The team’s new direction

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ESRFC Men,

I think our team presently is in a much better position to move forward with some of the proposals. I hope by now we all know better than to bite off more than we can chew. As JR pointed out, we need to take baby steps. I like to talk about the broad goals and leave the minutia to the administration.

With that being said, here is my assessment of the team’s current direction. We have already done the most important thing: changing the culture of the team to one of winning from one of losing. Most of our problems aside from that are due to lack of numbers. This includes fundraising, formulating a strong B side and new player development.

If you think back three years, we couldn’t even muster 15 men to go to playoffs. Everyone has done a good job getting us to this point. Now we need to keep moving forward and make sure we don’t fall back into our old ways. Last Spring was a step back. However, this Fall was a huge step forward, so here are my top four areas we should focus on in the near future:

1. Administration – The team needs to buy into the importance of this side of the team. The team needs to own up and step up, and it is everybody’s job to make sure this happens. A good administration will out last a bad team, but a poor administration will crumble with a bad team.
2. Winning – This is the best way to create and maintain a positive mental attitude. We have done that, but in order to truly have continued success we need a viable B side. We need more players. This will provide opportunities for better practices, better administrative practices and continued positive results.
3. Fundraising – Getting more players will help with this. Sponsorship is a better method of fundraising than other because  the bulk of the responsibility is not on the players. As of now, though, the bulk of the effort falls on the core we have now.
4. Recruitment and Retention – As stated above, this issue feeds into all the others. We solve this problem, and the others should take care of themselves.

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