Hi, Magic Families!

For those who were unable to attend our parent meeting in August, we wanted to give you a summary so you can at least get an overview.

Our first 3-on-3 Tournament was a HUGE success! 58 games, a gym filled with Magic players and families all day long - it was a great day. We plan on hosting more tournaments in the future.

Team name/grade changes

As of Sept 1, all teams were moved up a grade to match their current grade. The 'promotion' day is always Sept 1, which is how club basketball works. It's not our decision, it's how all the tournaments are run. Your player has the same coach (unless there was a change unrelated to the promotion.) The team name and grade were changed in Blast and in our system.

Tournament policy

Tournament fee policy is one of the biggest issues we have with our club and has long been misunderstood. The fees are made by adding the tournament entry fee and the coaches' pay (travel and meals) for the tournament and then dividing by the number of players attending - that's it. We get the tournament rosters from the coaches 10 days beforehand, so we can collect the money to pay for the tournament entry fee. That's why it's really important to pay the fee before the tournament.

If a player cancels after invoices are sent out, then our non-profit is left paying the fee for that player (we know illness and injury as valid reasons.) Our fundraising is for scholarships; we don't have the money to pay for players that cancel. It's very important to pay your fee (unless there's an illness or injury) if you cancel after committing to play in the tournament. It's also very difficult on the coach when there's a last-minute cancellation.

Blast

Love it or hate it, Blast is our only communication platform. It's the best way we can all communicate. When high school teams are active, we have over 200 players/ families to communicate with. We've met with the coaches to reinforce how important it is for them to communicate through Blast and to have the practice and tournament schedule updated, so all the families know what's going on.

Changes during Blenders leagues

When the Page Blenders Basketball league begins at the beginning of December, all Magic teams will switch to one practice a week and one tournament a month (depending on player availability). Club fees will be cut in half for December, January, and February. In March, we'll return to 2 practices a week with the goal of 2 tournaments a month.

Gear

The Magic gear has been a disaster, and that's all my fault. The gear is really nice, but the process of ordering and getting the gear to the players and families is terrible. We're still waiting on backpacks and socks from our June order, which was completely out of our control due to a supply issue. But, that's only one issue of many.

We've met and have come up with a much better system for gear and uniforms. Moving forward, we won't have the issues we've had in the past. We'll be sharing more details on our new process soon.

Tori, Tyler, and I are grateful for all the wonderful families in the SB Magic family. Like all families, not everything always goes as planned, but we're 100% committed to making it the best possible. We appreciate those that took the time to fill out our survey. It was extremely helpful in determining where we needed to focus. We're always open to any feedback that will both encourage and educate us as we work to improve.

Thank you for being a part of the SB Magic Family!

Greg