Time for Some Changes

With the coming of the new year many of my responsibilities will be changing. One of the things I had on my plate was being church moderator at the congregation that I belong. It wasn't a hard position but required that I keep up on many things and run the monthly meeting that involved all the members of the church council. In all, I have spent the last four years as either the moderator or the vice-moderator in a church that has been in semi-flux. I am glad it is coming to an end but I enjoyed being involved.

So, with all this time coming available to me in the near future, I need something to fill up the time slot that will be open starting January 1st, 2008. But what can I do? I could spend more time playing poker but I don't think that is a good idea since I already spend to much time doing that. I could join a committee or ministry at church and continue to show my support but I really need a year away. I could apply for the open Director of Softball position with the local baseball/softball organization in an effort improve the haphazard way that softball is being run presently. Now that sounds like a good idea.

Originally, the organization was created to give every child the chance to play baseball/softball in a safe environment and to help develope the their skills through the use of volunteer coaches. This isn't really any different than any other town in america so what they started was not special. But, as it moved along through time, it started to change. The need for travel teams was created by over zealous parents, not unlike me, and the birth of youth travel ball came to life. The only real problem with this is that nepotism manifests over time and you end up with a group of friends running the show who dictate in their self-righteous beliefs. In the end you end up with splintered groups who don't communicate and animosities begin to poison true growth. This is kind of what has happened except that softball has been the red-headed step-child. They have tried to adopt softball into the family but by alienating some of the people who wanted to make it better. That is where I come in.

I feel strongly that I have as much right to complain about how the organization was run in the past as anyone. But, instead of complaining, I will try and make the improvements that are needed to help create a feeling of family within the organization as well as the community. Sounds like I'm running for mayor. Anyway, I think that my stepping up to the plate and taking on the challenge will help some of the people who have lost trust in the system to begin to regain some of what has been lost in the past by splintered groups.

I through my name in the hat a few days ago. I know that people are aware of my experience with the game and I have had open discussions with board members of the organization over the last couple of months. The weren't happy that I took my daughter to another town to play but in the end I was justified when there were not enough girls to field a team. In reality there are enough to field two teams but they are all playing for other teams in the area. In all there are 19 girls playing 14U travel ball from our town but we don't have a team. There was also 6 or 7 other girls came to tryouts for the town team so in all there are 26 kids who want to play travel ball.

There is also the problem with trying to get a 10U team restarted. There was a team for one year but it was dropped because nobody wanted to run the team. I know there are plenty of girls who would like to play and I see the same thing happening again next year when many of the 12U girls have to move up to 14U. It would be terrible if this died out because nobody wanted to put in a little effort.

Last night I got a call from the organization president that they will be voting on my appointment for the Director of Softball position on Sunday night. I think we have a long way to go and we need to start now if we plan on having multiple levels of play for the girls for next season. With only a 12U team on the board, I have work to do.

*************

Didn't play much last night but did win a Razz SNG and went deep in a rebuy tourney on full tilt. I went completely card dead with 35K chips and the stack average at 22K. I was willing to steal but couldn't get in on the action as the bets were flying like crazy. When I was down to 22K it was folded to me on the button with K3 suited. The BB was in for 2K and had 8K behind. I saw this as a good chance to steal but I could be in trouble. Either way I needed some chips and figured I'd take a shot. He called with A2 and I was down to about 11K. I wasn't long after that I got knocked out on a less than memorable hand. Still, I made to the almost the top 5% and could have folded for another buy-in or two but I'm starting to like my game again. The killer was getting my aces cracked which actually cost me 10K at the time. When I doubled through the big stack a little later it actually could have given me 45K at the time I had 22K. What could have been.