It's That Time of Year

All across the country, women’s teams are gearing up for the 2014 season. I’m seeing tryout announcements all over the place, and some teams are holding preliminary practices.

There’s also a camp coming up down in Austin, Texas. I understand there’s going to be some pretty good coaches there, and I understand the appeal of playing and learning with other talented players from across the country.

Unfortunately, sometimes reality jumps up and slaps us all in the face. Usually that is in the form of finances. So let’s say you’re a team or a group of players that desperately wants to get better this year – what are the costs involved in doing so?

See below for a group of 6 players to attend a camp, versus the cost for me to come to you:

Expense	For 6 players	Me
Air Fare	6 x $400 = $2,400	$400
Hotel	2 nights, 2 rooms @ $80 each = $320	1 room @ $80 = $160
Camp Cost	6 @ $100 each = $600	$200
Food	On own	2 meals/day @ $15 each = $60
Players coached	6	Potentially entire team
Total Cost	$3,320	$820
Cost per player	$553	$137 for 6 – could be much less if more players involved
Coaching	Generic (lowest common denominator)	Specific to your team/scheme/terminology

Obviously costs can vary, but I tried to compare apples to apples.

My men’s season is over now, and the only two dates the Surge has tied up are December 1 and December 15 for informational meetings. We don’t even have tryouts until January. I would suggest that if you want to put something together, now is the time to get it scheduled. That will give us both plenty of time to work together to establish what exactly you want to accomplish and how we will do it.

I look forward to hearing from you – now back to football talk!