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The Plaintiffs
vs.
The Defendants: Powerhouse Athletics LLC. of Franklin, Indiana,
Chad Fowler (Owner/Operator),
Coach Stephenie McDaniel,
"Coach" Larissa Whitworth,
and William Whitworth
Claims against Defendants: Slander, Libel, Defamation of Character, Verbal Harassment, Verbal Assault, Bullying,
Social Media Harassment (Chat on Group me), Torte Damages to Reputation, Mental
Anguish and Undue Stress, Court Costs, Loss of Wages, and Costs Associated to the claim.
Dates of the Occurrence(s): Beginning the first week of September 2023 with an eruption date of September 20th, 2023 - Present
were put into contact about a possible catcher/3rd base position on Coach McDaniel's then 2022 - 2023 Season Powerhouse
12u team. Coach McDaniel began to actively recruit and pursue the plaintiffs then aged 12, minor daughter, along with the
plaintiffs personal friends minor daughter (also aged 12) to come play for her team where Coach McDaniel began to engage in
givin false information to the plaintiffs as well as their third party friend. Coach McDaniel advised the plaintiffs and their
friends that the team fee was $1500 but because the plaintiff and their friend lived so far away the owner of the Powerhouse
Athletics, LLC (hereinafter PHA and/or Powerhouse), Mr. Chad Fowler (hereinafter Chad and/or Mr. Fowler), would discount
the plaintiffs and their friends team fee to only $900 due to the fact that both of them lived over an hour 1/2 to 2 hours away and
would never utilize the Powerhouse Facility (hereinafter the facility and/or Powerhouse and/or PH) for training, of which $1075
of the team fee was Powerhouse's estimated cost per player to operate the facility.
(Evidence shall be numbered in disclosure as A001-007)
or their friends that the uniforms, helmet and bat bag were an additional fee(s) of: $400, $116, and $98 that would be due
in addition to the $900 discounted team fee. The plaintiffs and their friend were under the complete understanding that the
discounted team fee covered everything for the entirety of the year of play with Powerhouse.
Coach McDaniel that her team did not meet the level of play per the players rostered to her team to justify a change of teams for the
plaintiffs and their friends daughters for the 2022-2023 softball playing season. Coach McDaniel understood the plaintiffs and
their friends decision and reasoning, however Coach McDaniel kept in avid contact with the plaintiffs throughout the
2022-2023 season, to include having the plaintiffs minor child participate in substitution play on Coach McDaniel's team when
she had weekends off from her regular 2022-2023 softball season team. (Evidence shall be numbered in disclosure as B001-002)
daughter to play on for the 2023-2024 softball season. Three of these teams included three Powerhouse teams:
Coach McDaniel's team, Coach Paul Lawson's team (hereinafter Lawson), and Coach Donald Rice's team (hereinafter Rice).
Coach McDaniel was made aware of the plaintiffs intent to attend the other two Powerhouse team tryouts,
along with additional team tryouts beginning in late July 2023.
"derogatory statements" supposedly shared to Coach McDaniel by both Lawson and Rice that were discouraging to the plaintiffs and
the plaintiffs minor child. Coach Mcdaniel also participated in slandering both Lawson and Rice to the plaintiffs as to Lawson and
Rice's coaching abilities and their team's playing abilities, as well as other multiple coaches and teams centralized to the
Indianapolis/Franklin area to include: Coach Rich Lafoon and his 12u Powerhouse team, Coach Jacob Arnold and
his 12u Legends team, the Legends organization as a whole, Coach Jason Shirley and his 12u Beast team, the
Beast organization as a whole, Coach Michael Luikart and his 12u Indy Impact team and the Indy Impact organization
as a whole, Coach Ryan Reed and his Indy Impact 14u team and the Indy Impact organization as a whole,
Coach Randi Amt and her 12u EC Bullets team along with Jenny Skirvin and her minor daughter.
(Evidence shall be numbered in disclosure as C001-014)
wittnesses in this case when it is brought before the court. (Wittiness Names and contact information shall be
disclosed as we approach closer to a set trial date, unless defendants counsel requests depositions.)
these other coaches and organizations tryouts or direct position offerings to their teams, causing unforeseeable damages to
the plaintiffs reputation to these individuals for any future position/team offering.
releasing every player of her previous years 2022-2023 team because they "suck and couldn't field or bat a ball to save their lives and
their parents were awful and suck". Coach McDaniel explained that the only players she was retaining was her two minor daughters
and that she "needed" the plaintiffs minor daughter to "Sign on board with me (Coach McDaniel) so I can lure other good players"
to her team. The plaintiffs minor daughter expressed concern in being promised things by coaches before and them not delivering
on the promises. Coach McDaniel insured the plaintiffs and their minor daughter, that the plaintiffs would come on board as
team mom/team management and parent liaison/assistant coach and that they would have say in building the team to include:
the plaintiffs and the plaintiffs minor daughter being present at all open practices and tryouts of potential team mates, would help
with note taking and the decision making of the players added to the team, and have coaching duties along with other management
duties. The plaintiffs were even named as these positions on the information handouts to potential players and parents and given
a coaches entrance pass to the league games where the 2023-2024 Powerhouse 14u McDaniel team was playing.
held. Further discussions were had between the plaintiffs and Coach McDaniel about graphic design of tryout flyers and
informational packets that Coach McDaniel and the plaintiffs would hand out to parents attending these open work outs and tryouts.
The team at the time had zero funding, so the plaintiffs offered to loan the team funds to have these printed items to hand to the
parents of participants, with the clear understanding by both the plaintiffs and Coach McDaniel that this was a loan and not a gift
and Coach McDaniel agreed to the plaintiffs recouping their loan when the team fundraising began to be turned in.
where they fulfilled their duties of note taking, discussion of, and selections of players to be added to the
2023-2024 Powerhouse 14u McDaniel softball team. During these workouts and tryouts Coach McDaniel began to slander and
defame characters of multiple participants. A player by the known name of Trisha, a player by the name of Gracie (former
Black Widows player that was later picked up by Lawson's PH team) and three current players E.B., A. R., and K.S.
Coach McDaniel stated that she was going to resend the position offered to "Trisha" because
"Her pitching, batting fielding and anywhere I would play her is God awful.
She can't place a pitch if there was a big ass bull's-eye painted on the plate!".
fought for the athlete to be offered based on her outfield tracking and glove abilities stating "She doesn't play infield anyway. Her
father said at the joint tryout with (Lafoon) that she's a primary outfielder and it's super hard to find primary outfielders at this
age. She would be a good addition. She can bat, she just needs to find power and stay back and drive from her legs. She has
potential." Coach McDaniel eventually came around and offered a position to E.B. of which they accepted on.
anything and I'm not taking bad batters again this year. If you can't bat you can't come." at which time the plaintiffs again fought for
this athlete stating "She's a hell of a catcher and 2nd base though. She's probably the best 2nd base we've seen in fact. My daughter
can not catch every game and needs an equally strong catcher to flip flop with. Plus A.R. has speed. If we can teach her how to lay a
bunt down, she'll drive runners on bags around and she's so fast she'll get on 1st herself. Plus her dad seems fully on board with
the family team environment we're trying to establish. He even said he helped out with her last team so he too could be a benefit for
us." Coach McDaniel had the plaintiffs request to joint A.R. last teams Game Changer and screen shot her stats and Lawson's
Game Changer and screen shot I.H. stats to compare. At this time Coach McDaniel wanted to hold out on offering A.R. because she
was "Still waiting to hear back from I.H. (a possible cut player from Lawson's team) because I.H. is also a great catcher and has a
power bat, sending three balls over the fence for home runs in the 2022-2023 season. This hold out carried on for two additional
weeks while A.R. continued to show up to open practices for the team while Coach McDaniel presented a false interest in the player
to the players parents. The plaintiffs continued to attempt to convince Coach McDaniel of A.R.'s benefit to the team as
catcher/2nd base. Finally when Coach McDaniel spoke to I.H. mom at the Powerhouse facility and she told her that they had never
been told I.H. was a possible cut by Lawson and that they were staying with Lawson, Coach McDaniel then finally offered
and secured A.R. as a current player to the team.
as a possible pitcher to acquire. Coach McDaniel had the plaintiffs get K.S.'s stats from Lawson's Game changer. The plaintiffs
remembered seeing K.S. play at C State Spring 2023 and testified as to her offensive ability to dive, slide, speed, bag running skills
and overall softball I.Q. Coach McDaniel stated "Yeah but she cant be that good or Lawson wouldn't have cut her. She was his
starting pitcher but probably because he didn't have many options. She's tiny so I worry about her getting any speed to the ball.
I also heard her bat is shit and that Lawson had to bunt her all season to even make a damn play with her. I think we need to keep
looking for a better B level pitcher because Lawson said she's no where close to B level and that's why he cut her ass."
The plaintiffs argued that the pitching they had seen at C State was right down the pipe and on the corners, but that they felt she
needed to gain speed as well. They said they couldn't attest to her bat, because they only saw one game, where yes, she was
called to bunt but laid it down great and was a run scored for Lawson in that game. Coach McDaniel continued to pursue K.S.,
leading her parents on like she did with A.R.'s parents while she continued to look at other pitchers such as "Gracie" (former
Black Windows pitcher who was later offered and accepted with Lawson's team). When Gracie did not confirm joining
Coach McDaniel's team, Coach McDaniel then offered and signed K.S.
private tryout as they were out of town and unable to attend. They were told by Coach McDaniel stated that "Gracie could not hit
spots on her throws and was not as fast or as good as her mommy thinks she is. Her bat was God awful too. I passed on her."
The plaintiffs found this to be unsettling because their own daughter had faced Gracie before and she had a lot of speed and rotation
on her pitches and they had seen her bat to the outfield when they played her. he plaintiffs felt that Coach McDaniel had already
sternly made the decision on Gracie and so they did not even attempt to fight for the player since they hadn't been to her actual try out.
It has since come out that Gracie is throwing no hitters for Lawson's team and batting extremely well and in fact was a huge loss
and detriment to the McDaniel 14u Powerhouse team.
Coach McDaniel is continually putting a skilled 3rd base player J.H.P, in an unfamiliar 2nd base position that she does not play
regularly while keeping a 12u aged (playing up), unskilled 3rd base in that position who is her daughter A.M. Coach McDaniel is
also keeping the same player, her daughter A.M., in a 4th hole clean up batting position with a .182 batting average in league
and a .143 batting average in tournaments despite her assistant coach, Coach Ryan McDaniel being overheard by multiple
parents that A.M. needed to be moved down on the line up because she was batting her before other players who were consistently
batting well above her average. The plaintiffs now also question if the passing on Gracie (former Black Windows pitcher who was
later offered and accepted with Lawson's team) was because her performance would be above Coach McDaniel's pitching
daughter A.M. and she could not justify giving A.M. as much mound time over Gracie had she offered her a position
on the 14u McDaniel Powerhouse team.
discount by the owner, the same or around what was offered in December 2022, because of the distance they live from the
Powerhouse facility and how little they would be using the facility. The plaintiffs asked Coach McDaniel multiple times what
that discount would be, with her answer always being "I still have to discuss it with Chad, the owner."
that the plaintiffs saw that the contract was not for $1500 or a discounted rate, but was in fact over the quoted amount by
Coach McDaniel for $1850. The plaintiffs became increasingly concerned and once again asked Coach McDaniel about the
discount they were supposed to be receiving, at which time Coach McDaniel state that she still needed to "Sit down with Chad
(the owner) and discuss what that be." During the entire time of discussing the team fee discount with the plaintiffs, Coach McDaniel
was also engaging in the same conversation, stating the same "Discount on the team fee because you live so far away" with
M.F., N.H., C.N., and J.G. in December 2022. Coach McDaniel also discussed getting the team fee completely waived
for L.H. due to his daughter having a medical condition that would prevent her from playing most of the time, so long as he could
provide Chad with medical documentation of the disorder, which L.H. stated he could provide that.
there would NOT be a discount due to location of any of the players, and that the team and their daughter would still be using the
facility in the winter. The plaintiffs were not happy that there was no discount, but at this point had invested so much time and money
into driving 2 hours there and 2 hours back for open practices, tryouts, time invested in graphic design on printed items for the team,
endless hours of conversations with Coach McDaniel about the team they were building together, the plaintiffs decided to chalk it up
and just sign the contract, agreeing to the $1850 team fee and paid their $450 deposit to Powerhouse.
that NONE of the parents fee's paid would be applied to the teams FALL 2023 budget and that the plaintiffs would have to shell out
an additional $50 on a fall uniform, plus help in multiple fundraisers to cover the cost of tournaments in Fall 2023, or the team
would not be able to play until Powerhouse turned over approximately $600 of the $1850 paid in on each player in March 2024
to pay for Spring - Summer 2024 tournaments. The plaintiffs, along with other parents on the team became concerned as they were
told by Coach McDaniel that EVERYTHING was covered through their $1850 fee except for: Spring uniforms of $400, bat bag of
$116 and helmet of $98, when in reality, that wasn't the case if they wanted their children to play AT ALL during Fall - Winter 2023.
upgraded bat bag and $98 on their helmet because they had already signed a contract and paid a $450 deposit, PLUS turned down
other offers for positions on other teams, causing unforeseeable damages to the plaintiffs reputation to these individuals for any future
position/team offering. Other parents on the team were growing equally frustrated with the "additional" costs because they too were
under the same impression that $1850 covered everything except the Spring uniforms, bat bag and helmet. They had even received
a printed flyer at their tryouts that stated those three items were the ONLY additional costs and were never made aware that they
would have to purchase a Fall 2023 uniform and fundraise to pay for Fall-Winter 2023 tournaments.
tense and stressful conversations with upset and agitated parents, and attempt to diffuse the situation as best they could while taking
the brunt and heat of the "miss-communication" as Coach McDaniel stated it was. On top of having to deal with the parents, when
the plaintiffs would bring up the parents concerns to Coach McDaniel they also had to endure more stress and anguish because
Coach McDaniel never had a reason as to why the additional costs were not disclosed to parents and instead chose to berate the
parents and mock their concerns with statements such as: "A.R.'s parents need to just shut up and fall in line or maybe this isn't the
place for A.R. I'm tired of her dad blowing up my phone constantly bitching. You said you had all these issues with your other
teams and how you like this one so much more but all they do is bitch, bitch, bitch. Sorry this isn't TEXAS!.", "What the hell is
Dotties problem! She's naming off this shit she's upset with and I told her all of this before hand. We had tons of texts and
conversations about all the fees and what came with the fees and what didn't. Now she wants to bitch because she has money
issues. I asked J.H.P. before they even signed the fucking contract if she was SURE her mom could afford for her to play and I
asked Dottie the same fucking thing. They both said yes, it wasn't an issue and now look... there it is... a fucking issue. Then
J.H.P. can just not fucking play then. I don't care, she can just play middle school ball and be stuck in the same rut.
I know lessons will be an issue too and I'm not budging on those. Those are fucking mandatory and you knew it when you
came to the try out. I gave J.H.P.'s mom the same damn paper every other parent got.", "Oh my fucking God what is it with
these parents! Like just shut the hell up and let the kids play ball. Stop bitching constantly. Now they're blowing up my phone
about the fundraisers and saying too much information is being posted in the group chat by you and how they can't keep up.
It's called reading. We pin what's super important stuff to the top. It's not fucking rocket science. Figure it out!"
The plaintiffs called a parent meeting before practice to allow the parents the opportunity to ask any questions they felt they needed
answered and to again addressed with the parents for them to contact the plaintiffs directly about concerns and not Coach McDaniel
as the plaintiffs were named parent liaison, as Coach McDaniel asked them to do.
showed their listed tournaments. This graphic featured the plaintiffs daughter, A.M, A.R., C.M. and K.S. At this time
Coach McDaniel sent the plaintiffs a message back stating "Yeah but as much as I love that C.M. is taking lessons, she isn't
anywhere near where she needs to be as a pitcher. From now on just put A.M. and K.S. until C.M. can prove her worth on the
mound." and "It also might make them believe or hold hope to be getting time I will not guarantee especially C.M. compared
to A.M. and K.S." The plaintiffs at this time asked if Coach McDaniel wanted to re-take the pitcher/catcher photos as they
did not have any without C.M. at which time Coach McDaniel stated
"That's fine. Just let me know and I will bring the jersey for Angelina."
the Fall tournaments. She instructed the plaintiffs to call different leagues and get the information for her, which the plaintiffs did.
The league Coach McDaniel chose to play in had a $600 cost and needed to be paid upfront. At the time the team was
participating in a calendar day sale fundraiser that the plaintiffs set up, however no one had turned any fundraiser money in yet.
The plaintiffs again loaned the team $558 to go with Coach McDaniel's $42 loan to pay for the league, with the understanding
that the plaintiffs would be paid back in FULL as soon as the calendar fundraising money began to be collected.
batting lessons per player would be required, and bi-weekly specialty lessons for pitchers and catchers would be required and
that the team would require slips they would print out and hand to the parents be filled out and signed by the lesson instructors.
The plaintiffs loaned the team the money to have these printed until the team could pay back the loaned monies through their
calendar fundraiser. The plaintiffs and Coach McDaniel also pre-discussed handing out "Extra Work Slips" that the players would
fill out weekly and turn in and be allowed a certain amount of grab bag picks from a candy/cash money grab bag. The plaintiffs also
loaned the team money to print these forms, purchase the grab bag, the grab bag
candy and the $100 in cash taped to the candy in the grab bag.
told the plaintiffs to make sure they deduct any money they spent or loaned thus far from the teams profits. On top of this
fundraiser the team was participating in a Coach McDaniel approved gun and liquor cooler raffle fundraiser. Coach McDaniel
had the plaintiffs call gun shows and pre-book tables (3 tables had to be paid for at booking of $310 cost) to set up for their
fundraiser and then had the plaintiffs get parents to volunteer for certain days to work the gun raffle tables, taking donations
in exchange for a certain amount of chances to win the prizes. The team had raised $1775
from this fundraiser as of September 10th, 2023.
socks and pink belts for the teams breast cancer awareness tournament they were going to be playing in, wrist bands for plays,
batting helmet logos, and instructed the plaintiffs to pay for all of their Fall - Winter 2023 tournaments which added up to
$1895 for the tournaments. The plaintiffs purchased all items that they were instructed to and paid as many of the
tournaments as they had funds for, which left the team with a $263 balance thereafter with having not been able to pay for
the November Cold Turkey tournament. When Coach McDaniel and the plaintiffs originally budgeted the Fall-Winter 2023
tournaments, it was with an estimated calendar day sales fundraiser budget of $346 profit from 11 players on the team
leaving them with an estimated budget of $3,806 for Fall-Winter 2023. As of the date of September 23rd, 2023, three of
the players: K.S., A.M. and A.M. (Coach McDaniel's children) had not turned in $346 profit for K.S. and $692 profit for
Coach McDaniel's players, essentially shorting the team a total of $1038 for their Fall - Winter budget.
raffle. It was stated in a PHA group chat that each player had to sell 15 tickets for $20 each or $250 would be added onto
the back end of their team fees. This was previously disclosed in the players Powerhouse contract and stated it would be
used to help pay for the facility. The plaintiffs and the parents began growing upset by this, because in the same contract
Powerhouse stated that the cost to run the facility would be $1075 per player leaving around a $6,000-$7,000 budget from
the $1850 per player team fees to be returned back to the team for their Spring - Summer 2024 tournaments. Now the
parents were expected to either sell raffle tickets for additional money past the original stated $1075 per player cost or they
would be paying $2100 player fee by the end of the year. The plaintiffs and the parents became growingly more upset,
because they were previously told that their $1850 player fee covered the cost of the facility and in fact, Coach McDaniel
had told the plaintiffs and the parents that the PHA raffle would be applied towards their $400 Spring uniform costs and
now they were really feeling mislead by Coach McDaniel and the Powerhouse organization as a whole.
Coach McDaniel on the blatant lies she had been saying since December 2022 in a series of texts and phone calls. Coach
McDaniel continued to point the finger at Powerhouse and owner Chad Fowler, stating that "Chad was making all these
changes since last year an don't holding his word on what had been said or happened before. But regardless we all signed
a contract and need to abide by it for this season." Coach McDaniel further stated" "I had a conversation with Ryan
(the assistant coach - Ryan McDaniel) last night and Chad is going to have to show and prove to me this Winter why staying
with Powerhouse and paying two astronomically high team fees is worth it. I don't even get a discount! I get the early
bird special and small amount off my second team fee for a sibling discount and that's it. Because my own kids play for me I
don't even get a coaches salary either! I brought him all these players team fees and he doesn't give me anything on them."
told the misinformation was stemming from, Powerhouse and Chad Fowler himself, and how they would not be returning
to this money scam next year and how multiple parents had discussions with them about also not returning because every time
they turn around, the organization is tacking on additional fees/mandatory raffles or surprise costs keep popping up. At the
time, the plaintiffs believed Coach McDaniel, that it was in fact Chad Fowler and Powerhouse
changing things and not representing things clearly or correctly.
already started playing games and yet no fan gear was available to purchase, what little was released was not appealing
to the parents and that they closed the store down within
a week or two and they could no longer order even if they wanted to.
had to be printed and purchased through approved vendors and that parents were free to make their own fan gear
utilizing Powerhouses logos, names and fonts. The plaintiffs checked over her contract once more, and the only limitation
to using Powerhouse's name, logo or font was on non PH sponsored raffles or fundraisers and there was NO mention
of not using it on signs, or self made clothing/fan gear. At this time, the plaintiffs began to utilize the logos and name (which is
not Trademarked) and prepared some fan gear for the parents of Powerhouse McDaniel' 14u team to purchase and wear,
purchasing through the plaintiffs long time (twenty years) professional print press services who would have the items to the
parents within 2 weeks. The plaintiffs made sure to adhere to the proper logos, font and correct teal color hex code (#007278)
being used on the Powerhouse logos themselves. The plaintiffs sent screen shots of the items to Coach McDaniel, where
Coach McDaniel said "Take down any hats or hoodies and only do t-shirts stating. Hats are Chad's area and so are
hoodies. Anything for the players will have to be ordered through his approved vendors. Only do t-shirts"
concentrating on designs for the parents and assumed with Coach McDaniel saying it was okay'd by Chad Fowler to make
their own parent gear, the plaintiffs didn't understand the issue with the hoodies and hats only. It was at this time that the
plaintiffs took it upon themselves to send the same screen shots to Chad Fowler they had sent to Coach McDaniel to make
sure everything was okay. The plaintiffs received a text back stating that they are not allowed to use any logos or names on
personal parent wear and that they would put up approved vendor items throughout the year. This was completely opposite
of what Coach McDaniel told to the plaintiffs and the other parents during their first initial few practices. The plaintiffs
immediately took down the designs and vented their frustrations yet again to Coach McDaniel, who yet again blamed it on
Mr. Fowler stating "He must forget what he says to me. He said parent gear was fine to make because we had such a
disaster last year with ordering and never getting it, it being messed up or getting here so late." It was yet another
"miss-communication", or as the plaintiffs felt lies stated to the by Coach McDaniel.
Their daughter was the starting catcher for the first game. Multiple players on the field were making multiple errors fielding
and throwing. The plaintiffs daughter made a throw down when a batter stepped backwards and put herself in the line of fire.
The plaintiffs daughter adjusted her throw but because it was so jostled so quickly, the throw was off to the left side of 3rd
base by a foot in a half. The 3rd base defender A.M. (Coach McDaniel's daughter) did not attempt to get off the bag
to glove the ball and instead watched the ball go by her to the outfield. Luckily the outfield C.M. ran up and
retrieved the stray ball, but the of throw and the failure to get off the bag and play the ball first lead to a two runs being scored
and advancement of the runners. Coach McDaniel grew very heated very quickly and as soon as the inning was over, with
NO COACHING to the plaintiffs daughter went inside the dugout and began ripping the plaintiffs daughter's magnet name
off the position clip board and proceeded to bench (not allow to play) the plaintiffs daughter from her primary position
(her bi-weekly lesson trained position) for 6 of 8 innings.
Coach McDaniel placed another catcher in for the final 2 innings of that game and the entirety of the next game. The
plaintiffs daughter had no coaching from either coach during the plays. Neither Coach told her to hold up and not throw
down. Neither coach spoke to the plaintiffs daughter for the remainder of the game and neither of them explained to
the plaintiffs daughter why she was pulled and benched or what she should have done differently in that situation. The
entire next game the plaintiffs daughter did not return back to her primary position and instead was punished to the bench
until A.M. (Coach McDaniel's daughter) began complaining that her leg was hurting and needed to be pulled from third base.
The team was already missing one player, bringing NO OTHER option but to put the plaintiffs child onto 3rd base to play.
Where this would be a normal trade out, as 3rd base is the plaintiffs daughters secondary position, the fact that she was
only un-benched for 2 innings and put there over an injury, and had that injury not occurred she would have remained
benched for the entirety of the game is unacceptable behavior. This behavior showed a clear sign of retaliation against the
plaintiffs for questioning the lies told them just one day prior to this game, after having no communication with
Coach McDaniel the entire day of the game. To make the infraction even worse, no other player was pulled and benched
for repetitive fielding or throwing errors made and only one other player was benched for her attitude.
The plaintiffs awaited the appropriate time frame and did not discuss the benching that night or most of the next day.
They adhered to the unwritten, unsigned rule to wait 24 hours to speak to the coach about an issue. When the
plaintiffs questioned why their daughter was benched 6 of 8 innings from her primary position over one single error that
was a SHARED error with A.M. (Coach McDaniel's daughter), Coach McDaniel became extremely aggressive, rude,
condescending, and displayed a true sense of narcissism by getting angry with the plaintiffs, stating she will only discuss
playing time and positions with a non-paying player (as the plaintiffs pay the team fee and have rights to ask questions if
they are unhappy or feel something isn't adding up and it is their legal and moral obligation to protect, defend and stand
up for their child.) Coach McDaniel shot back a very rude text asking "Am I going to get questioned every time I pull Kammie?
I don't speak to parents about playing time or positions."
The plaintiffs were not JUST parents. They were in fact part of not only the coaching staff as proven when Coach McDaniel
allowed the plaintiffs onto the field during practices to coach the players, but also had them pick up a coaches gate pass for the
league games. The minor children on this team do not pay for their participation, the parents do, and they have every right to
ask why a situation that affects what they are paying for happens. If the explanation had been VALID, clear and concise, then
the plaintiffs would have had no issue with their child being benched. In fact, their child was often benched entire games the
year prior when she caught the entire game before the benching and not once did the plaintiffs ever raise question to the
benching. The question was rose here because of the timing of the benching (right after a disagreement between the
plaintiffs and Coach McDaniel) and the circumstances hadn't been that, no other player with multiple mistakes had been
benched and yet the plaintiffs daughter had been after one SHARED mistake, not to forget that no side coaching was done
with the plaintiffs daughter to prevent the throw and the plaintiffs had to explain to their daughter why she was benched
versus the coaching staff. The plaintiffs daughter was confused and shocked and she herself said "So everyone else can make
bad throw after bad throw and I do it once and I lose my position and playing time?"
It was at this point when the plaintiffs felt they could no longer work with Coach McDaniel based on her shrewd and crude
behavior and choice of wording and the plaintiffs voluntarily resigned as coaching staff/parent liaison and
team mom/team manager. There was no argument over the resignation and the plaintiffs advised they'd turn over the teams
funds that were left, documents and paperwork to the coach at the next practice.
The plaintiffs had opened a separate bank account for the teams monetary funds so that their personal account wasn't being
used. At this time, their banking officials were on vacation to a wedding and in Louisville, KY for additional training and would not
be back into the office until Monday to close the account and the plaintiffs financial institution only allowed the banking
management to open and close accounts. The plaintiffs explained this to Coach McDaniel where she responded
with a rude response about how her personal bank operated which was irrelevant to how the plaintiffs bank operated.
The plaintiffs chose to ignore and disregard Coach McDaniel's response.