I have been lurking here for the last few weeks and I am so grateful for all the wonderful information you share with everyone. I volunteered to coach DD's 10U rec league team this spring and just received confirmation that I will be the coach! In the past, I coached her t-ball for one season where the main goal was to minimize butterfly chasing and dirt drawings.
It's a Babe Ruth league and I wil get a rule book and code of conduct handout at our coaches meeting Thursday evening, as well as a handout the league wants sent to parents.
Instead of asking a ton of questions, I thought I would share a draft of a letter I plan to send to parents. It may change significantly after our coaches meeting when I will receive more league information. If you don't mind, could you give me your opinion on my letter and anything you think I should add or omit. I picked up everything from this forum.
Hello Softball Parents!
My name is Kenny Caudill and I will be your coach for the spring 2015 10U girl's softball season. A little bit about me, I work as a photographer in Richmond and I teach motorcycle safety at EKU.
My philosophy towards coaching is to instill a love and respect for the game in every player, teach them good sportsmanship, help them develop playing skills and make sure they have fun! I follow the premise that practice is for the coaches and games are for the kids. That means I will work hard teaching the fundamentals and strategies during practice but will only direct play and give positive praise during games.
As a 10U league team, I want to be sure we help every player develop as much as possible and get the opportunity to play several positions during games.
Communication
I will send out emails regularly about our team with game and practice reminders. I tend to get wordy so I will put the most important information at the top if you don't want to read all of it. Also, I will send text reminders to all that wish for them.
Practices
I haven't scheduled practice times and dates yet. I would like to have 2 practices per week at about 90 minutes each. I will stay beyond 90 minutes to work with any players that want additional help.
Send water with your child instead of any soft drinks, power drinks or sports drinks. Water is the best to quench thirst and rehydrate.
We will divide practices up as follows:
10 - 15 minutes Warm up exercises and throwing (Important, don't be late).
15 - 30 minutes Fundamentals (proper throwing, fielding, catching and swinging techniques)
5 minutes WATER BREAK
15 – 25 minutes Drills – where all players move through stations either throwing, fielding or hitting, working on accuracy and precision of technique.
5 minutes WATER BREAK
15 – 30 minutes “Games and Strategies” where we will learn new game strategies and then divide into teams to play a mini-game to reinforce what was learned.
As the season progresses, time spent on fundamentals will decrease while time spent on “Games and Strategies” will increase. Drills will vary each practice, not all practices will include all drills. Practices will be designed to keep all player active as much as possible. I would love to have a few parent volunteers to help shag balls and move buckets during drills.
Your Softball Player
I would love to get an email from each of you about your child. What are her interests, how does she respond to instruction? What are her strengths and weaknesses in softball? Where do you think she could use additional help? What other obligations does she have during the season (music, dance, other sports, etc). Information like this will help me get to know her better more quickly.
Thanks!
Kenny
It's a Babe Ruth league and I wil get a rule book and code of conduct handout at our coaches meeting Thursday evening, as well as a handout the league wants sent to parents.
Instead of asking a ton of questions, I thought I would share a draft of a letter I plan to send to parents. It may change significantly after our coaches meeting when I will receive more league information. If you don't mind, could you give me your opinion on my letter and anything you think I should add or omit. I picked up everything from this forum.
Hello Softball Parents!
My name is Kenny Caudill and I will be your coach for the spring 2015 10U girl's softball season. A little bit about me, I work as a photographer in Richmond and I teach motorcycle safety at EKU.
My philosophy towards coaching is to instill a love and respect for the game in every player, teach them good sportsmanship, help them develop playing skills and make sure they have fun! I follow the premise that practice is for the coaches and games are for the kids. That means I will work hard teaching the fundamentals and strategies during practice but will only direct play and give positive praise during games.
As a 10U league team, I want to be sure we help every player develop as much as possible and get the opportunity to play several positions during games.
Communication
I will send out emails regularly about our team with game and practice reminders. I tend to get wordy so I will put the most important information at the top if you don't want to read all of it. Also, I will send text reminders to all that wish for them.
Practices
I haven't scheduled practice times and dates yet. I would like to have 2 practices per week at about 90 minutes each. I will stay beyond 90 minutes to work with any players that want additional help.
Send water with your child instead of any soft drinks, power drinks or sports drinks. Water is the best to quench thirst and rehydrate.
We will divide practices up as follows:
10 - 15 minutes Warm up exercises and throwing (Important, don't be late).
15 - 30 minutes Fundamentals (proper throwing, fielding, catching and swinging techniques)
5 minutes WATER BREAK
15 – 25 minutes Drills – where all players move through stations either throwing, fielding or hitting, working on accuracy and precision of technique.
5 minutes WATER BREAK
15 – 30 minutes “Games and Strategies” where we will learn new game strategies and then divide into teams to play a mini-game to reinforce what was learned.
As the season progresses, time spent on fundamentals will decrease while time spent on “Games and Strategies” will increase. Drills will vary each practice, not all practices will include all drills. Practices will be designed to keep all player active as much as possible. I would love to have a few parent volunteers to help shag balls and move buckets during drills.
Your Softball Player
I would love to get an email from each of you about your child. What are her interests, how does she respond to instruction? What are her strengths and weaknesses in softball? Where do you think she could use additional help? What other obligations does she have during the season (music, dance, other sports, etc). Information like this will help me get to know her better more quickly.
Thanks!
Kenny