Youth-sports organizer says Meridian Home Court scheduling blocked his tournament request

At the public forum portion of the Dec. 3 Meridian City Council meeting, Travis Clyde, a founder and board member of Exceeding Excellence Education Foundation and Idaho Sports Academy, told the council he had attempted to reserve Meridian Home Court for a January tournament but later learned the facility had been booked for that same weekend.

Clyde said his organization initially contacted the facility by email on Sept. 10 to request the Jan. 2'5 weekend. After being told the weekend appeared unavailable, the group reserved other gyms. Clyde said he later discovered Meridian Home Court had confirmed a tournament for the same weekend and that Parks and Recreation staff provided what he described as an unclear explanation.

Clyde said park staff told him a scheduling policy allows an organization that has booked a facility to move their event within a six-week window before or after the originally scheduled date, effectively creating a three-month availability window during which other requests could be displaced. He said he asked for a copy of the policy and had not been provided one.

"We have used the facility before for scheduling practices times, procedures. The procedure use is what I have expected with an event rental. If the facility was booked, then our name was put on a waiting list," Clyde said. He said the experience left him and his colleagues feeling there had been a bias against their organization by Parks and Recreation and Home Court South.

Clyde asked the council for resolution or a change but did not identify a specific remedy during his remarks. The council did not take action on the matter at the meeting; staff or the parks department did not offer a formal response on the record during the forum aside from acknowledging receipt of the comment.