So, we’re basically a month away from the due date of the Ballers baby. Without being dramatic (I’m not the first person to ever have a baby to look after…), one of my biggest stresses at this time is how I’m going to be able to keep the business running smoothly at a time where my personal life is going to be facing a massive (but happy!) change. I’m a bit worried about a lack of sleep too…
I want the leagues to continue with minimal disruptions, but I’m going to need all the help from you, the teams, to make that happen. I have people who can cover the evenings in terms of taking the payments and being a point of contact if there’s any issues on the nights, but in terms of the day to day organisation, that will continue to be all me.
Over these next couple of months, for the sake of all the other teams, I’m begging you to manage your teams by getting the numbers confirmed extra early, getting your squad lists to us in plenty of time, or letting us know of any issues as soon as is humanly possible,
From my end, I’m going to try and ensure I’m getting the kick off times out as early as possible, so if you’re getting your kick off time 4/5 days before your game, try and start organising your numbers there and then. If you struggle for time to start organising the numbers in advance, give me the number of another lad from your team who I can include in the confirmation texts so they can help you. I don’t mind sending the text to as many people as is needed, if it helps.
It’s doubtful that I’m going to have the time to be scrambling around for players in the hours leading up to the games, but if you tell me a day or two before your game that you’re struggling, I’ll find the time to ask around, but please ensure that you’ve exhausted all of your options before you put it on me to help you out. We have over 100 teams now, it’s a lot to manage… Don’t forget we have the SK Ballers Player Pool on Facebook that you can use to ask about for players yourself (request to join if you aren’t already in it).
As things stand, I don’t intend to cancel any league nights, but without knowing exactly when the event is going to take place it’s hard to guarantee. If Hayley goes into labour at a time and on a day where a lot of work needs doing to confirm games for that night, that night may be cancelled. In an ideal world she’ll go into labour on a Friday morning…
Life feels like it has fully returned to normal now, and the heady days of Ballers being one of the only things people can do seems like a long time ago. We have teams having issues with holidays, isolation, the return of the Premier League and 11-a-side football etc, so I understand at times it’s difficult to get the numbers.
I apologise in advance (and retrospectively) if I’m not as quick at getting back to people at the moment. I’ve been trying to find some time over Fridays and Saturdays to get things ready for the new arrival. If anything is urgent I will regularly be checking the phone and will get back to you as soon as I can.
If you and your lads really want to play football, we all need to work together to ensure that the leagues run as smoothly as possible going forward.
Mike