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Legends Adult Basketball Survey Results!

A big THANK YOU for all who took time out of your busy schedules to respond to our recent survey! We had over 100 basketball players respond, with a great cross-section of all age groups, divisions, current vs. no longer playing, and first year participants vs. veteran Legends!

Good news, we are addressing as many of your recommendations as possible to make Legends even better!

This report is broken into 5 Parts:

Part 1 – Positive Comments

Part 2 - Your Recommendations We Can Address

Part 3 – Costs!

Part 4 – What We Cannot Address and Why

Part 5 – Hall of Fame Comments

Part 6 – Pictures Comments

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So first, here are some of the positive comments we wanted to share with everyone:

Part 1 – Positive Comments

Q37 - How would you rate your overall experience with Legends?

44% of respondents told us they were “Satisfied”, and an additional 37% said they were “Extremely Satisfied”.

We are committed to getting much closer to 100% across these categories, so read on!

Q38 - What are your favorite parts of the Legends experience?

Its competitive. It maintains a sense of real life, refs, scoreboards. website standings, the commish cares about the players. Playing with a good group of friends.

How well the league is run, referee's, playoffs, jerseys, quality of gyms and competition, camaraderie

Teammates. Have had some bad ones, but a LOT of good ones. That, and the feeling of getting up on Monday sore and victorious.

It is well-organized and stat keeping is cool.

The ability to play alongside my friends in a competitive environment has been very rewarding.

The competitive nature of sports that never leaves you. Also, getting to know the guys in the league makes it fun and something to look forward to as you try and one-up each other each time you play.

Playing competitive basketball with players that aren't dunking or right out of college and that are in my age group is the BEST. It's what drew me initially and I love that Legends allows me to play competitive basketball with others that are in my skill range.

organized, it's a league that strives to encourage a competitive atmosphere yet not let the games/players get out of control, the game coverage and story lines are fun when you write things up before and after the games

I like the consistently competitive games and very fair tournament setup to keep everyone interested. We have good gym space and that is a big part of it too.

League was great, team was fun, no complaints

A solid competitive league that is well administered.

Games are generally well officiated and most of the games are at reasonable hours and at decent gyms. Changes to schedule, especially during the playoffs, are communicated early enough to ensure that coaches can confirm enough available players.

The player and mix of league - right balance of competitiveness and fun

I like that games are on Sunday nights. I like that the website keeps track of basic stats like points scored by individual players, points for and against by team, etc.

i have been playing for nearly ten years and enjoy being with my friends. the competition and the camaraderie with the other teams has been good.

Being able to compete as a player and as a coach.

Being able to just sign up and come play.

Q40 - Is there anything else you would like Legends to know?

I appreciate the hard work and structure that Ron puts into Legends. It makes you get the entire basketball experience which helps me to keep wanting to play. The trophies also help.

I think you’re doing an awesome job

It's a great league and I hope to play until I die, and that I don't die until I'm 200.

Keep up doing the amazing work!

I really appreciate the efforts of the people that make this league happen!

Great job! Keep up the good work.

I love playing in the league.

Legends is great for the community. It helps the kids who need to develop more skills get some real in game experience and keeps us old guys from being completely out of shape

I really enjoy playing in Legends

Seeing that things are updated on the website not to long after the games is a good thing.

Part 2 – Your Recommendations We Can Address

Create a spring league for HS age players.
1. We plan on it! Please spread the word, as we sometime have a hard time getting to this age group.
Have a weeknight league.
1. We are researching this and hopefully will be able to get gym space – stay tuned!
Start a 50+ age division
1. With the great success of the 40+ division, we will research this for the Fall 2017 season. We will send a separate interest email to see if we have enough interest.
Have 3on3 tournaments
1. We are trying! The date is Feb 10, and late fee starts Feb 1. Register ASAP!
Start a league in Prince William County
1. We are researching this – stay tuned!
In the elite division, there are only 4 teams and are the same teams you play every year over and over
1. We got more Elite teams this winter season, and per more changes below, we hope for even more!
Blog address - Put the link on the website. I keep forgetting what it is
1. Done! See the “Legends Blogs!” link under the “Basketball Home” tab on the main site!
Better basketballs, I feel that the basketballs are pretty used.
1. OOPS! We usually replace these as soon as we know! We only use the high quality Wilson Evolution ball.
It would be good if there was some way to create more parity in particular, when there are teams that are primarily made up of all free agents. It seems like those teams often lose the majority of their games and people who are new to the league might get discouraged and not come back.
1. This is a tricky one to handle. We generally place these teams down a division, but when there isn’t a division below, it is difficult. We try to distribute the talent to the new teams, but when older teams have been playing together, it is difficult for a newly formed team to compete until they gel together.
Consider a way to provide end of season evaluations of the refs.
1. Great suggestion! We’re in the planning process of developing a rating system, where good refs will get bonuses for high evaluations, and weaker refs will be provided feedback to improve. For now, use the “Legends Feedback” link under the “Basketball Home” tab on the main site.
Let teams know well in advance when games are cancelled, added, or changed. For instance, at least two-day notice.
1. We do try to do this, but some teams let us know late. We continue to request team coaches to let us know ASAP when they need to cancel.
They should call more flagrant and intentional fouls to protect player safety and reflect that most of us have to go to work the next day.
1. You stole our exact words! We heartily agree, and have been stressing this to our refs. People should be seeing a difference this season, but we will continue to stress this to our refs.

Refereeing standards should be better and more consistent.

b. We had similar comments to this one about the refs. The first thing to understand is that NO ONE LIKES REFS! We work hard on getting solid refs, and actually, all our refs are certified to some level! Some are always going to be more experienced than others, and we continue to work with them to be more consistent and call games with the same concepts as we run the league. Please be patient with them, and feel free to ask them (in a respectful manner) questions about a particular call or no-call. They should all be happy to do that as long as you don't abuse it by asking questions too frequently. Please also note THEY WILL MISS THINGS AND MAKE MISTAKES! For anyone who has never reffed, it is EXTREMELY difficult, and even the best refs make mistakes or miss calls. They are also responsible for watching 10 guys at the same time, and keep a lid on high flying emotions. NOT EASY! But please look forward to the evaluation process, and provide us with Legends feedback link described earlier.

Part 3 – Costs!

Ok, so this was a big concern for many of our respondents! Before we get into how we are addressing this, see the comments below from some of you. Several of you have captured one of our big reasons to keep costs higher than other leagues – that is, to keep ‘street ball’ players away – you all know what we mean! However, with that said, we still think costs need to be addressed!

Your Comments:

It is expensive, but worth it b/c I like that I am playing other adults with professional careers who have to work in the morning and not a bunch of teenagers or young adults.

There is a lot offered even though it is a higher price. I would suggest to offer military and law enforcement discounts

It's a pretty high price, but generally well officiated, good facilities, and well organized

It is pretty expensive, but pretty well-run. The refs are generally pretty good, and that probably costs something, but it still seems a bit steep...

Pricing seems high compared to almost all other leagues. The price point does encourage a higher number of professionals in the league - still the price should be lowered or offer price breaks for teams that continue to play in league or players that have been playing for years.

Definitely well worth the money for me.

Our Changes:

For TEAM registrations:

Returning Teams: $1,200 (vs. old $1,382)

New Teams (all new players to Legends) $800

Younger teams (any 19+ division) Additional $100 off

For Individual registrations:

Individuals have the option to join with others to form a team, and thus get the bigger discounts that way. However, they may also bring in 3-4 new players to Legends, while also getting the 20% the new players would also receive.

Part 4 – What We Cannot Address and Why

lack of consistency in skill level across leagues and the frequent movement of teams up and down with little rhyme or reason.
1. This is another difficult one. With teams changing each season, we have difficulty knowing the strengths of the teams before seeing them in action. Thus, we have merged the divisions to see actual performances before the playoffs.
Expand to gyms in Loudoun County
1. We tried! They fight us! Contact us if you have knowledge of what we are doing wrong!
To make sure that we have two referees at all time. Other than that, everything was great.
1. We really try! However, refs are human and have emergencies too!
Would be great to expand the stats gathering.
1. It’s a question of balance – keeping costs down vs. providing more features. We decided on just tracking points, but also providing the option for teams themselves to track and record their own additional stats on the website.
Better gyms during the winter season
1. Very difficult given the demand! But we did just have a major upgrade to Thoreau this season!
Coordinate with schools to roll out first couple of rows for seating, a majority of time family members go to watch games and have to sit on the floor.
1. We’ve tried! Many schools do not allow their custodians to do this for us. Please have fans bring own chairs.
Not sure why us Arlingtonians have to pay $20 more, though.
1. Fairfax County charges us a $35 out-of-county fee (since Fairfax taxes support the schools), but we are able to partially subsidize this for you

Part 5 – Hall of Fame Comments

Yes the Hall of Fame Is a great way to keep the league legitimate. It brings value to the league because it allows people that still enjoy basketball at this age to remain relevant.

I think it's pretty cool.

I think it's great, but I've been in the league for a long time so that kind of thing is cool to me.

Sounds badass, and maybe couple a time.

I love the idea! Not certain of the number maybe up to 5 per sport

Good idea. Yes. 1 or 2 max inductee per year.

Great idea and the inaugural class was well thought out. There should be just a few each year based on criteria being beyond just athletic skill.

Part 6 – Pictures Comments

I always view the pictures when they are available. Kind of like keeping track of players and the who's who throughout the league.

Love them, all the time!

They're great. Really love 'em.

Good. They need to post more action photos from all teams

I like the pictures, gives us a nice opportunity to show off for family!

I like them, want more.

pics on the front page of the website are not formatted well and get squashed together.

Good, I view them after the season and share with family and friends

the pictures are great but they aren't of every team

Need more pictures of average players

I LOVE the pictures

I like them. I look at them and show them to my kid.

I enjoy having them. It's a great way to preserve memories from the league.