Hi all,

a message for those at the club.

Took the jnrs to the club clinic today.
I've been to quite a few of these and today's effort was VERY below par.

Well a foggy start...can't be helped..but odd to run the first clinic (better weather) at AFL world and then the 2nd at PP??

The ground was unusable so the clinic was held in the park next to MCLP .
Doesn't help that I had the older wording up the younger about how good it is to play on the PP oval and kick goals..didn't happen...and this was already not a good start

A few bits of feedback.

The setups at the park were a bit of a mish mash...the CAmp Austalia people in general were ok...but really seemed to struggle with the younger kids..
(Q&A session where you ask who are the Blues 3 brownlow winners...to 5 year olds?)

The layout of station to station was a bit all over the place with kids crossing over (through each group) at some of the changeovers...again meaning some kids were ending up in the wrong groups and generally getting lost.

Despite the odd "bullhorn" couldn't hear the instructions or anything from the groups, leaders etc very well.

No pre-organised spot in case kids got lost (as has happened every other time at PP....even more important this time as there was really no confined area...

Not a player (or two) at each station. (Unlike every other year where the player is introed at the start of each little drill)

I know it's hard with huge groups of kids (like herding cats!) but this is a Junior clinic....and it's been done better every other time ..so I'm not sure why it went so poorly today (not just because of the venue change surely)

OK...now it gets worse.

At the end the kids look forward to the sausage sizzle and show bag/ gift.

Everyone was shuffled through gate 6 to under the southern stand where there was a COMPLETE bottleneck . WAY too overcrowded with no movement through and the crowd piling in behind. Simply dangerous. Just remember, one kids falls, and one adult trips on top of them and at a minimum = serious injury.

Then they ran out of sausages. Perhaps this was done in honor of Ron Evans catering...poor volunteers jsut standing there looking at the crowd and vice-versa. Remember in this log jam it's not as if you can turn around and leave!

Finally some more cooked sausages arrived ..and the food started flowing ...ok, it's just a sausage, but the kids haven't eaten since breakfast, been running around all morning and now it's about 1:45

Those who have hung around get the sausage, and the only drink is a can of coke zero.

Sorry but if you feed coca-cola to your 4, 5, 6, 7 (and the rest) year old you are *&^%$ in the head. Do it when the kids have been exercising and likely to be dehydrated??? -( I can only shake my head )
Of course, the gift packs had also run out....
day ended when we went back to the the seats inside MCLP, one of the jnrs sat on a broken blaecher and fell and then the ran on the oval to kick the footy (as there were a few = handful, of kids there doing that) and they got asked to get off the ground.
Day over

Some things other than the above that really concerned me.

When the kids were doing the stations, I couldn't leave one and keep an eye from a distance, it was simply too spreadout and disorganised (not flowing around station to station).
I won't be taking two in future if I don't have support. not an issue for me (But I shudder to think I was meant to be taking a friend's jnr with me - lucky they bailed last week).
A mate who I finally covinced to become a member (and join his son) came also and we met up. I had to put one of my guys with his and he kept an eye out n them while I followed the other. So much for the experience I had described to him.

I lost him in the throng at the sizzle and when I rang him he had (smartly) backed out of gate six, 20 minutes later when I was still stuck under the stand and rang, he'ld gone back to the car and we're catching up on the weekend.
YES I felt guilty I'ld convinced him to join and take his son to the clinic today.

Whilst stuck in the throng, I spoke to lits around me... a lot were first time members...a lot said they would never be doing this again...

There was even some inequivocal "what's the point of being a member/I won't be renewing/Typical disorganised Carlton" comments to which I was continuously doing the "Look it's not usually like this" type apologetic comments which must have sounded like I was a lunatic.

My main fear, is like my mate, there are parents with lids, they represent probably the most precious memberships in terms of long term membership and loaylty...

I'm a tragic...lots around me wre not.

Effort today 3 out of 10.

Ideas, Gee...I'm happy to be a parent helper/volunteer. a la Auskick

Most of the things above are easy to rectify.

Any crowd control needs a flow through design. Whether thats from station to station for the clinic or for picking up a sausage.

Can't see why the organisation went backwards from previous years.

It's a kids clinic... have water (or tell kids to bring it like at Auskick- add food to that)

Club/ Board members etc
Please read, think and let's lift our game Carlton!
I'm not a whinger, I'm a believer in feedback, I'm concerned and I'm happy to help....

_________________
“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Good post bill, not whinging at all.

Perhaps this can be directed in some way to the board members on the 17th.

Not good enough, and every member under the age of 30 is GOLD to this club.

We have a swag of 30-50 year old members who remembver the golden years but I fear the club is not doing enough to entice those under 30.

The club should have a myspace page, many of the players should have official myspace pages as well as facebook pages. There should be regular MSN chat sessions with players and members of the CFC staff. Player should be given a digital camera and told to post up their pics of a day of training! Simple things to engage the supporters!!!

The club should BE REACHING OUT AMONGST THE SUPPORTERS instead of waiting behind a crap website anyone under 30 would rarely visit.

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

BillC3, sorry to hear about this mate and the potential damage it may have done to new members and the kids in particular. Thanks also for taking the time to notify us/the club of the pertinent details and for giving proactive criticism and suggestions. As you say this really isn't good enough. I bet Mr Pratt would be far from impressed if he were to read this post.

Jarusa mate, you never fail to impress me with your positive feedback, ideas and suggestions to posters on this site. You and a handful of others bleed navy blue, and are real stalwarts of this club and this site during these tough times. I wish you all great and rapid reward from our club for your passion and commitment.

Heck I love this club and its true blue supporters.

_________________
A Blues Supporter - not a Blues Bagger.

Great feedback guys, and I'm sorry to hear you had such a crap day bill.

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some good suggestions there mate

and now with the club having the facilities a.k.a. cash, you would think this would be an easy thing to implement.

im not much for myspace etc.. or msn (use it abit but nto much) but for the youth of today that, combined with youtube seem a huge source of entertainment.

taping into that is vital for the club and its future supporters.

_________________
Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

Tapes are old skool prez, recording to HDD is the way now.

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Gee I normally go to this with little 3rdeffort but this is the first year in 3 or 4 that i couldnt make it. It's normally fantastic, in fact I am normally amazed at how well run the activities are and how personable and giving the players are of their time. Little 3rdeffort has videos of himself baulking past Nick Stevens, photos of him and Jarred Waite etc from past clinics, not to mention a white guernesy full of autographs.

There are normally loads of kids there as well as plenty of Mums/Dads. It also looks like it would be one of the best trading days of the year for the carlton Shop as well. These kids are future members, we need to sort this out ASAP. The kids dont go along to see some spotty uni student from camp australia, they go along to play kick to kick with Kade Simpson etc. I have raved about this event to all my mates and lauded great praise on how well run it is and how accessible the players are, we still have busted footys in the garage from previous showbags!!! Please sort this out club!! Call on here for volunteers if needed, there'd be plenty who could find the time to help out if that is the problem.

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

Agreed 2ndE...
that's why I was soooooo embarrassed about my mate who eventually went home. I had dragged him along on the promise of a great day, kids love it and we'll have a great old chat whilst they go around....never happened.

Have to point out that the players were great!
Have a look at the HS today where Whitts is talking to the kids....he was excellent and stayed there for a heap of time. Saddington too...Simmo brilliant with the Q&A...but just the general lack of coordination.
After that there was "tug of war"(coordinators enthusiasm was EXCELLENT, and I see it even gets a mention on the website), handball and kicking, parachute (flip up and run under- not skydiving ... ) European handball(?) and some other stuff without players ....

Don't know what changed in terms of how it's coordinated...but just didn't change for the better.

Also add...."The Carlton shop"...It's a members day...why not do a 5% off just for the day...makes everyone feel good , instead everyone in a long line at the cash regsiter asking
"is there a discount for members?" , "No"
"is there a discount for members?" , "No"
"is there a discount for members?" , "No"
"is there a discount for members?" , "No"
"is there a discount for members?" , "No"

...and of course, only wanted a pair of Navy shorts for my bigger guy and there were only two pairs of size 4 (tiny) left.
That's not a big worry - that happens. I'm more concerned about the other stuff and the general goodwill that members (especially "new" ones ) would have felt.

_________________
“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Sounds like amateur hour for those that went.

I have taken my little ones in previous years and they have had a ball.

Was thinking of taking the littliest this year but couldn't get off work.

As Jars mentioned Bill, you might want to include afew Qs for Mark and Stephen on the 17th to see what happened.

_________________
“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Yep some kind of token discount at the Carlton Shop would probably see folks buying the old lino off the floor. You normally cant move in there on jnr members day!! Shame about getting onto PP as well.

The last thing I went to was the family Day pre-season and it was pretty well done. One can only hope that the admin staff were too busy inside arranging interview schedules to finalise details for the clinic.

Didnt happen to see if there were any cars with Qld plates parked in the car park??

_________________
"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

It was awful.

Took the day off work to take my 4yo & 6yo sons to their first Carlton Clinic Day & it was embarassing how bad the whole day transpired.

Billc3 described all of the problems perfectly. The crowd was huge (not sure how it compared to previous clinics) - I was amazed we have so many junior members. At the start of the clinic, I thought we were in a great state given the numbers that turned out. Well come 1.30pm I was depressed at the thought that half the people that turned up would be unlikely to turn up to the next junior members clinic.

I know the players have busy schedules/some are in rehab blah blah blah, but my 6yo's favourites players Murphy, Gibbs, Carazzo, Fisher & Waite - not one of them there. There were about 10 or so players - those that were there were good to the kids but simply there were not enough to do justice to the number of kids that attended.

As for the farce at the end re: sausage sizzle, COKE, & not being able to have a kick on the ground despite the surface being in great shape - it really topped off a bloody awful effort by the Carlton Football Club.

When you drive home & your 6yo says - "dad, that was boring" - you really do wonder sometimes whether this club is on the right path or not!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I must say I thought the day was OK (junior was very hapy plus he got 15 new signatures on his guernsey) - especially with the large amount of kids and parents attending and the challenge that brings. The clinic ityself seemed to run smooth.

Only major issue was the run on the sausages and how that was organised. I just left - did not see the need to get stressed for a bloody sausage for junior - so bought him a happy meal instead and he was very happy.

In regard to the shop: every member received discount vouchers with the membership (I have used it) - so I really do not see the need to give more discount. And BTW the Carlton stuff is going like hot bread anyway - and the club needs to make money.

I think you guys are a little over the top .

Firstly: It was made very clear at the start of the session that they had to move to "Oval 1" next to PP because PP was too soggy (and I had a look and it was!). The amount of people would simply have ruined the surface (with a negative effect on training).

Secondly: There were a lot of activity stations (due to the enormous number of kids) and due to the time constraints each kid did not attend all of them during the session. There were some good ones, like an umpire teaching the different signals and teaching how to wave the flags. There was goal kicking and handball sessions with players and Q&A's with e.g. Carlos. So I think that was actually quite good.

Thirdly: There were quite a number of players - including Waite who did kicking with kids. The players I saw participating were:
Saddington, Waite, Scotland, Lance, Carlos, Teague, Jackson, Austin, Kouta, Josh, plus a couple moe I cant think of. So yes there could have been more. However , just before the start a number of players came by after a run and signed for the kids, these included: Fisher, Betts, Murphy, Hampster, Jacobs, Fev and some more.

The sausage and drink thing was a bit of a problem, but to condemn the whole event on that... well...sure the club will learn from that.

I think you guys are a little over the top .

Firstly: It was made very clear at the start of the session that they had to move to "Oval 1" next to PP because PP was too soggy (and I had a look and it was!). The amount of people would simply have ruined the surface (with a negative effect on training).

Secondly: There were a lot of activity stations (due to the enormous number of kids) and due to the time constraints each kid did not attend all of them during the session. There were some good ones, like an umpire teaching the different signals and teaching how to wave the flags. There was goal kicking and handball sessions with players and Q&A's with e.g. Carlos. So I think that was actually quite good.

Thirdly: There were quite a number of players - including Waite who did kicking with kids. The players I saw participating were:
Saddington, Waite, Scotland, Lance, Carlos, Teague, Jackson, Austin, Kouta, Josh, plus a couple moe I cant think of. So yes there could have been more. However , just before the start a number of players came by after a run and signed for the kids, these included: Fisher, Betts, Murphy, Hampster, Jacobs, Fev and some more.

The sausage and drink thing was a bit of a problem, but to condemn the whole event on that... well...sure the club will learn from that.

Thanks Mikkey,
got it the first time

Sort of agree...as I mentioned the players were there (including Waite) but as I mentioned...station after station and no players.

No flow of which station to go to. Groups of kids crossing over and kids getting mixed up and out of the group they were in.....lNo lost kids area BUT a park where a kid can and will be attracted towards the 'Ground ...all a recipe for disaster.
(Yes, I asked Mr red bullhorn where the "lost kids " area was and there wasn't one. Needless to say I saw Mr Redbullhorn walking around with a few kids and calling out names a few times. The necessity was still there, the organisation was not .

Yes, understand why it wasn't on PP (MCLP) but I meant the kids got booted off at the end...and there were seriously lucky to be 35 kids hanging around. ... a few were on the park kicking...as mine went on also, they were booted off.

The 4 and 5 year olds were the first into the "dungeon"...once in there I couldn't get out...lost my friend etc....Unsafe, unsafe, unsafe. You think I was after the sausage and coke? I had a backpack full of food and 2 litres of water with me. In the dungeon (if anyone was there) I was handing around lollies to kids around me that were starting to go spare...(always keep a bag of snakes or easter eggs in the backpack... )


As for the gift shop...Yes I had the vouchers with me...Yep Mikkey, I am anal too and have kept them with my membership. Wanted a pair of shorts and socks for the kids so had my $10 for purchases over $50 and have already used the 15% off authentics for the clash jumpers.
Sadly, no shorts and how many $7 socks can I buy! (Given I bought a polar fleece last week when I had to visit a client in Parkville and was freezing my nuts off in a business shirt...no voucher then...)...all of this doesn't eliminate the fact that a lot of people I noticed were asking and getting the same droll response. I found a guy with a handfull of mercahndise and gave him my voucher...he was rapt and I aslo reminded him that the vouchers were in the membership pack...his response....and understandable "Gee i wouldn't have thougth we'ld need it when it's only members today"...yep..I don't want to argue that either.

Basically, I'm not one to get into "I did " "you did"...I just think it's important to get feedback and always improve.....I don't think this year's (not forgetting the "AFL World clinic) was better tham, equal to or even close to previosu years clinics and I don't want to be going backwards to such an important client group.

Please remember...the money isn't in piss any more..
Junior members = future members= merchandise buyers (demanders) = ideal marketers at school = long term loyalty

_________________
“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee