Bethel Recreation Association

★MANDY JOHNSON

I pulled my own sons from this league when they were young and went elsewhere because we did not care for the lack of organization, poor fields, and angry parent mob. But this review is more about the league not supporting their teenage officials. My son has been verbally abused, yelled at, mocked, harassed, and intimidated by coaches and parents. The abuse has even continued after the games are over. If this is not bad enough, the field supervisors do nothing to support their teenage officials. People should be ejected for abusive behavior. I have several friends whose teenagers also work for this league, and many attend games themselves just to make sure their sons and daughters are left alone. This is wrong! I can’t think of any other jobs where parents feel they must tag along. Bethel Rec, get it together! Take care of your staff and quit allowing young players to witness this erratic behavior.

★★★★★Justin Strickland

As a coach and a parent over the years, they do a great job at organizing and putting on a great season for the kids. Parents who criticize rarely are the ones to volunteer. The refs are high school kids who CHOOSE to be there. Thank you to the staff for the memories. We'll be here for the years to come.

★★★★★Rachael Inzer

Great experience as a coach and parent with their child in the program. The reviews here are entertaining. The coaches are volunteers so kids have a program to even play in. This is Rec league which is for kids to learn the basics of the sport. If your looking for more competitive/organized program sign your kid/s up for competitive leagues. That being said this program provides what a Rec league should. I think the organization is great especially considering we are in the middle of a pandemic and still able to have our kids playing sports.

★Michael Wise

I wanted to love bethel rec because it’s affordable but it’s so unorganized that we will probably not continue after basketball season. We did flag football this past fall as well and thought the chaos was due to them hiring on new people right at the start of the season but the chaos has continued. Here are a few problems we’ve encountered- 1. You don’t have a practice schedule until a few days before practice starts. I understand that they do this because their coaches volunteer but I don’t understand how this is possible for most families. We signed up two of our boys and practice and games had conflicts because we had to sign up blindly if we wanted them to play. To be fair we knew this going into it, it just doesn’t make sense. 2. Game schedules also aren’t posted until a week before games start! I don’t understand why everything is so last minute with this organization but I can see why a lot of parents can’t sign up their children. You have to live at the mercy of an unknown schedule. 3. Most coaches are people who haven’t been coaches before. I got lucky with my sons and got good coaches but it was still chaotic. For football we didn’t have a coach until a few weeks after practice started and no one contacted us to tell us why. We had to call several times over the weeks to find out our volunteer coach was waiting for the background check to clear. Why everything is so last minute I can’t begin to understand.

★Kelsea Lisica

This was from last year, but as the season is coming up again, I feel like the terrible experience I had with them is ruining my chances of having my son enjoy soccer and for potential backlash from students and adults that participated and also still go to school with my son. The "coaches" admitted to not knowing how to properly play soccer, ignored my husband (who does), and had them run pointless drills. The two coaches chatted with each other more than paid attention. I heard through the grapevine that the only reason my son wasn't on the team he originally was supposed to be on was because of favoritism: one of the said coaches wanted his son on the team of his choosing, so he promised to coach the extra team, but from what I saw, he didn't take his job seriously. And if he was coaching a team opposite of his own kid, why would you even try? We had only three practices due to snow when I was diagnosed on extreme bedrest. When I emailed Bethel Rec, they stated I needed to have come to them earlier for a refund, despite this medical emergency being completely out of our hands. Lastly, due to snow days, the boys that did stay only had four practices before actual games. That's not right. Due to blatant favouritism, lack of care by the coaches in charge and the staff at Bethel Rec, I would not recommend them.