P.L.A.Y. supports Prior Lake parks! Upgraded facilities such as fields, trails, and rinks mean safer spaces for kids to grow, compete, and learn teamwork, leadership, and integrity.

Learn more about why P.L.A.Y. continues to support upgrades to our city park facilities by reviewing the document below. 

To view details about the upcoming Parks referendum and how to cast a vote, please visit Play. Explore. Connect.

Youth sports can be an emotional minefield for adults to navigate, especially when our own children are involved. There are a wide-range of pressure points for parents when we watch our beloved son or daughter participate in athletics:

• Tryout Results/Team Placement
• Playing Time
• Player Positioning
• Coaching Strategy/Tactics
• Conflicts with Teammates
• Umpires/Officials/Referees

Just think to yourself about a time when one of the above things caused you stress, anxiety, anger or sadness. The negative emotions a parent or family member feels when a loved one is perceived to have been wronged are immediate, strong and often overwhelming. These emotional reactions are 100% natural and an indicator of the level of importance we place on the youth sports experience! Youth sports organizations around the globe have discovered one thing that helps diffuse emotionally charged situations more effectively than anything else – time.

The 24-hour rule is essentially a “cooling-off period” to allow for all parties to remove immediate emotional reactions from the dialogue. P.L.A.Y. has the same goal as parents when an athlete/family is impacted by a dispute – to work towards a fair and swift resolution. The goal of dispute resolution is for all parties to work through the situation at hand, not as adversaries, but as partners in the athletic and personal development of our athletes. P.L.A.Y. believes that the 24-hour rule is critical in creating this positive problem-solving dynamic. Immediacy does not allow for the gift of perspective.

Think of how many times you’ve been anxious or angry about something only to realize the next day, after time has passed, that the situation isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Time offers human beings the gift of perspective. Does this mean all situations seem minor if we just wait 24 hours? Of course not. That said, waiting 24 hours does allow for adults to take a step back, evaluate the situation with an open and honest mind and determine realistic priorities in resolving a dispute.

Unless the nature of the dispute requires immediate attention (e.g. there are athlete safety concerns or there is a firm time deadline involved), P.L.A.Y. participants are required to wait at least twenty-four hours after an event or incident before initiating a dispute resolution process. Because we believe so strongly in this standard, as a general rule, grievances that do not adhere to the 24-hour rule will not be accepted or responded to.

For more information about the 24-hour rule and perspectives about why it is important, please see this article by Lax Lingo. 

The P.L.A.Y. Executive Board is seeking interested individuals to fill the following roles:

- VP of Fall/Winter Sports

- VP of Fundraising

To learn more about these opportunities, please visit our Board page here.

To express interest in any of these (or other) roles, please e-mail admin@playinfo.org.