Softball Responsibilities of the Team Manager
Responsibilities of the Team Manager
Before we look at the responsibilities of the manager (C.A.T.C.H.), let’s first look at some of the myths that often prevent individuals from signing up to be a Team Manager:
Myth:
It will take up all my free time
Reality:
While it is a commitment and will take up some of your free time throughout the week, it certainly will not take up all your free time.
It takes less than 10 hours total per week to manage a team. The schedule for the Spring season is three days a week between games and practices. Each event is roughly two hours long and add on some time before games/practices for various things (i.e. preparing line-ups, practice plans, etc.).
Myth:
I don’t know enough about softball to coach it.
Reality:
This is recreational softball. The kids aren’t playing for a High School or College Championship.
The main priorities of our program are simple:
- Teach them the basics (throwing, fielding, hitting)
- Create an environment that is fun for the child
Myth:
I wouldn’t even know where to start with preparing practice plans or line-ups
Reality:
This training program will provide examples and external resources to set you up for success.
In addition to this training program, each team typically has a minimum of two to three assistant coaches that can also provide support, guidance and/or ideas, it’s not all on your shoulders!
C.A.T.C.H.
The responsibilities of the Team Manager can be described best by following our C.A.T.C.H. approach
- Communication:
- Availability:
- Teach
- Coordinate:
- Have Fun:
Communication:
Communicating with the parents throughout the season on a variety of topics including:
- Initial introduction (we have a sample email you can use)
- Communicating scheduling updates (i.e. game cancellations, field location changes)
Availability:
- Being available for team games and/or practices throughout the week.
- Spring Schedule:
- 2-3 days a week
- Tuesdays/Thursdays: 06:00pm – 08:00pm / Saturdays (times vary)
- Fall Schedule:
- 1-2 days a week
- Tuesdays: 06:00pm – 08:00pm / Saturdays (times vary)
It’s perfectly fine if something comes up during the week and you can’t make it to a game or practice. Let your assistant coach know so they can be prepared ahead of time.
Teach
- Teaching the kids game basics:
- Game Rules
- Fielding Positions
- How to catch and field the ball
- How to throw the ball
- How to Hit
Coordinate
- Putting together your game line-ups and setting your practice plans
- We’ll cover information on how to set your game line-ups and practice plans later in this presentation
- Assign task to your assistant coach
- Ensuring the team equipment is brought to the field for each game/practice. This task can be yours or one of your assistant coaches
Have Fun
- Winning the game is good, but the most important responsibility you have as the Manager is to make the experience fun so the player wants to continue playing and return season after season.