At the start of every season, I am informed of the dates when the venue will be used for other activities and the number of games we can have will be curtailed. (For example, on Martin Luther King Day Weekend, there are club volleyball tournaments all over the country, including at our venue. When we started this season, I was told that there would be a youth tournament on Memorial Day Weekend and another on Father's Day Weekend. Those things take precedence, although I'm not entirely sure why. The volleyball takes precedence because they were occupants of the venue before we were.

Anyway, last week, we only had 21 games because of the youth tournament, some club volleyball activity, indoor soccer (which I REALLY don't understand) and other stuff. I'm not a soccer fan, but the one thing that the crooked organization FIFA does get right is that their soccer has to be played outdoors on real grass. (That's why the Qatar stuff was around Christmas.) 

We should have had 25 or more games last week just to meet a bare minimum. Unfortunately, we had lots of teams (and even a couple refs) taking Father's Day off. I figured we'd have a huge week this Sunday, with 40 or more games. But, I've been informed that there is yet another youth tournament of which I was not aware and we've got yet another short week. I'm not happy.

We will get in as many games as possible, but there is a good chance that a few teams will have to have back-to-back byes. This has never happened before because of a court shortage. (It has happened before due to non-payment or if a team has a bye, then has an emergency the next week and can't make it.) Also, somebody asked the other day of we have ever kicked a team out for not paying. The answer is no. We've had a couple teams this season ask for a partial refund because they can't get enough paying players. And if a team hasn't paid after a few weeks, we just stop scheduling them until they do. That seems to get them going.

This week is going to be tight. If a team (that has paid in full) has to endure a second straight bye, we will offer them a generous (but not full) refund or give them an extra game on their schedule. I'm hoping that this never happens again.