I would not recommend i9 Sports based on our experience with the West/Southwest Fort Worth soccer program.
My daughter's team started the season without a coach. I raised concerns about this before the first game, and the only response I initially received was a link asking me to volunteer to coach myself. I have never coached soccer and had never even watched a soccer game before my daughter started playing.
At our most recent game, only THREE players from our team showed up. The opposing team had to lend us two of their players AND one of their coaches just so our kids could play. Even the referee commented, "Why even bring your kid out here if you don't have a coach?" As a parent who paid for an organized youth sports program, I was wondering the same thing.
A parent has now graciously volunteered to coach, which I appreciate because he is trying to help the kids. However, he told us that because of his work schedule, he will not be able to attend most game days. This is not a criticism of him at all. He should not have been put in the position of trying to solve an organizational problem in the first place.
I contacted the Program Director and specifically requested one of two reasonable solutions: move my daughter to an established team with consistent coaching or refund our registration fee.
Neither was offered.
Instead, part of the response I received was that i9 Sports cannot control how many players show up to games. Of course they cannot control whether individual families attend. That completely misses the point of my complaint.
The issue is that i9 created a team without securing a reliable coach and apparently had no adequate contingency plan when one could not be found. When the team was left with three players and no coach at the game, another team had to provide the people necessary for our children to even participate.
I understand that i9 relies on parent volunteers for coaching. Many recreational sports leagues do. The difference is that a well-organized league should have a plan when volunteers cannot be secured--combine teams, redistribute players, provide temporary coaching, or offer affected families another reasonable solution.
Parents are paying i9 Sports to organize and manage a youth sports program. We are not simply paying for access to a field on Saturday.
I gave the local program an opportunity to address my concerns before leaving this review. Unfortunately, I still have not been provided with a meaningful solution.
My daughter deserves the same opportunity as every other child in the league to have consistent coaching, learn the sport, and feel like she is actually part of a team. Based on our experience, I cannot recommend this program to other families. read more
