PREPS

PREPS
Poland school officialsowe an apologyto boys soccer team
Fanfare,
I am writing this letter to express my disagreement and disgust with a decision made by a Poland school official pertaining to the scheduled home boys soccer game against Canfield on Sept. 11.
As I am not sure as to who made the final decision on this issue, I will refer my comments to the "decision maker."
The facts are as follows: The soccer team was scheduled to have their home game against Canfield.
As anyone in Poland knows, a game against Canfield, specifically the home game, is probably the most important game for any senior at Poland regardless of what sport they are participating in.
On the morning of the day of he game, the "decision maker" came to the conclusion that the game would need to be moved because work on the outdoor track the tractors couldn't cut the grass.
This decision begs my first question: four or five days earlier when the track work began, why didn't the "decision maker" at that time attempt to switch home games then?
He then would have given Canfield 5 days notice. Instead they couldn't switch because their Poland home game on Sept. 30 is their senior night and they did not want to switch it at the last moment. Their decision is understandable.
So what transpired?
The game was moved to Valley Sports and thus the Poland seniors were robbed of the opportunity to have a home game their senior year against Canfield.
I wonder if the same decision would have been made to transfer a football game?
Or would the same decision have been made by the "decision maker" if their son played on the soccer team?
To add fuel to the fire, when the soccer team boarded the bus, they got to see the football team practicing on the same field they were told they couldn't play on. So how did they react? Like the champions they are, they went out and beat a good canfield team 3 to 1, and handled the adversity in a remarkable manner.
There were many negatives to this extremely poor decision.
The Canfield game is always the soccer team's best attended game and therefore we lost the walk up ticket and concession money, both of which are used to help fund our soccer banquet.
However, those facts pale next to the fact that this decision showed the utter disregard to the hard work and effort put forth by the boys soccer
My suggestions for the "decision maker" are as follows:
1. A personal apology to the seniors on the the boys soccer team. They are Matt Downie, Ken Toth, John Aldan, Mark Schroedel, Tom Rudnicki and Shawn O'Halloran.
2. You owe the boys soccer program an extra home game next year. Why we are only allowed 6 home games when we have a 16 game schedule, I don't understand. I have heard some "unofficial" explanations" for it.
3. Many of the Poland soccer parents buy a season ticket package and have paid for 6 home games. You owe us all a refund.
4. Finally, I would ask in the future you treat this program with the same respect that any extracurricular activity at Poland deserves. Your actions in this regard were reprehensible.
Gregory Gett
Poland