FAO: Club Members and Parents/Guardians
Good Afternoon,
First and foremost we would like to wish everyone our warmest of gratitude to you all for being part of our family this season.
We are fully aware that following Basketball England’s decision to finish the season and suspend all basketball activities you will be very disappointed, frustrated and have a number of questions.
On Friday night, following a few technological teething issues, the Management Committee of the club met via skype to discuss how we move forward with the finalisation of this season and ongoing activities.
As you can imagine, with the government guidance changing daily, its been difficult to make firm decisions but instead we have set up a list of topics that we are looking into and will send out further information in the coming weeks and months. Our foremost priority in making these decisions has been the health and safety of our members and their families.
End of Season Celebrations
The end of season activities have been suspended indefinitely.
This means that both the tournaments and the presentation night will now be postponed until we are clear to set something up.
We fully intend on putting something together once we are able to, as we want to celebrate the successes of the club this year as well as the individuals involved. As you can appreciate at this moment in time there is no timescale for this, and this may mean that our End of Season celebrations look a little different this year than in years past.
The End of Basketball Activities this season
As previously communicated, Basketball England has suspended basketball indefinitely and therefore as a club all our training and games are now cancelled for the season. The good news is that after speaking to the sports centres we have managed to retain slot bookings and have also requested first refusal on any new time slots that come available, so when we can start back again we have everything in place to do so.
We understand how upsetting this is for everybody, and particularly for the local league men’s team who were challenging for the league titles in both Cambridge and Suffolk and with more outstanding fixtures than the other teams at the club.
We are yet to hear of an outcome to see if we will be awarded any titles but will obviously keep you all updated on this.
Club Fees
We have highlighted that fact that with the basketball season being cut short there may be some members that have paid their season’s subscriptions already, and therefore might be owed some subscriptions back. We are currently looking into the exact costings of this and as a committee have said this is something that we need to discuss as to how we deal with this both fairly and correctly.
As you know we are a volunteer-run, not-for-profit club and as such we rely on subscriptions, sponsorships and events (such as our end of season celebrations) in order to keep the club afloat. Our costs for the season are also front-loaded, as entry into competitions, etc. has to be paid in advance, however, we always look to maintain even costs for members, where possible, at the risk of a situation like this: whereby the season ends, and we’ve paid everything out, but have not had the opportunity to collect a full season’s worth of fees, and so may be operating at a loss.
We are therefore looking to complete the full season’s club financials which will include the review of any overpayments before making a final decision and communicating this with everyone. We appreciate your patience in this as I’m sure you are aware of the complex nature of the task in hand.
If you still owe fees for this season, please make arrangements to pay as soon as possible.
Summer Camp
As things stand, we intend to run our Summer Camp in August. However, this will depend on he advice of our Governing Body, and indeed the government, nearer the time.
We are happy to extend the “Earlybird” discount by one month, and making it available to all club members booking and paying in-full before the end of April.
Please be assured that we will issue refunds for any payments, in the event of cancellation of the camp. To book your place, please email us.
Stay Active / Stay Social
These are challenging times for all and stress levels can be higher than ever whether that be work related, school related, family, health, the list goes on.
Please remember that we pride ourselves on being a family at Bulldogs... and family comes first.
We encourage members to stay in touch using the various WhatsApp Groups and Social Media, stay active and fit even if it’s a little home work out for 20 minutes, we will be posting lots of content on ideas to keep active and above all if you are in trouble, need help or just want to talk then feel free to reach out to us, I know I’m speaking for us all when I say if we can help, we will help.
Our club coaches have already distributed player packs and coach packs to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to stay engaged in the game, and we’re looking into video coaching opportunities following the success of many recent online coaching clinics.
Above all, stay safe, look after yourselves and once we get through all of this just imagine how sweet that feeling of stepping back on the court is going to feel.
Kind Regards,
Ashley, Glenn, Mark, Lynne, Seb & Arron
The Management Committee of Bury St. Edmunds Basketball Club
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