Three years ago, the 250 Selects Volleyball Club was started as a partnership between myself Barry McLean (President) and Brian McKinnon (Vice President). The club was an amalgamation of the successful Victoria Titans and the new club, which was intended to provide the volleyball community with expanded teams, excellent coaching and an opportunity to compete and develop at an elite level. Since that time, the club has grown to encompass four teams annually and has enjoyed continued success for the benefit of young female athletes all around Victoria. Most recently however, the club has been faced with ethical challenges as part of this growth and development.
This summer, our club VP decided to coach the grade ten team and started planning for his team’s future club season (Including coaching a second grade seven club team). Part of this planning included negotiations between himself and a club parent to sponsor his grade ten team. A condition of this parents sponsorship was that the team must ‘not’ be called 250 Selects, rather the “Victoria Titans”. The impetus behind this is unclear however the VP’s tie and reluctance to stop using the Titans name with his 250 Selects club teams could have had some influence. Our VP’s intention, as he informed us, was that this team would operate under the “umbrella” of 250 Selects. This sponsorship, he added, was extremely generous “beyond his wildest dreams”. Later as more of this information unfolded in bits and pieces, Â it was revealed that this sponsorship was a also three-year plan and that no monies would be funneled to the rest of the club and that for all intensive purposes the uniforms and almost everything else about this team would be different as well. Regrettably, most of these decisions were unilaterally made without the club executive’s knowledge until after, when everything was a done deal.
Here in-lies my dilemma with regards to club sponsorship. Anytime money is thrown into the mix with amateur sport, it can be extremely beneficial for the club or very detrimental, depending on how the source of the money is intended or in this case dictated by conditions. I have seen tens of thousands of dollars thrown into private break away clubs simply because the parent’s daughter didn’t make the number one team or because the parent didn’t agree with the coach. Even today, a parent in Alberta continues to generously sponsor a club to recruit and undermine other clubs within a 250km radius among other things, for poaching talented female athletes. This is all done with little or no consideration for the fallout of small community club teams folding because they lose their star player. This win-at-all-cost philosophy is something that I never signed up for as a coach in this sport. I am not suggesting that this would happen here with this sponsorship; however this is an example of how money can hurt our sport when it is used to pull strings.Â
In my 15 years of coaching and administrating club volleyball programs, I have always maintained an athlete first philosophy. This position, operating from the ground up for the benefit of the athlete, has allowed tremendous opportunities for personal growth and experiences, but more importantly has allowed me to help hundreds of young athletes realize their dream to play volleyball, including assistance to post-secondary athletic opportunities in the CIS and the NCAA. Regrettably, politics as in other sports is often present and in most cases the athlete loses. The best way I have found to always do what is right, is to put the needs of the athlete first and above all, maintain your integrity. Here I am also putting the needs of the club first as well.
The current position that the club now faces is the situation of questionable integrity and of sponsorship, both unfortunately tied to conditions. Seeing this money not being channeled in the right way, creates disparity among teams whereby you have teams of “have” and teams of “have not’s”. Furthermore, naming the grade ten team “Victoria Titans” as part of the club while attempting to operate three other 250 Selects teams, undermines the basic principle of “team work”. Since our club philosophy is more than just about teaching the sport but also valuable life lessons, clearly this would not be one of them. Â Earning a spot on a team by merit is also a lesson to be learned here. Â Having one team called something else in the club (Victoria Titans) causes confusion, does not set a good example of club synergy and does nothing to benefit the club as a whole. Moreover, branding and promoting the club becomes difficult, creating fragmentation and division. We are not selling cars here, we are developing young athletes and working together should always take precedence.
As a result of these unfortunate challenges, I must on principle decline these demands in the overall best interest of the athlete and the club. After all, if we can’t teach our children values and principles, what can we teach them?
After considerable discussion with club Treasurer Don Wong and my colleagues with the 403 Selects sister club organization in Calgary, effective immediately I am taking a one year leave of absence from volleyball and am resigning as President of the 250 Selects Volleyball Club. This decision will allow me to focus on the expansion of my new business and to spend valuable time with my family after 15 consecutive years of coaching and running club programs. Our Vice President will now be “Acting President”.  It will allow him to manage these types of sponsorships and administer the 250 Selects Volleyball Club as he sees fit. If by September 15th, 2011, he chooses ‘not’ to accept accountability to the club athletes and parents, then 250 Selects will suspend its operations for the 2011 - 2012 season. The Treasurer, Don Wong will assume a caretaker role during this time.
I seriously hope that the 250 Selects club grows and no longer faces these types of challenges in the future so that all athletes can benefit equally from a strong and unified program. A program that   develops skills and teaches valuable life lessons in this great sport we all love - volleyball.
Respectfully,
Barry McLean
September 2011
”What we need to do is learn to work in the system, by which I mean that everybody, every team, every platform, every division, every component is there not for individual competitive profit or recognition, but for contribution to the system as a whole on a win-win basis.”
W. Edward Deming |
250 Selects Alumni Named BCCAA Women's Volleyball Athlete of the Week
