Coaching Information

 

Important Dates:

• Drafting Coach's Meeting (FEDERAL, MAJOR, JUNIOR, U10, U12 and U14) - March 16, 2010
• 6:00 PM at Sennett Middle School
• Non-Drafting Coach's Meeting (T-BALL 4 & 5, T-BALL 6 & 7, MINOR AND U8) - March 17, 2010
• 6:00 PM at Sennett Middle School
• Tryouts/Skill Evaluations - Saturday, March 20, 2010
• LaFollette High School
• 8:00AM - MAJOR, 9:00AM - FEDERAL, 10:00AM - JUNIOR, 11:00AM - U10 SB, 11:30AM - U12 SB and 12:00PM - U14 SB
• Draft - Juniors 6:00 PM, Majors 7:00 PM and Federal 8:00 PM - Monday, March 22, 2010
• Draft - U14 6:00 PM, U12 6:30 PM, U10 7:00 PM and Minors 7:30 PM - Monday, March 22, 2010
• Equipment Pick Up - Saturday, April 10, 2010

  • 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM at Kennedy Little League
•  Softball All-Star Tryouts - May 30, 2010
• Baseball All-Star Tryouts - June 13, 2010
 

Important Information:

 
• Team Parent - Coaches must find a team parent and have that parent at the team parent meeting on April 14, 2010
• 6:00 PM at Sennett Middle School
• Field Reservations - Coaches may reserve practice time at Kennedy Little League starting on March 18th  
• Field Reservation Calendar and Directions
  

• Head and Assistant Coaches of baseball and softball leagues that have All-Stars are expected to participate in the All-Star process. This means that you will do the following:

• Assist with All-star tryouts - All-Star Baseball tryouts are on June 13th and All-Star Softball tryouts are on May 30th
• Help Evaluate Talent - Not only during the All-Star tryout, but during the regular season
• Vote for the All-Star teams that come from the league you coach - There are three components to the All-Star voting; the Players vote, all League Head and Assistant Coaches vote and the All-Star coach votes. Each group totals count for 1 vote and teams are selected based on the groups vote

Practice Tips:

• Have a practice plan prior to arriving to practice and stick with your plan. If you think of something you need to work on during the practice write it down and cover it during your next practice.
• Review your practice plan and if you have a period that 3 or less players are active it may be wasted time; try to break into to smaller groups when these periods are required.

Skills Evalution/Tryouts and Draft:

• Skills Evaluation/Tryouts
• Have an Evaluation Plan – you and your assistant coach should be on the same page with regard to what you should be looking for in a player.  Have a consistent evaluation scale, 1-5, A-F, Whatever, just have one
• When evaluating a player in the gym, look for a consistent throwing motion, footwork, and proper fielding mechanics.  Is this player afraid of the ball?  Is he/she anticipating a bad hop?
• When evaluating a player in the batting cage, remember one thing, they probably have not seen live pitching for quite some time, so actually hitting the ball is not as important as a good swing.  Look for “happy feet’, good swings mechanically, are they afraid of the ball etc.  Count good swings rather than hits.
• After the Skills Evaluation/Tryouts
• Get together with your assistant coach and compile your draft list.  Put your top picks together and rank them against each other and so on.  Your list should also include important things like, left handed, fast runner, could be a pitcher, could be a catcher, wore red pants etc.  These notes will help you identify a player at the draft. 
• Compile your draft list from top to bottom including all players from tryouts.
  Have the list of no-shows to tryouts ready.  Consider them as soon as you are able to draft them. Consider this……..if you are a point in the draft where you have nothing but very low rated players, why not take a guess on a player not in attendance at tryouts, this is more than likely your hidden gem you have been searching for.
• Be True To YOUR DRAFT LIST. 
• DO NOT Draft a player because: He/She is your son/daughters friend, they are your friend’s child, etc.
  
• Draft players with an eye toward possible positions.  Although we expect you to move players to several positions during the year, not everyone can play catcher or pitch or even play first base.  Keep this in mind.
• During the Draft
• Draft Order will be selected at the draft.
• Drafting is done in an S formation (First Round 1,2,3,4,5, Second Round 5,4,3,2,1)
• Drafting will be done by age groups for the 2009 season. For example in the Major Baseball Divison 12 year olds will be drafted first through the highest completed full round, then the 11 year olds (and any 10 year olds trying out for Majors and the remaining 12 year olds) will be drafted. The 12 year old round will start with the team that draws the 1st draft position and the 11 year olds will start with the team that draws the last draft position.
• Coach's Kids are selected as follows:
  • Upper Age (12 in Majors, 10 in U10 Softball, etc.)
    Lower Age (11 in Majors, 9 in U10 Softball, etc.)
    Coach 1 and Coach 2 does NOT represent Head or Assistant.

• 	Upper Age All-Star	Upper Age Non-All-Star	Lower Age All-Star	Lower Age Non-All-Star	Picks forfeited
  Option 1	Coach 1 Coach 2				2nd and 1st round of older group
  Option 2	Coach 1	Coach 2			2nd and 4th round of older group
  Option 3	Coach 1		Coach 2		2nd round of older group and 2nd round of younger group
  Option 4	Coach 1			Coach 2	2nd round of older group and 4th round of younger group
  Option 5		Coach 1 Coach 2			4th and 5th round of older group
  Option 6		Coach 1	Coach 2		4th round of older group and 2nd round of younger group
  Option 7		Coach 1		Coach 2	3rd round of older group and 4th round of younger group
  Option 8			Coach 1 Coach2		2nd and 1st round of younger group
  Option 9			Coach 1	Coach 2	2nd and 4th round of younger group
  Option 10				Coach 1 Coach 2	4th and 5th round of younger group

• All siblings will be drafted to the same team; you draft one you get the other with your next pick. 
• Have your draft list ready, and draft players from that.  If you go in without a simple list of all players from top to bottom, you will NOT DO WELL!!  The coaches that are searching through numerous pages, and sifting through papers looking for that gem ALWAYS draft poorly.
  Keep it simple, highlight or cross off those players drafted by other teams and stay true to your draft list.