This league is a mess. The cost per person is not cheap, so committing to creating a team was a big decision. It's been nothing short of a SH*T SHOW since Day 1. The league is called Tysons Corner Kickball, however, due to a "permit issue" we now play on a plot of land in Vienna. Let me review our experience over the last several weeks...
WEEK ONE: We get a last minute email changing the location of the field. Mind you - this new location is not a ball field, it is a literal FIELD, similar in quality to running on a cobblestone road! Best to bring your ankel braces! The original field was less than a 10 minute drive from Tyson's Corner and less than 5 miles from the sponsoring bar. The new cobblestone field is a 35 minute drive (minimum - if you leave an hour early!) from Tyson's, and is no less than 35 minutes away from the sponsoring bar. Let's be real, one of the primary perks of these leagues are the happy hours - but not this one! Also, in kickball, there are 2 primary needs to play the game...a BALL and a FIELD. How does an entire league mess up one of the two primary needs - confirming THE FIELD ("permit issues" was the offered excuse, but seems to me somebody messed up somewhere!)? Imagine any other scenario where you take money from participants and then, at the last minute, tell them that they must now commit to driving an additional 30 minutes - thanks for paying...SMH!
WEEK TWO: Rained out - nobody's fault
WEEK THREE: We get no less than six emails on game day, each one correcting the previous misinformation about the new "double header" schedule to make up for the rained out week prior. One email lists double header dates for several weeks later, the next email lists double header dates of THAT SAME NIGHT (great prior notice!), then we are told it isn't that night...the final email had ONE team playing a double header AND umping games at the same time!? How does that work?? Is no thought put into this for the 6 days leading up to game day?
WEEK FOUR: The day was overcast but not raining. However, everyone in NoVA was tuned into the weather channel, watching the radar that called for SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS to set in around 6:00pm (aka GAME TIME). Like good participants, we began calling the league weather hot line around 3:00pm. The last update was at 2:30pm and NEVER CHANGED. At 5:00pm (when we all have to leave to allow enough time to get through traffic to the new field location) we called the league directly (since the weather line was clearly not getting updated)...as we stared out at the ominous, looming dark clouds, and saw a radar map that was LAVA RED covering all of Northern Virginia (red is BAD), we were told by a living person that NOTHING WAS CANCELLED. So, avoiding the forfeiture, we all left Tyson's Corner and attempted to drive toward the Vienna field location. STORM-aggedon was already starting as intersections were blocked by an overabundance of traffic, all heading AWAY from the storms, while we drive directly into the storms. After 50 minutes of traffic, we arrive at 6:00pm, as the clouds opened and torrential downpours drenched us for almost 10 minutes...until FINALLY, the DC Fray rep at the field received a call stating that the games were cancelled. Great, now we can all turn around and sit in the "FLASH FLOOD ZONES" and deluge of rain, while no traffic moved, and lightening lit up the skies around us...only CONFIRMING what everyone who can LOOK AT A RADAR MAP already knew was going to happen. The fact that the "powers that be" in this league were SO IRRESPONSIBLE in their decision-making, that they risked the safety of everyone who PAID to be in their league is beyond words. A cancellation decision could have been easily made at 5:00pm as opposed to 6:10pm and everyone would have had an hour's notice to head safely home...BEFORE the rain and lightning began.
Overall, this league could be GREAT but they need to go back to the drawing board on "organization" and start over. BIG FAIL. read more
