2015 Balcones Team Parent Rep Packet

Roles and Responsibilities

Welcome and thank you for volunteering for the role of Team Parent Rep also know as Team Mom or Dad. You take on a very important role at Balcones Youth Sports because you are the primary communicator and coordinator for activities and events conducted throughout the season. The purpose of this packet is to give you the information you’ll need to be successful in your role.

We have a great website this year that will help our league communicate better with each other. It’s so much more useful than anything we’ve ever had in the past but getting the word out to folks to visit it and use it for information may be slow to start. At every opportunity, please direct parents to the website and definitely use it yourself!

Opening and Closing Day Ceremonies- All teams to participate(Spring ONLY)

Picture Day (Team and Individual) –(Spring ONLY) REFER TO CALENDAR

Online Store

Show your support for Balcones Youth Sports, but especially for your child by purchasing some of the following items from our online store:

Decals---$10.00

Cinch backpacks---$8.00

Water bottles---$4.00

Fan Shirts---Adult TBD

Youth TBD

Responsibilities of a Parent Rep or Team Mom or Dad:

Coordinate snack schedule
Coordinate concession volunteers
Communicate & coordinate volunteers for league events; Balcones Day, Picture Day, etc.
Coordinate end of season party and/or events
Important thing is COMMUNICATION!

Snack Duty-Snacks are optional.

The kids get a free drink at the concession stand following their games. I’ve always gotten a good response from the parents on bringing snacks and you can try to assign their snack duty date along with their game raffle date. You’re free to handle this task as you like. For kids in Tball and CP division they look forward to this so I would encourage. Please be cautious of any food allergies.

Concession Stand Duty – REQUIRED

NEW- Poke Jo’s chopped beef every game day along with fresh cooked Hamburgers.

This is one of the most important tasks as a parent rep and can be a little frustrating. As much as we remind everyone, Balcones IS a volunteer organization and the only way to make it fair is to divide the larger tasks amongst the league – and running the concession stand is a very large task. You will need 3volunteers for each shift (2 at each window and 1 in the kitchen or as a runner). Each team will be scheduled 2-3 concession shifts. When the game schedules are finalized, the auxiliary members will coordinate the concession stand duty and send out the concession stand schedule. When you get your team’s shift assignments, you can send it out to them, but it will also be posted on team calendar and will send your team alerts. If the parent has a conflict and can’t make it to their assigned shift, have THEM get coverage by trading with another parent or by asking another family member or friend (over age 15) to fill in for them. You are free to manage this task as you like as long as your team properly fulfills its Concession stand duty requirement. Concessions stand duty is fun, not hard and best of all, air-conditioned! ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS REGARDING GETTING VOLUNTEERS PLEASE CONTACT Sonia Perez @

Field Maintenance/Work Days – Player Agents and Field VP’s will coordinate

Each team is assigned a Saturday workday to help with maintenance and clean-up tasks at the park. The Coach will communicate your workday assignment to the parents. Players are also expected to help work on the fields. Have everyone bring work gloves if they have them. Workdays include mowing, weeding, picking up trash, emptying trashcans, painting, treating fire ant mounds, fixing fences and nets and cleaning bathrooms to name a few.

Balcones Day Festival

This is one of the biggest fundraisers BYS has all year long and requires a lot of help, communication and coordination from everyone to make it a huge success!

You as a parent rep will coordinate volunteers to work your team scheduled booths or concession.

Gather, collect money for silent auction basket items, donations such as 2liter sodas, baked goods, and banner. We are trying to set up a way for parent reps to order banners through our sponsor Build a Sign to get our discount to lower cost for team. Banners will be judged on Balcones Day 1st place winners will receive End of Season party from one of our local sponsors such as Double Dave’s, etc. The same with Silent Auction Basket whichever team to raise the most amount of money will also win End of Season Party.

Vendors market place- We will have a wide variety of vendors participating in our festivals. They will either be giving items away, giving samples, and/or selling items. This will be a great way to shop for yourself or others! We do not allow more than 1 of the same vendor to help with sales. If you would like more info on obtaining a booth please contact Brook-Lyn Hibbs @

Wristbands/Tickets– We will pre-sell wristbands/tickets this year on April 1st at our online store to pay by credit card only, April 21st & 23rd from 6:30pm-8:30pm we will also pre-sell in the concession for those needing to pay cash or check and even on the day of the event. Wristbands will include unlimited access to some games and activities. Food items and vendor booths will require tickets or cash only (amounts TBD). Pre-ordered wristbands will be available for pick up at it’s own area starting at 9 am or even on April 21st & 23rd in the concession. Wristbands and tickets will also be available for purchase on the day of the event at a separate ticket booth for those that don’t want to pre-order bands, however prices will go up on this day. Please promote pre-ordering wristbands/tickets to your team parents as this will greatly help keep ticket lines down on the day of the event and will be at sold at a discounted rate.

Booth Donations –We are REQUESTING each team must provide a minimum of:

10-12 2-liter size sodas per team- name brand, no dollar store sodas.

10-12 pre-packaged baked goods per team. These items are used as prizes soda toss and cake walk. These are very popular booths so it’s important that we gather sufficient quantities to supply these booths. ALL SODAS & BAKED GOODS MUST BE DELIVERED TO THE BOARD ROOM NO LATER THAN April 24th by 8p.m.. YOU CAN DROP OFF SODAS AT THE CONCESSION STAND FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE DURING THE WEEK OF. NO EARLIER NO LATER. RECEIVING THESE ITEMS ON BALCONES DAY FEST IS TOO CHAOTIC FOR THE SET UP STAFF SO PLEASE HAVE YOUR PARENTS ADHERE TO THE ESTABLISHED DEADLINES.

Booth Duty – Volunteers will be needed from teams to supervise all activities. We will also be supplementing our volunteer pool with people from area service organizations (e.g. Middle School NJHS programs,Anderson High School, UT, Boys and Girls Scouts, etc.) Booth duty is typically 1-2 people per booth for 1-hour shifts. More info is forthcoming.

End of Season Party

Work with your coaches to put together your party. They can be after the final game at the field or at a later date off site, it’s up to you. Ask your parents for ideas. Pool parties are always popular. Usually, the parents will ask what they can contribute in the way of food, drinks or just money. The Coach will typically present trophies to players at this party.

Trophies and Medals

Trophies will be presented to ALL Tball and Shetland divisions as participation. However, for all other divisions they will receive trophies ONLY for End of Season tournament for 1st and 2nd place, except Major will get 1st place ONLY.

Collect money for trophies and coaches gifts. This is not mandatory this is optional for all other divisions. Cost per trophy range from $4.00 to $20.00/each depending on how tall they are and how many “bells and whistles” they have. I have used AD Co.Trophies, B&C Trophies & Crown Trophy in the past with very good results. There are lots of trophy places around town. Coaches gifts are optional, but a really nice “thank you” to someone who is volunteering his/her personal time for benefit of our kids.

Sponsors

If your company, you personally, or someone you know owns a business and they would like to advertise very cheaply this is a great way to get the word out. We encourage our members to use our sponsors in return for their gracious donation to the league for improvements and purchases. Please contact Sonia Perez @

Fundraising-NEW

Movies at the Park FREE- Concession will be open and all concession sales go back to the league

Kona Ice- we receive 20% back for the entire season

2 Festivals- Balcones Day and Fall Fest-Profit to go back to league

Online store- Profit to go back to league

Movies at the Ballpark-

We will be having movies at the ball park once a month at least 1-2 times this season with front concession open. We will be showing baseball related movies each evening. Free to all and to the public!

Coming soon!

New bleachers for the Minor and Pearce Baseball Fields.

All buidings to get a new and fresh coat of paint.

FAQ’s

Q:Who can work concession?

A:Anyone over the age of 15years of age. Anyone needing volunteer hours we are a 501 c3 non for profit. Mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, friends just as long as they are over 15years of age.

Q:Who can handle food?

A:Those who are 18years of age can work in the back kitchen, however an Auxillary member carries a food permit and they are the ones to handle setting up foods, etc.

Q: How many times will our team be asked to volunteer?

A:2-3 times in concession, and possibly fall fest.

Q:Why do you ask for volunteers?

A: Unlike, many other sports facilities or organization, BYS is 1 in 3 that are privately owned. We are not owned, maintained or ran by the City of Austin. All the work, maintenance, and running the facility is done by volunteers, board members who are volunteers no one is paid to do it.

Q:How can I become more involved with the league?

A:You are more than welcome to join the board, a committee, our Auxillary team, and/or simply raking a field, throwing trash, cutting grass, painting, etc. We would gladly take any and all help from those who offer.

Q:What is Auxillary and what do I need?

A:Auxillary members are basically volunteers who run the concession. They set up, stock if needed, make deposits into safe, handle and prepare all the hot food. Each Auxillary member must have a food handlers permit, which BYS will reimburse. The cost of food handlers permit is $20.

Q:Who do I contact in baseball if I have questions or concerns regarding my childs coach?

A: First contact the player agent your child plays in, i.e. If Joe plays in Minor on Mikes team then you would contact the Player agent for Minor Division. If no response within 24 hours please contact the VP of Baseball Marc Goins @ , and if no response then President of BYS Toby Perez @

Q: Who do I contact in softball if Ihave any questions or concerns?

A:First contact the softball player agent Mike Vrabel, if no response within 24 hours please contact VP of Softball Ed Reynolds @ , and if still no response President of BYS Toby Perez @

Please keep in mind that ALL coaches, assist coaches, board members, concession, every single person is a volunteer they do not get paid. If you have a concern, issue, or a complaint simply ask for the board member on duty. Concession will have that posted on the outside or inside of concession. We do accept and love feedback feel free to visit our website at , on the left handside toward the very bottom is the feedback button. Please feel free to comment, suggest to help us improve our programs.

-Helpful Hints and References–

Tip #1:Assign your parents concession and snack days. If they can not make their assigned day leave be sure to inform them to find or trade with someone else. If for some reason you still don’t have someone to fill their spot email

Free volunteer websites- Feel free to use:

Tip #2You DO have the option of simply collecting money at the beginning of the season to cover the items needed (i.e., team banner, silent auction basket, sodas,etc.) and purchasing and delivering the items yourself. Many parent reps actually prefer this. It’s up to you to decide what will work best for your team. Just remember, if you do decide to collect money for things, please keep good accounting records should anyone have questions where the money is going. This will likely never happen, but just in case.

Tip #3: Any time you are passing something out to the whole team, the easiest way to keep track of who has/hasn’t received it is to put your player’s team number or players name on it before you pass it out!

Tip #4: Make up your own schedule of events with important dates and information to distribute to parents. If you take the time up front, you won’t be burdened with a ton of phone calls and questions during the season. I have drafted up my own “Parent Info” packet that I send to parents every season and I’m happy to email you a copy of mine that you can customize for your own teams. I usually call a quick meeting after a practice when most parents are there to hand them the packets and brief them on the season activities.

Tip #5: If you hear of complaints, questions, suggestions, etc. from your team parents, please forward them to an appropriate Board Member. If you don’t know who the right person is, you can always route it through the player agent (check the website for contact info).

Tip #6: SEND OUT REMINDERS AND COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM CONSTANTLY. You can send emails through our bys system by logging into your team page.

TIP #7 Please remember if you work for an employer such as Dell, they encourage their employees to volunteer and in return they donate funds to the organization of the employees choice. We also allow students in high school or private school needing volunteer hours. For all and any hours volunteered at BYS whether it be in concession, Balcones Day, and/or maintenance work days we can provide a letter to your employer or school. Contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns or to organize volunteer time.

Free volunteer websites- Feel free to use:

There are other volunteer sign ups, these are just a few that I have used and are great!

Please let me know if you need any help or have questions.

Sonia J. Perez

Director of Sponsorships/Fundraising, VP of Auxillary,

V.P. Parent Rep/Balcones Day Coordinator

Email:

Cell: 512-947-4200

Thank you for becoming apart of BYS and for your support!