TE PUKE NETBALL MUM CALLS MEETING TO DECIDE WHEN THE MEETINGS ARE
The agenda has one item. The item is the agenda.
A Te Puke netball mum has called a meeting for Thursday night to settle when this season's meetings will be held, a question the team WhatsApp group had failed to resolve across 212 messages and one voice note since February.
Sharlene Mackie, 41, took over as manager of the Year 7 side after moving from Hamilton last spring and says she found "no structure whatsoever". "People were just saying things. Someone would suggest Tuesday, someone else would thumbs-up it, and then nothing. Bloody nothing. In Hamilton East we had every Tuesday locked in before Waitangi Day."
Other parents dispute the diagnosis. Priya Nand, whose daughter plays wing defence, said the team had managed two full seasons without a single meeting. "We turned up, the girls played, someone brought oranges. Now there's a Google Form. The Google Form asks what my availability is to discuss availability."
The meeting has since acquired a pre-meeting, set for 2pm Wednesday at the clubrooms to agree the agenda, and a Doodle poll to confirm the pre-meeting time. Mackie called this "just good practice". Nand called 2pm on a weekday "the hour when the only people free in Tauranga are the retirees fighting over trolleys". Three parents have left the group. One rejoined to check whether she was still on for oranges.
The club committee said in a statement that team-level meetings were "not a club matter" and that the committee's own schedule was "on the website". The website was last updated in 2019 and lists a treasurer who has moved to the Mount.
Thursday's meeting clashes with training. Mackie has proposed moving training.
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Reader Letters
★ JoannePetone
Honestly, it's not that complicated! Parents need to chill out and let the girls play without all this waffle about meetings. Remember, it's just a game for the kids!
Kylie_TePuke
@JoannePetone, it's always the parents who weren't there last season who make the most noise. Let's just play the game.
★ BarryBishopdale
Bloody hell, meetings about meetings? That's a piss-take. Back in my day, you showed up, had a game, that was it.
orange_obsesser88
Maybe they just need better oranges?
Trev_Hornby
The Google Forms are munted. Why do people insist on this tech nonsense? A piece of paper would be just fine.
★ Garry (Halswell)
Wouldn't have happened in my day (Halswell). We just got on with it without all this fuss. Standards have really dropped, haven't they?
ropeable_dave
Mate, not everything needs a meeting. Some of us have better things to do!
bubble_bobble
Why does everyone have to be on the same page? Just go play netball, who cares!
couchpotato59
Lol.
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