Fort Hunt Little League

1. Fort Hunt Little League 2012 Coaches Meeting

2. WELCOME COACHES !!!! Committee Members: Dennis Burns Rich Freewalt Tom Dillaplain Bob Pasquerella Committee Events: Winter Training Clinics Coach Recruiting / Processing Coach Training Player Clinics Summer Camps Weekly Newsletter

3. Agenda – A and AA Leagues • Welcome/Introductions • Board • Schedule • Mission/Culture Discussion • Coach Responsibilities and Conduct • Coaching Tips • Parents Meeting / player retention • Safety Presentation BREAK • New Rules/Umpire Discussion • Resources • League Break Out Sessions

4. Introductions • Introductions (Name, Background, Exp) • General League Info (Paul Murphy) • Board of Directors / League Governance • Calendar Review

5. 2011 FHLL Board of Directors • President Paul Murphy paul.r.murphy@navy.mil • VP Juniors/Seniors Rene Belanger rene.belanger@us.army.mil • VP Majors Glen Copeland gfcopeland@gmail.com • VP AAA Joe English DJEnglish@duanemorris.com • VP AA Tony Castrilli Tony.Castrilli@alexandriava.gov • VP A Kevin Schwalb kdschwalb@aol.com • VP T-Ball Jasper Thomson JThomson@vsadc.com • Executive VP/Secretary Jim Smith jsmith@acg-consultants.com • Treasurer/Registrar Kristin Yohannan-Moore KYohannan@mofo.com • Fields/Facilities Chair Barry Meuse bmeuse1@hotmail.com • Operations Director Blake Allen wballen3@me.com • Communications Chair Mike O’Connor mloconnor5@verizon.net • Chief Umpire Don Essex Don.Essex@us.delarue.com • Equipment Chair Tim Sara timsara@cox.net • Player Agent/Safety Mike Sundsted bravecwboy@cox.net • Training Coordinator Dennis Burns djburns116@gmail.com

6. Upcoming Events • Feb 12th and 26th   Player Skills Evaluation  • March 8 Coach’s Clinic (T-Ball) • March 14th Majors Draft • March 15th AAA Draft • March 17th AA Draft • March 17 Darsey Clean up Day • TBD Coach’s Clinic (A-Ball and AA-Ball) • TBD Hollin Hall Clean up Day • TBD Player Clinic • April 9nd AAA and Majors Games may start • April 14th Opening Day/Picture Day • May __ Home Run Derby

7. Our Culture / Skill Levels • The Fort Hunt Way! • Positive Coaching • Teach Baseball and Life Skills • (send captains over to other team before game) • Safety • Culture of Learning not Winning • Roots - respect for officials, organization, team, self • Build a Community of Baseball • Skill Check Lists

8. Conduct No manager, coach, player, umpire, parent, or spectator shall: • violate any Little League rule or FHLL House rule • verbally taunt any player • chatter against an opposing player with the intention of disrupting the opposing player's play • engage in un-sportsmanlike conduct • engage in, condone, or encourage unfair play • disrespect authority • fail to immediately adhere to an umpire's decision in a sportsman-like manner • use obscene or indecent language or gestures • engage, condone, or encourage any conduct that seriously or repeatedly jeopardizes the safety of anyone present on a ball field • delay, prevent, or disrupt continuation of play • at any time (including but not limited to before, during and after a game, practice or other activity) and anywhere (including but not limited to on the ball fields, ball field surrounding areas, parking lots and other facilities of the ball fields): • engage in any abusive verbal attack upon any player, manager, coach, spectator or umpire; • attempt, successfully or unsuccessfully, to apply hands upon, push, shove or strike any player, manager, coach, spectator, or umpire; or • engage in any physical attack upon any player, manager, coach, spectator or umpire.

9. Positive Coaching • Techniques • Be organized • Have practice plans in advance • Incorporate Advanced Players thoughtfully • Make practices fun / keep them moving • Teach through Repetition • How to utilize Assistant’s and parents (email agenda ahead of time) • Use stations for various skills (it breaks up kids) • DON’T Discourage / ALWAYS Encourage  • Teach Team Responsibility (kids listen better to their peers) • Teach ROOTS – respect for officials, organization, team, self

10. Coaching Tips • Positive Coaching Techniques Cont’d • Develop a regular pregame routine • Develop regular bench behavior (on deck man gets bat) • Separate various skill levels when appropriate (carefully) • Develop catchers by having them work every practice • Observe other coaches • Don’t Over Coach (hands high, feet apart, move back, move up) • Skill Sheets • Practice Plan Discussion

11. Parents Meeting / Communication / Build Brand • Meeting Tips • Set up early, give notice so parents know to attend • If after practice, make sure asst coach keeps kids busy • Solicit Volunteers (field maintenance, scorekeepers, team mom, end of year party) • Discuss Practice and game philosophy • Review season Schedule • Go over Parent Conduct Rules • Follow up email with bullet points • Regular Emails throughout season (after game summary) Precludes: “My kid didn’t have a good experience because the coach stunk”

12. Fort Hunt Little LeagueManager and Coaches Safety BriefingMarch 2012

13. This is why it is important to have a Little League Safety Plan!

14. Safety Starts With You • Safety starts with Managers and Coaches and flows down from there. • 1st practice – go over safety before anything else! • FHLL Safety Plan can be found on our website @ http://www.forthuntlittleleague.org • All Managers and Coaches must be familiar with the FHLL Safety Plan!

15. What are the Manager and Coach responsibilities as it relates to safety? • Review, study, and understand the contents of the Little League Rule Book & the Fort Hunt Little League local "House Rules". • Prior to games or practice ensure each player has warmed up and stretched. Check field for Hazards • Teach players the fundamentals of the game while advocating safety • Ensure all equipment is maintained in safe working order • Make sure that telephone access is available at all activities • Know that First-Aid Kits are located at each field and where! • Observe the “no on-deck” rule for batters and keep players behind the screens at all times

16. ` Safety • Review, study, and understand the contents of the Little League Rule Book & the Fort Hunt Little League local "House Rules". • Encourage players to drink often so as to avoid dehydration. • DO NOT play children that are ill or injured. • Do NOT leave the field until every team member has been picked up. • Attend to injured Players and notify parents immediately. • In the event of an injury fill out an accident report and submit to the FHLL Safety Officer. Time for reporting based upon severity of accident. Info on how to fill out report on FHLL website or call safety officer. • Know your Players!!! Talk to parents, confidentially, and inquire if their child suffers from allergies, asthma, heart conditions, past injuries, ADD, ADHD, communicable disease such as hepatitis, HIV, AIDS, etc. Find out if a child is taking any kind of medication

17. Safety • Lightening • Average lightening strike is 6-10 miles long, moves 25 MPH and has up to 30 million volts • Once the leading edge of a storm approaches to within 10 miles, you are at risk! • If threatening skies appear or when thunder is heard, close monitoring of conditions shall begin. • If cloud to ground lightning is seen, play shall be suspended immediately • Play shall not resume until 20 minutes from the last 30 second flash-bang count. During Suspended Play, Players should: 1. Leave the dugout/field area with parents. Get players to their cars and wait for your decision on whether to continue the game or practice. 2. Stay away from metal including fencing and bleachers. 3. Do not hold metal bats or metal rakes. • Child Abuse • Brothers/Big Sisters of America defines child sexual abuse as “the exploitation of a child by an older child, teen or adult for the personal gratification of the abusive individual.” So abusing a child can take many forms, from touching to non-touching offenses • Background Checks for Managers/Coaches • All managers, coaches, board members and any other volunteers or hired workers who provide regular services to FHLL and/or have repetitive access to or contact with players or teams must fill out the 2012 Volunteer Application Form as well as provide a government-issued photo identification card for ID verification..

18. Safety • Pitch Counts PRELIMINARY DATA HAS DEMONSTRATED THE FOLLOWING 1) A significantly higher risk of elbow injury occurred after pitchers reached 50 pitches in a single outing 2) A significantly higher risk of shoulder injury occurred after pitchers reached 75 pitches in a single outing 3) In one season, a total of 450 pitches or more led to cumulative injury to the elbow and the shoulder 4) The mechanics, whether good or bad, did not lead to an increased incidence of arm injuries 5) The preliminary data suggest that throwing curveballs increases risk of injury to the shoulder more so than the elbow; however, subset analysis is being undertaken to investigate whether or not the older children were the pitchers throwing the curve 6) The pitchers who limited their pitching repertoire to the fastball and change-up had the lowest rate of injury to their throwing arm.

19. Bat Regulations Con’t The listing of composite barrel bats approved by Little League are being updated about every two weeks. For more information on the Little League approved composite bats please visit the websites below.  http://www.littleleague.org/learn/equipment/approvedcompbats.htm LIST OF NON-WOOD/NON-COMPOSITE BATS THAT ARE LICENSED BY LITTLE LEAGUE http://www.littleleague.org/Assets/forms_pubs/2011ApprovedNonWoodBatList.pdf

20. BREAK 10 minutes

21. Field Usage • Topics • Scheduling – Rene Belanger • Maintainance • Scoreboards / Sheds / Field Equip • Volunteers

22. Umpire / Rules Discussion • Topics • Bat Policy / Safety • Sliding • Plays at Home • Rule Books (provided by League)

23. Coach Resources • Facilities • Virginia Baseball Club (www.govbc.com) • Dominion Baseball Academy (http://www.dbabaseball.com) • Strike Zone (http://www.thestrikezoneacademy.com) • Events • Coach Training Classes (VBC) March 13,20 • Ripken Clinics (various times) • Local Trainers • Jake Moon, Hoyle Hitting, Scott Dobson, Mike Colangelo • Online • Baseball Rox (http://www.baseballrox.com) • Positive Coaching (http://www.positivecoach.org) • Web Ball (http://www.webball.com) • Mike Epstein Hitting (http://www.mikeepsteinhitting.com)

24. Wrap-up “These kids are not professional ballplayers and LL is not about winning games. LL is about fun and growth and learning life’s important lessons. To teach sportsmanship, one of life’s most crucial lessons, we the coaches, managers and parents must all agree to emphasize its cardinal rule; how you play the game is more important than anything else – even the game itself.”

25. League Discussions • Topics To Discuss • Equipment • Participation rules (batting order, defense) • Schedule • Machine Speeds • Draft / Team Selection • Game Time Limits • Bat Regulations  • Team Names • Shed Combinations • Rain Delays / Make ups • Safety