About BudgetCoach
How many people do you know who wrote her own job description, determined her hours and decided her pay? Get to know me and you will know at least one person who did just that! If I didn't figure it out myself I got to know people who could help me. You will find Athletic Business questions answered here and the stuff I don't know: we will find the answers together.
Jude Russo Caserta
Your AthleticBudgetCoach
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By BudgetCoach on October 16, 2010
From June 2008 until October 2008 there was a not so silent argument going on in our house. Our son decided to attend Fairfield University and “walk-on” to the varsity swim team. His coach explained that if you go to practice and work hard you will be in the line-up. You may be swimming “off events” but you will be in the line-up. What an incredible opportunity for a kid who earned full tuition – a chance to be on a team! But, no, he did not want us there. He didn’t know what to expect and did not want the extra pressure of having us in the stands in case he did not actually get to swim.
For those of you who are not familiar with a competitive swim team please see my next blog “My Child is Enrollment Management?” As I describe, mid-major swim teams traditionally are used more as enrollment management, with few scholarship dollars, than responsible for generating revenue in ticket sales.
If you know me, you know my husband and I try to attend most of our son’s swim meets. Last year we only missed one and it was one that was rescheduled due to an equipment malfunction. Remember, every meet is an away meet when your child goes to school seven hours from home. So, how did we get to this point when two years ago he didn’t even want us in the humid cavern known as a natatorium?
The first meet was at Holy Cross, another wonderful Jesuit institution of higher learning in Worcester, MA. My husband and I insisted we would attend his first NCAA Division I sporting event – you would have needed an act of Congress to keep us away. We would respect his wishes the rest of the season, but the first meet? Of course we were going to be there!
Sure enough, when he climbed on the block, pushing his goggles on his eyes with the palms of his hand like I had seen him do 100’s of times before, I could see the smile on his face when they introduced him. In lane one, swimming for Fairfield University, Anthony Caserta! I could see my husband’s chest expand – nothing can describe the feeling of having your child compete in intercollegiate athletics – absolutely nothing. I can safely say it is right up there with marriage and birthing babies – seriously, it is! It is the validation that all of their time and effort in training and academics was worth it. It is also validation that all of your parental sacrifice of time and treasure helped them achieve a dream.
So, how did I end up here, at a Courtyard Marriott in Worcester, MA following his second meet, two years later, at Holy Cross? Turns out, he glanced up to the stands while he climbed up on the block and saw his blubbering parents standing there cheering him on. As a freshman, he still did not know any other parents so, if we were not there, who would cheer for him? He came up to the stands later to thank us.
The next meet was the following Friday against MAAC rival St. Peter’s College at their home pool on campus. My husband and I must have gotten ten texts a piece from him telling us about his swims and complaining that no one knows him and is not cheering for him. I am sure that is not true as we cheer for all of the kids but to a lonely freshman it was his reality. It was those texts that made us change our plans and decide to travel to as many meets as possible and we haven’t looked back.
To this day, I still do not remember how he did his first race. How could I see it through my tears of pride?
Life is good!
Jude
Twitter: MidMajorMom
Twitter: JudeCaserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com
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Posted in A Budget Coach's life in Sports, Mid Major Experience, Mid Major Mom, Student Athlete Parent Tagged competitive swim team, enrollment management, fairfield university, jesuit institution, MidMajor Athletics, MidMajorMom, natatorium, scholarship dollars, varsity swim team
By BudgetCoach on September 17, 2010
I think of this every Friday when I copy my followers that week from my Excel spreadsheet to my word document, that I spend a lot of time trying to be “social” with social media. I know what you are thinking…Excel spreadsheet…Word document…she’s geek of the week.
I just don’t get this fully automated social media nonsense. It really seems like an oxymoron to me – how do you automate something which is supposed to be about social interaction? That doesn’t sound very social to me!
I had someone reach out to me on my www.MidMajorMom.WordPress.com blog yesterday asking me about what I thought about adding personal stuff on her “pro” Twitter account. Please follow @ldelmonte – she is an interesting lady and learning about all of this social media etiquette. I told her I really did not enjoy Twitter until I spent more time doing @mentions rather than just Tweeting my ideas. I also began enjoying it more when I took the time to read other people’s blogs and visit their websites. It helped me know whether I wanted them in my timeline and I always get great pleasure ReTweeting someone’s Tweet if I think my followers will enjoy it as much as I do.
You can also over-do ReTweeting, in my opinion. It is a lot like forwarding e-mails. I stopped using one of my e-mail accounts because I have a person who ONLY sends me forwarded e-mails (who hasn’t read the one about the dollar coins not having “In God We Trust” on it by now? It does, by the way, on the side). How many in this room delete e-mails whose subject line starts with FWD:? Take time to tell me why you like the Tweet and you engage in “social” media.
I vet my followers and use thought when I follow someone. I take pride in the fact that I follow only 17 people/associations that do not follow me. I take pride in the fact that I am on a lot of lists (one list for every 15 followers…not bad at all). I take pride that I personally thank each follower who took the time to follow me that week.
When you Tweet with me, you Tweet with me!
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in Mid Major Mom, Totally Random! Tagged Automated Social Media, ReTweeting, Social Media, twitter, Twitter Follow Friday
By BudgetCoach on September 15, 2010
Being a college athlete is a big deal. There are only about 400,000 NCAA student athletes out of nearly 8,000,000 college students across the country.
I just read a very interesting press release http://bit.ly/c7SRyv posted on the website of the National Federation of State High School Associations titled “High School Sports Participation Tops 7.6 Million, Sets Record.” Think about this: 55.1% of high school students participated in athletics last year – more than 1 in 2 students had a coach, had to juggle academics and athletics and had to learn what it was like to lose.
What struck me, though, is that when you look at these raw numbers still fewer than 5% of these student athletes participate in college sports in one of the three NCAA (www.ncaa.com) divisions. Even if you assume that half of them participate in two sports and one quarter of them participate in three sports that percentage only goes up to 8%.
Not every student athlete wants to compete at the BCS Division I level. Many of them know they need to concentrate on their studies to get them into graduate school or into the workforce. Athletics, to them, is a way to round out their college experience. My son is a Division I student athlete who gets no money to compete in the pool – his scholarship money (full tuition) comes from academic sources.
Parents, as you help your high school student athlete look for colleges, keep mid-major schools on their radar. They have the greatest percentage opportunity to combine academics and athletics for a fantastic college experience.
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com
Twitter: JudeCaserta
www.MidMajorMom.WordPress.com
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in A Budget Coach's life in Sports, Mid Major Experience, Mid Major Mom, Student Athlete Parent Tagged academics and athletics, college athlete, college experience, college sports, division iii, high school sports, high school students, national federation of state high school associations, scholarship money, sports participation, Student Athlete, student athletes
By BudgetCoach on September 10, 2010
In the beginning…
There was a parent teaching a child.
They learned to read.
Later the teacher was called a coach.
They studied.
They tried lots of different sports. 
They studied more.
Teams became more organized. 
They continued studying.
They had to choose one specialty sport.
They took standardized tests.
They had to practice at all hours of the day.
They applied to college.
They selected their college. 
They made a team!
Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy!
Life is good!
Jude
Twitter: MidMajorMom
Twitter: JudeCaserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com
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Posted in College Athletics, Mid Major Mom, Student Athlete, Student Athlete Parent Tagged coach, different sports, evolution, standardized tests, Student Athlete
By BudgetCoach on August 20, 2010
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be sitting here writing, when there is so much to do at work…but I am because I promised myself I would post twice a week.
My office moved last week. Actually, I moved my stuff to another office last week. It is wonderful and I love it. I love not being next to the gym…that got really old after the first summer camp five years ago. I seriously am not complaining but bouncing balls and screaming children (summer)/college athletes (school year) can grate on your nerves like a real alarm clock across the room.
I’m in a hallway with colleagues rather than only one (who misses me although he would never admit it!) and there is a bathroom on our floor. Don’t laugh – that’s huge!
With the move have come some challenges. I got rid of about 10 boxes of material to be shred. In spite of the extra room, I actually have less storage space. I will likely keep moving things around for a few weeks. I have not gotten much work done for nearly a month because I had audit prep, the audit and now the move. The piles are getting higher and here is the order I will assign each task. Here is my actual To Do list:
HR/Payroll – time to complete letters of appointment and send information to payroll
Reimbursement checks – be sure coaches and staff gets reimbursement as quickly as possible
Team Travel – set up the fall team travel advance checks
Visa Statements – distribute July Visa (yup, I know it’s late – sue me!)
Officials – view assigning website and set-up game official payments for all fall sports (I have to search for the passwords every year. Maybe this will be the year I put everything in one place!)
All the other crap which steals my time and will likely jump above the rest of the list.
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in A Budget Coach's life in Sports, Athletic administrator, Athletic Business Best Practices, athletic business manager, College Athletics, Officials, Team Travel Tagged college athletic business, college athletic business office management, College Athletics, fall sports, letters of appointment, official payments, reimbursement checks, Time Management, to do list
By BudgetCoach on August 17, 2010
Today’s post was inspired by my friend Amy who is what I call an “adult onset athlete” and whose journey I find inspiring. She talks about how jubilant she felt at the end of a triathlon this past Sunday until she saw the times. She talks openly about the struggle. I really think anyone could identify with her self doubt.
Just to get this out of the way, I work in a competitive world where victory is easily quantified. 1-0 you win, 0-1 you lose. Simple. Straight forward. When a swimmer touches the wall first, a runner has the streamer of victory across their chest or a hockey team scores more goals than their competitors we have easy visuals that let us know without doubt who the winner is. Right? Well, by the numbers, yes this is correct, but the numbers do not tell everything.
What you see isn’t always what is.
I remember years ago, July 1984 to be precise, watching a man and a little boy through the glass at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The man (I was thinking Daddy but I really had no idea who it was) was tossing the little boy up in the air much to his delight. At that same time our late son, just hours post-op from his open heart surgery, was rushed back into intensive care with complications. Watching the obvious joy on the boy’s face and the pure love on the man’s face filled me with sadness and jealousy. How could anyone be happy when my world was crashing down at my feet? My husband helped me reframe. He reminded me that they too were at the hospital. You don’t just randomly show up there and toss your little boy around. We had no idea what their story was. They likely had someone in surgery or intensive care, as well. And, where was the mom? Was she still in the hospital herself, separated from her family during such a difficult time? Where I saw joy and felt sadness my husband saw sadness and felt compassion. Once again, what you see isn’t always what is.
I posted a comment on Amy’s blog which I thought of when I read her post today:
Your journey is not to be benchmarked by your times. It is to be judged by the shiver you get when you finish, when you feel the effort was worth your time, not your time being worth the effort.
Here is Amy’s URL: http://amymoritz.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/the-experience-is-reason-enough/#comment-244
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in Athletic administrator, Mid Major Mom Tagged amy moritz, Defining Victory, MidMajorMom, triathlon
By BudgetCoach on August 12, 2010
Somehow, oh so subtly I stopped buying glue sticks in August. I no longer look for that brown paper bag Office Max used to supply with the Sunday newspaper. I don’t have to stop by the school office and see what plethora of random supplies we will have to invest in each year.
I’m not buying an art smock or colored pencils. Oh, and about that smock – when did we go from wearing our father’s old shirt inside-out to a smock which must be replaced every year? There seems to be a smock scam if you ask me!
I no longer buy crayons or safety scissors. I always followed the list. Religiously. If the list said 24 crayons, 24 it was. Not 16 and not the box of 64 with the sharpener. And, of course, we also had to buy a sharpener. One year, maybe 3rd grade, I “splurged” and went off the list, buying Anthony the box of 64…he was so excited because he never had the one with the sharpener before. I asked him how many kids in his class had the big box and he said there was a bunch. Little did I know my son had crayon envy? Poor thing…annual vacations to California and Florida, dinners at the yacht club, swimming at the country club and my poor deprived son had crayon envy. How did I survive the trauma of depriving my son of a crayon sharpener and #77 Outrageous Orange?
I’ll tell you how – I stopped going off of the list, that’s how! Some teachers were so specific about what notebooks they wanted we used to have to drive all over hells creation looking for them. Well, one year I just stopped. If generic antibiotic is good enough for people then generic spiral notebooks are good enough, too.
Anthony knew not to argue…as long as I bought him the Crayola 64 he was “in” on the supply list mutiny. I just told him to let me know if a teacher ever complained. If they did, I just sent him to school the next day with two more boxes of Kleenex. That should shut ‘em up!
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in Mid Major Mom Tagged art smock, colored pencils, crayon sharpener, crayons, First day of school, glue sticks, kleenex, mid major mom, office max, safety scissors, school supplies, spiral notebooks
By BudgetCoach on August 9, 2010
When is an audit not an audit? When it’s Agreed-Upon Procedures!
Friday concluded the active period of the audit of agreed-upon procedures. The nice young man from Deloitte and I shook hands and off he went, going back to his office to write up all we discussed and summarize his findings. All the while he was there, camps continued, folks began moving into their offices and coaches readied their locker rooms for the influx of student athletes arriving on campus this past weekend.
For nearly two weeks I either prepared materials for the audit or was searching for information requested as part of his testing. Unlike an independent audit and random testing, agreed-upon procedures transactions are easy to identify. An auditor needs to “test” each agreed-upon procedure and should have each sport represented. If you glance at the trial balance detail you can likely find the transactions they will want to see.
Tip 1: Arrange a comfortable space for the auditor to work. I have heard stories of where institutions will put the auditor in a hot or cramped space with the idea they will leave faster if they do not have comfortable quarters. This works about as well as giving coffee to a drunk.
Tip 2: Be sure cost centers are organized in well marked file cabinets. If you have separate budgets for operating, recruiting, fund raising, camp, etc. group them all in one large hanging file, identified with cost center name and any numeric identification.
Tip 3: Print, print, print. For one time every year, redundancy is ok! Have one notebook with the trial balance and one notebook with agreed-upon procedures.
Tip 4: Identify the largest transactions in each cost center, by agreed-upon procedure. Prior to the audit, go through each cost center and identify the largest transaction in each line item. Arrange the folder so that these back-up materials are on the top. This will save a ton of time during selection search.
Tip 5: Identify other folks in and out of athletics who will likely be asked for information. Each year our Softball coach is asked to provide his camp information to the auditor. This year, in a fit of exasperation, he asked me why he is always the one chosen to provide camp information during the audit. Simple answer: he has the largest camp each year. Be sure the ticket manager, facilities manager and head athletic trainer are available during the audit. Each of them are usually responsible for large transactions so they will likely have to explain a few of them each year.
Bonus Tip: Rather than copying originals before sending them to institutional business invest in a scanner. Arrange the scanned documents by month and document number. When a transaction is requested by the auditor, simply print the document. They can use this as proof of transaction or bring it with them to institutional business to follow-up.
These are just a few of the tips from The Shadow System © Audit Prep Guide. It’s not too late to get ready for a great audit. Please e-mail me for more information.
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in Athletic administrator, Athletic Business Best Practices, athletic business manager, EADA/Dept. of Ed, General ABC Information, NCAA Agreed-Upon Procedures, Time Management Tagged independent audit, NCAA Agreed-Upon Procedures, NCAA Audit, redundancy, student athletes, trial balance
By BudgetCoach on August 2, 2010
100’s, 1,000’s or 1,000,000’s of studies have likely concentrated on the difference between planners and improvisers. While I am sure these are valid and learned, all you really need to study is my sister and me.
I wing it. Me – whatever? She plans it…and plans it…and plans some more…
I must admit, however, I am a firm and committed planner at work – it’s what I do. But personally, planning only gets me frustrated and flustered. The best times I usually have are those spontaneous moments when we meet friends for dinner or make a plan after church for later in the day.
One of my favorite (relatively) recent spontaneous events was last October when attending a swim meet at Providence College in Rhode Island. My dear friend Cindi and her husband met me for dinner and I was supposed to go back to their home for the night before driving home the next day. Turns out I am allergic to their house! A few phone calls later and a free room, Cindi and I checked in and had a slumber party complete with wine and silly t-shirts. It was awesome!
My sister’s daughter drove here yesterday with some friends from high school. She will be attending college here later this month and wanted her friends to see campus and the area. I had no idea when she was going to arrive and where they were going to stay. I had no idea where they were eating and how many to prepare for. My sister was crazy with the idea Anna had no plan. Seriously, I couldn’t blame her. Ultimately it took Anna 8 hours to make a 4 hour drive. Now that’s timing!
It wasn’t until yesterday I actually realized there is a difference between being spontaneous and being a winger. A spontaneous trip is a great idea. But, a spontaneous trip still takes planning.
Anna’s friends will likely see ½ of what she had hoped they would. But, the beauty of being 18 is that they really don’t care!
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in Mid Major Mom, Totally Random! Tagged planners, spontaneous, wingers
By BudgetCoach on July 29, 2010
Anyone familiar with amateur golf knows about the Porter Cup. The rest of the world, not so much! Beginning yesterday and continuing until Saturday the annual Porter Cup
will be played at my club, Niagara Falls Country Club. My summer has included this tournament since I was a teenager. Winners include Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson, Gary Nicklaus, Scott Verplank and David Duval. Both Mike Weir and Tiger Woods competed but did not take home the hardware.
This volunteer run event is everything a special event should be – great athletic competition, (future) star gazing and cocktails!
Back in the ‘70’s my dad used to provide the vehicles for transportation and champions. For several years in high school and college I ran the transportation committee. Back then it consisted of dad’s cars and my teen-aged girlfriends who picked up golfers at the airport and delivered them back there after the tournament. 
One of my favorite stories is about when Ben Crenshaw disappeared after a particularly bad round with one of my father’s cars. My father was furious and the tournament directors were frantic. As the story goes, Crenshaw (known at the time for his temper and on course antics) decided to withdraw from the tournament only he did not actually withdraw. He simply left for Toronto (50 miles to the north) for the weekend for “who knows what” and returned the car unscathed early the next week. Many years later, at a Porter Cup board meeting (I now serve on the Board of Directors of the Porter Cup) someone mentioned Crenshaw’s mysterious disappearance. It was no mystery to me and I shared what I knew. No one in that room knew the actual story but me!
The tournament today is prestigious and expertly run. I had the opportunity to serve as General Chairman in 2004, only the second woman to serve in that capacity in the tournaments 52 years. That special event experience also served as my internship for my Master’s degree in Sport Administration.
Please see www.PorterCup.com for more information including the history of the tournament as well as live scoring.
More tomorrow from inside the tournament!
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta
Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
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Posted in A Budget Coach's life in Sports, Mid Major Mom, Totally Random! Tagged amateur golf, athletic competition, ben crenshaw, david duval, gary nicklaus, mike weir, niagara falls country club, phil mickelson, Porter Cup, scott verplank, tiger woods
