine person who has passion for the club and the kids. Sounds like you son was in the same group as mine.
perhaps i had expected more of the same as mentioned the previous ones were very well run..
I have emailled the club with concerns/complaints so will wait to see if i get a response or brushed over.

[SainterK]

Could it have anything to do with the reported virus going through the club?

ahh....sainter k....theres always an out isnt there?

"maybe it was the flu"
"couldve been told to play like that"
"how do we know the players werent setting this up for an even bigger clinic next year?"

...

Ahh Teflon...there's always something to grump about huh.

[Teflon]

Could it have anything to do with the reported virus going through the club?

ahh....sainter k....theres always an out isnt there?

"maybe it was the flu"
"couldve been told to play like that"
"how do we know the players werent setting this up for an even bigger clinic next year?"

...

Ahh Teflon...there's always something to grump about huh.

you're right, I need less grump and more excuses..

[SainterK]

You choose to get out the stick and whack.

I prefer to see if the stick is justified first.

[Enrico_Misso]

Everyone has differing expectations of things like this..as has been shown by the difffering posts here

Last year I attended the pre-game player sponsor lunch before the Melbourne game at ES. had a really nice meal, a few drinks (admittedly at ES prices) got good L2 seats behind the goals, our table had good company and some great Saints chat..got to hear Lenny speak, and Francis Leach was a great MC. Even got to speak briefly to Gardy at half time. It was my first function of this type and I had a great time, as did everyone at my table

Clearly were far too easily pleased. I came on here that night to be greeted with a hail of abuse and whinging about the function. Food was crap, not enough players present, groups were split up, blah blah blah...I was genuinely surprised. Then I realised that clearly some people genuinely expect to be treated like Gods at these functions. Maybe its cos they are feted as clients all day out in the big corporate world and expect it from their football club, I dunno. Others just want to hang out with players so they can name drop to their mates at work and on Social Media "oh yeah and Dal happened to mention to me..." etc etc. Im neither of those groups..I just wanted a nice afternoon in good company...and a win. I got it

I know a function like this is different to a kids clinic..but Im just making the point. Some set their expectations far higher than others.

Im off to the Races on Sunday as part of the Player sponsor program. Im sure there will be people grizzle about that too lol.

Agree - I was at that Melb function and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Food was good.
Speeches were good.
Seats were great.
Probably could have had more interaction with the players - seating them around the tables - but that is my only criticism.

I'm off to the Mornington races on Sunday and very much looking forward to it.
I wonder if they'll have a jumping castle?

[saintbrat]

I'm off to the Mornington races on Sunday and very much looking forward to it.
I wonder if they'll have a jumping castle?

they don't mention it
http://www.melbourneracingclub.net.au/t ... 2012-07-08

But kids are welcome..... so keep your eyes open.

[Mrs_Seaford_Saint]

FWIW and not really related to the subject matter but some Roo love - my husband was coming home from visiting his folks and was stopped at some lights in Frankston and realised Roo and his Fiance were in the car next door - he must have seen the saints sticker as he put his window down and said Hi to the hubby and engaged with the children ( my 5yr old sat with his mouth hanging open) until the light went green - he really is a genuinely nice guy and set's a great example to the younger blokes.