Email from Ralph to SRC Members...

SOUTHPORT RACQUET CLUB Fitness & Squash 226 Old Post Road * Southport * Connecticut 06890 203.259.0882 * Fax 203.259.6613 www.southportracquetclub.com

Dear SRC Squash Members, Squash Committee and Squash Program I'm certain that most of you are as weary as I am with these email exchanges, but I thought I needed to confirm Gavin's communication regarding the ongoing administration of the squash ladders and tell you the reasons that led to the change. 1)      The Squash Committee was established by Adam when he was our squash pro.  Their mission was to assist him in organizing tournaments and parties for the squash community.  They are a group of volunteers, and the Club has supported them and their activities 100%. They have done a wonderful job, especially Gavin, who assumed the responsibility of writing and maintaining the SRC Squash Blog and the administration of the computerized Box League.  In the past, the squash pro was expected to handle these responsibilities.       2)  After Adam left and Kumail agreed to bring his program to the SRC, courts             began to fill up, and demand for court time increased.  A meeting was arranged            with committee members, Kumail, and members of the Board of Directors to            discuss the related issues.  It was a productive meeting. We explained what                     couldn't be altered because of prior agreements, and Kumail adjusted some of the            scheduled school programs as best he could.  3)      It was the next day that the issue of the blog came up.  In the beginning I agreed to link the squash blog to our web site and allowed it to be presented as the "SRC  blog" as long as we had control over the content.  The email exchange between Gavin and me, and then the Committee, is self explanatory.  No matter where you stand on the editorial content, it became very clear that we did not have editorial control when I was told "you can take it (the two lines regarding our pros) down by turning off your computer".  4)      Please note that all of my communications were between Gavin and the Committee and that is where this disagreement should have been handled. Gavin, instead, chose to broadcast this event to everyone in his database, the database we allowed him to establish while managing the ladder program. This unauthorized use of our database is another reason why we cannot allow him to administer that program any longer. Moving ahead, those of you interested in participating in our ladder system should submit information to Kumail at: kumsha1976@yahoo.com  or call him at (203) 536-4308.  Feel free to contact him directly regarding any issues you have related to his team or our squash program. 5)      The Committee was not disbanded.  No one said there wouldn't be any more ladders, tournaments, parties, etc...  Gavin was not removed from the committee. At that time I merely asked the committee where they stood on these issues and told them that I could no longer work with him. The heart of this issue resides in a comment I received from a longtime squash supporter and shareholder.  He said I was wrong about the mission of the committee.  He said it wasn't to help the pro run his programs and build enthusiasm for squash activities, but rather to support the squash membership.  If the committee believes that it is their mission to manage the squash program at the Club, we have a real problem.  There can only be one squash director, and that is our squash pro.  The committee can suggest activities, but the pro and the club's managers must decide what works.  There are a number of activities that active competitive players enjoy (tournaments, round robins, club day, team competition) that is of little interest to many of the rest of our members.  Let's take the exciting team competition as an example.  There are 2 teams with about 8 on a team (16 players) and they have been given reserved court time for team practice and home matches (2-3).  They bring 16 nonmembers in to compete with them and the courts are reserved at prime time in the evening.  As managers of the club we are also responsible for the rights of other members who might want to play at that time.  We have over 250 squash members, and a small committee of active players should not control access to the courts by this broader group of members. The recent surge in demand for court time is the result of Kumail's well run squash program.  There's almost always a pro available for lessons, the pro shop is well managed, racquets are being restrung in a timely manner, there are many new players in the club, and more people than ever are taking lessons and enjoying the game. He is doing a great job. Sincerely, Ralph General Manager