The ARA is dedicated to the development of coaches, officials and athletes in Alberta and to fulfill that responsibility, will from time to time, organize relevant courses, workshops, seminars, camps or other events.
These events require the up-front commitment to and of the resources to conduct them:
- the leaders or coaches, some occasionally from out of province, who must make the time available for the session, must prepare for it and who may be compensated by the ARA for their services and expenses
- the venue
- the necessary materials and equipment
Consequently a reasonably accurate count of those who will attend is required sufficiently in advance to plan appropriately. This number may impact the location, the timing, the resources required and even whether or not the event will proceed.
The ARA usually bears most of the cost for such events but often a participant fee is also levied. Experience has been that too often expected participants cancel at the last minute and fail to pay even though all arrangements have been made assuming their attendance and leaving no time to modify the event accordingly.
Therefore, as of 01 July 2009 the following policy will be applied.
For any ARA event for which a participant fee will be levied, a date may be set after which the fee is due regardless of attendance or non-attendance.
If an expected attendee cancels after the stated date or simply fails to show up, the fee if already paid will not be returned; if not already paid, the person will be invoiced. Also anyone attending but not paid up will be invoiced.
If anyone defaults on such a payment, until settlement is made, the ARA will not:
- accept registration for that person in any other ARA sponsored training or development event
- make any expense or other payment to the person
- register the person with RCA
It is hoped that it will never be necessary to resort to the punitive aspects of this policy but, without some provision for enforcement, it becomes toothless and therefore meaningless.