WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!! The Somerset Wrestling Club has become an organization led by self-nominated board members without input from the members of our wrestling family. For nearly two years myself and some of the current youth wrestling families have been asking for open meetings and elections. Due of this lack of transparency, no one seems to know where money raised from fundraisers goes because nothing really seems to get spent for club tournaments, registrations, coaches, or equipment. Yet still meetings are private. Some board members called me into a meeting this week and said that I'm not allowed to coach anymore for the Somerset Wrestling Club.
For the past year and a half, I have been coaching youth wrestling and substitute teaching at the Somerset Schools for my love of the sport and the love of the community. I spent 16 years coaching at the high school and one year at middle school building strong relationships with kids, parents, coaches, and refs and have always been a positive role model.
I am asking for your support as part of our wrestling community/fan/parent/wrestler/coach to sign this petition to demand an open meeting to review club finances and conduct open elections for all board positions. My goal is to make the Somerset Wrestling Club an open, organized club again and let the wrestling community vote on the direction of the club.
Please sign, and if possible, plan to attend the meeting tentatively scheduled forSunday October 22nd at 4pm at the Somerset High School. There is open gym for wrestling at 5pm so Ali and Stephanie should be there to listen to our concerns and talk with us about how to move the club forward.
Thank you for your continued support for Somerset Wrestling.
-Mike Kappers
Updates
October 11, 2017
The level of participation this petition has received confirms that the community demands transparency and accountability from the board. This momentum demonstrates clearly that wrestlers and families expect a voice in the future of the club.
Reached 100 supporters
October 11, 2017
38 Comments
I was on the Wrestling club board back in the days of Sgt. Miller in name only-no meetings-no financial reports- should be open for all to speak there mind
Every non-profit 501 3c ....club or organization is required by law to have organized , publicized , open meetings w/ a board and members ...
What are we trying to hide? These meetings should be open, and the positions should be up for vote! Id love to know where money I have donated is going.you
My boys wrestle for a town I south Dakota about the size of Somerset. We have open elections and votes. I would wonder where the money goes from.fundraisers....we make enough that the club pays for wrestling meets and a.a.u. card.
Kappers was one of my wrestling coaches in the early 2000s and last year helped coach my son. My son was very excitied this school year seeing Coach Kappers teaching at the elementary school and has been looking forward to wrestling season. Why would someone with years of experience and 2 sons in wrestling not be allowed to coach?
Like him or not, Mike is one of those guys that always puts the kids first. He has a genuine passion for the sport and for teaching it to kids. With what he has done in the past for the wrestling community in Somerset it's absurd to try to exile him from the club. Regardless if it is Mike or someone else trying to help the club, meetings should be open to the public, and positions should be elected by the people who it affects the most, the wrestling families. I've personally learned so much more than just the fundamentals of wrestling from Mike, which has helped guide me to become a better all around person, he strives to help all the kids he coaches in anyway possible on or off the mat.
We have been a part of the wrestling program here in Somerset ever since we moved here 9 years ago. Both my son and daughter have wrestled and loved it. I have been involved with wrestling my whole life and was a successful wrestler myself, so I have a pretty good idea what it takes to have a successful program. This program has evolved and gradually gotten better every year. That is a compliment to everyone involved now and in the past. Obviously there are always things that we as parents would like to see done differently, based on what goes on in the practice room, and at the tournaments, but myself included base that off of what is going on with our own children. The coaches are doing what they think is best for the whole team, and I think they do a great job. I don't pretend to know what it takes to run a club or organize everything that is involved with it. That being said I think our club is being run very well, The tournament is getting better and bigger every year, the summer camp is outstanding, and to finally have a great group of coaches throughout the entire program ( youth, middle school and high school) is a sigh of relief. To actually have the same coaches for more than one or two years and be able to have some consistancey through the coaching I think is one of the biggest parts of developing a successful program. I know Mike pretty well on and off the mat, and to loose him as a coach would be a step in the wrong direction. I don't agree with letting Mike go and I think the program will suffer from it. I am all about making changes that will benefit the program, but this is not a good decision. I think the only fair way to make a decision like this is to put it to a vote, and let the parents and the wrestlers decide who is the best person to be coaching. That being said I think the program is run very well, and Mike is a big part of it.
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WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!! The Somerset Wrestling Club has become an organization led by self-nominated board members without input from the members of our wrestling family. For nearly two years myself and some of the current youth wrestling families have been asking for open meetings and elections. Due of this lack of transparency, no one seems to know where money raised from fundraisers goes because nothing really seems to get spent for club tournaments, registrations, coaches, or equipment. Yet still meetings are private. Some board members called me into a meeting this week and said that I'm not allowed to coach anymore for the Somerset Wrestling Club.
For the past year and a half, I have been coaching youth wrestling and substitute teaching at the Somerset Schools for my love of the sport and the love of the community. I spent 16 years coaching at the high school and one year at middle school building strong relationships with kids, parents, coaches, and refs and have always been a positive role model.
I am asking for your support as part of our wrestling community/fan/parent/wrestler/coach to sign this petition to demand an open meeting to review club finances and conduct open elections for all board positions. My goal is to make the Somerset Wrestling Club an open, organized club again and let the wrestling community vote on the direction of the club.
Please sign, and if possible, plan to attend the meeting tentatively scheduled forSunday October 22nd at 4pm at the Somerset High School. There is open gym for wrestling at 5pm so Ali and Stephanie should be there to listen to our concerns and talk with us about how to move the club forward.
Thank you for your continued support for Somerset Wrestling.
-Mike Kappers
Updates
October 11, 2017
The level of participation this petition has received confirms that the community demands transparency and accountability from the board. This momentum demonstrates clearly that wrestlers and families expect a voice in the future of the club.
Reached 100 supporters
October 11, 2017
38 Comments
The last time I checked this was a free country and people were allowed to have a voice in the transfer of their hard earned money and where it is to be dispensed and used for .I believe in Mike and the others for the right to vote and have an impact with a voice. Now is the time for open meetings and elections!
I was on the Wrestling club board back in the days of Sgt. Miller in name only-no meetings-no financial reports- should be open for all to speak there mind
Every non-profit 501 3c ....club or organization is required by law to have organized , publicized , open meetings w/ a board and members ...
What are we trying to hide? These meetings should be open, and the positions should be up for vote! Id love to know where money I have donated is going.you
My boys wrestle for a town I south Dakota about the size of Somerset. We have open elections and votes. I would wonder where the money goes from.fundraisers....we make enough that the club pays for wrestling meets and a.a.u. card.
Kappers was one of my wrestling coaches in the early 2000s and last year helped coach my son. My son was very excitied this school year seeing Coach Kappers teaching at the elementary school and has been looking forward to wrestling season. Why would someone with years of experience and 2 sons in wrestling not be allowed to coach?
Like him or not, Mike is one of those guys that always puts the kids first. He has a genuine passion for the sport and for teaching it to kids. With what he has done in the past for the wrestling community in Somerset it's absurd to try to exile him from the club. Regardless if it is Mike or someone else trying to help the club, meetings should be open to the public, and positions should be elected by the people who it affects the most, the wrestling families. I've personally learned so much more than just the fundamentals of wrestling from Mike, which has helped guide me to become a better all around person, he strives to help all the kids he coaches in anyway possible on or off the mat.
We have been a part of the wrestling program here in Somerset ever since we moved here 9 years ago. Both my son and daughter have wrestled and loved it. I have been involved with wrestling my whole life and was a successful wrestler myself, so I have a pretty good idea what it takes to have a successful program. This program has evolved and gradually gotten better every year. That is a compliment to everyone involved now and in the past. Obviously there are always things that we as parents would like to see done differently, based on what goes on in the practice room, and at the tournaments, but myself included base that off of what is going on with our own children. The coaches are doing what they think is best for the whole team, and I think they do a great job. I don't pretend to know what it takes to run a club or organize everything that is involved with it. That being said I think our club is being run very well, The tournament is getting better and bigger every year, the summer camp is outstanding, and to finally have a great group of coaches throughout the entire program ( youth, middle school and high school) is a sigh of relief. To actually have the same coaches for more than one or two years and be able to have some consistancey through the coaching I think is one of the biggest parts of developing a successful program. I know Mike pretty well on and off the mat, and to loose him as a coach would be a step in the wrong direction. I don't agree with letting Mike go and I think the program will suffer from it. I am all about making changes that will benefit the program, but this is not a good decision. I think the only fair way to make a decision like this is to put it to a vote, and let the parents and the wrestlers decide who is the best person to be coaching. That being said I think the program is run very well, and Mike is a big part of it.
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The last time I checked this was a free country and people were allowed to have a voice in the transfer of their hard earned money and where it is to be dispensed and used for .I believe in Mike and the others for the right to vote and have an impact with a voice. Now is the time for open meetings and elections!