2015 Baseball Important Dates
Coaches Training- Thursday, February 19th and Saturday, March 1st
First practice: Week of March 2nd
Parent Meeting: End of First Practice on March 2nd or 3rd
First Baseball Games: Saturday, April 11th (Arrive 15 mins early)
Mid Season Coaches Appreciation: Wednesday, April 15th, 2015
Breakfast at Chick-fil-a starting at 7:00am or Lunch starting at 12:00pm
Coaches Appreciation Day: Saturday, 9th (Give a coach a “Shout Out” at the concession stand to tell them how much you love them)
Picture day: Saturday, April 18th (Different Game Times)
Week Night games: Weeks of: April 20th/21st and May 4th/5th
Coaches Appreciation Weekend: Saturday, May 9th
“End of Season” Bash: Saturday, May 16th after each game at Park
Final games: Saturday, May 16th
2015 Spring Baseball Manual www.roarsports.org
Welcome to ROAR Baseball
Dear Baseball Coaches,
Welcome to another season ROAR Baseball. We are very excited to have you as part of our ROAR coaching staff.
ROAR is an outreach program whose main purpose is to share the good news of Jesus Christ through our involvement in the community. The impact of ROAR comes not from what we do in the office but from your involvement with the kids on the field. We thank you for taking the time to spend with them. Whether you are taking the time to teach a child a rule about soccer or talking to parents after a game, you are showing the love of Christ to these precious families.
Please make sure to read this manual all the way through. In this manual you will get information on:
· Pillars and Philosophy of ROAR
· T-Ball Rules
· Coach Pitch Rules
· Practice Information
· Game Information
· Coaches Information
· “End of Year” Bash- Updated for Spring 2014
· Your Testimony
· Important Dates
We thank you again for all your hard work and love!! Blessings
Brent Williams, ROAR Director
Email:
Office: 803-366-7627
Lulu Merrill, Assistant ROAR Director
Email:
2015 Spring Baseball Manual www.roarsports.org
ROAR Mission and Vision Statements
Mission Statement: To Glorify God and to see lives transformed by Christ through sports.
Vision Statement: To reach, make, and train people of York County to become disciples by building relationships and sharing the gospel through sports and summer camps.
Our Mission Statement is accomplished through:
o Prayer
o Building relationships
o Devotions
Philosophy (Pillars of ROAR Sports)
Mission Field
“So God created man in own image...” Genesis 1:27
People are valued not because of their performance, title, role, etc. but because they are made in the image of God.
ROAR Soccer is a league of encouragement. The greatest way to motivate is to affirm and encourage children for the effort they are putting forth. Yelling and screaming at kids is demoralizing and is a poor witness for Christ. You can ruin your testimony, as well as ROAR’s, with one simple word or tone of voice. Please keep the precious ears of your players on your mind and heart. Every child is of equal value regardless of his or her athletic ability. We want to assure children and their parents that their child will get equal playing time even if their skills are less than their teammates.
Equal Playing Time
All players get equal playing time on the field. Please insure that you keep up with who sits out so that everyone has equal playing time.
Prayer before Game Starts
Both teams will meet at the center court to start the game off with prayer. The home team will lead prayer for the time. Please pray for safety, unity, great time, and of course fun!
2015 Spring Baseball Manual www.roarsports.org
The Other Team is NOT the Enemy
Please remind your players that the other team is not bad. We want to have a field full of encouragement and good times. If there is a situation with a parent/coach or a foul were you think a player on the other team is committing, you will need to follow these steps:
1. Call a time out and ask the other coach to step to the side. This time, it will need to be alone without any other parents, coaches, or players to be involved. Talk over what concerns you have and come up with an agreement on what actions need to be taken.
2. If step number one was taken and the same issue arises, then you will need to take a time out, ask the coach to step to the side, and call over Brent, Lulu, Mark or a Commissioner to help with the situation.
3. If the first two steps cannot resolve the situation, either the player, parent, or coach will be asked to sit out for the rest of the game or leave the fields.
Relationships and who you Represent
Relationships are the key to influence. All of our coaches represent ROAR as a whole. We ask that you would try your best to remember that you are representing God, an organization, and your family. We ask that you would get to know your players and their parents. Let them get to know you. Show them that you care and want to help in any way you can. The more you can interact with the kids and their parents the greater opportunities you will have to make an impact. Make sure you have a parents’ meeting at the first practice and use the rosters prepared for them with parent’s names as well as the names of the children participating. This will help to facilitate relationships among the parents.
Teachable Moments
Teachable moments are those times when you are in the middle of practice or a game and your team/player is actually feeling the results of sin in sports. This is a great time to teach character issues. Take a time out or pull a child to the side if he/she is:
· Frustrated about losing
· Rubbing it in to other players if winning
· Upset about teammates not passing the ball
· Not sharing the ball with others
These are moments where you can encourage the child (or the parent) in grace and wisdom.
Competition
Competition is everywhere. We believe that competition is not sinful at all, but problems can arise when your team starts losing or a child is not listening. ROAR holds our coaches accountable for their actions so we encourage you to take time to pray and think through before you act on feelings of frustration and anger.
3D-Devotionals
Every practice includes a 10 minute devotional that can be done with your team before or after practice. We have prepared some devotionals that can be found in the devotionals section of your coach’s notebook. 3D-Devotionals include a skill that is introduced in practice and then applied to the devotion. It is VERY IMPORTANT for you to review your devotional before practice to get an idea of how to relate the skill and devotional. We also encourage you to invite parents to the devotion so that they too can hear the Word as their children hear it!
Consistency
We want kids to have fun AND to develop good habits for the future. Additionally, it is our goal to create a safe environment in which we can develop children in their skills. To this end, we encourage your consistency with rules at all times. For example: If a player does not throw a ball in correctly, you do not have to give it over to the other team but rather have the player throw in again while you explain to them the correct technique.
ROAR Baseball Rules
ROAR Baseball is split up into 3 different divisions:
Tee Ball: Pre-K & Kindergarten Boys and Girls combined
· 8 Teams with 10 per team
· Games should start on or before 9:45am with a prayer.
· Games are not based off of 3 outs but that both teams get equal times of batting and field within a hour (Typically 2 or 3 Innings)
· For the First 4 Games of the season, players are required to advance one base at a time and one base only (no doubles, triples or homers).
Coach Pitch: 6 and 7 year olds
· 6 Teams with 10 per team
· Games should start on or before 12:15pm with a prayer
· Games should last no longer than 60 minutes
Coach Pitch: 7 and 8 year olds
· 6 Teams with 10 per team
· Games should start on or before 12:15pm with a prayer
· Games should last no longer than 60 minutes
T-Ball Rules:
· Hitting: Players in tee-ball can get “out” but the three out rule does not come into effect during the tee-ball season all players will bat every inning. Once out, players are asked to sit back on the bench. All players hit and play in field every inning. When the last hitter gets to bat, the coach should yell out, “last hitter.” This hitter will try to make it around all bases before the team either gets the batter out or touches home base with the ball in hand. You MAY NOT have the same last batter for every inning! To be fair to all players, please switch player positions (in the line up and on the field) each and every game. Don’t have the same pitcher, same 1st basemen etc. for every inning or every game.
· Fielding: If a player that fields the ball can throw or advance the ball back to the infield and a player, not a coach, yells out “time” any runner that is not at least half way to the next base must return to the previous base (the fielding coach makes all umpire calls in the field). Remember, if a runner is thrown or tagged out, he will be called “out” by the fielding coach and must return to the bench.
· Starting with Game 5, players may advance to as many bases as they like, with coaches approval. Remember coaches to error on the encouragement side of your team as well as the other. Instruct your base coaches not to take advantage of the other team and players!!
· Tee-ball should teach the basics of hitting, running, fielding, and throwing to first base. It is very important, but hard to teach at this level to only go after the ball if it is hit in your direction. Most often at this level, all players chase the ball every time. You may want to start teaching this by using cones like fielding zones, and instruct your players to only go after the ball if it is hit in your “zone”.
· No catchers are used in this division as a matter of fact no one (parents included) should stand behind the batter….bats get thrown in tee- ball!
· No helmets are used during tee-ball
· The Bases should be placed on the big “X” along the base lines. There will be 2 “X”’s but the “X” closest to home plate will be for t-ball.
· Each team will have a small black bag full of equipment for each practice and game. At each practice you will either pick up this bag at the equipment room at the concession stand OR you will bring the bag back to the equipment room. We will have all games prepared for you the best way we can but might need help with moving benches for players. Please use incredi-balls.
Coach Pitch (6-7 year olds) Rules:
· Hitting: At the start of the season, players can get an “out” and will be asked to return to the bench. For the first 4 Games, the three-out rule will not come in to effect. When the last hitter gets to bat, the coach yells out “last hitter” and the final hitter will try to make it around all bases before the team either gets the batter out or touches home base with the ball in hand. Please do not have the same last batter for every inning. To be fair to all players, please switch player positions (in the line up and on the field) each and every game. Don’t have the same pitcher, same catcher, etc. for every inning or every game.
· Fielding: If a player that fields the ball in the outfield can throw or advance the ball back to the infield and a player, not a coach, yells out “time,” any runner that is not at least half way to the next base must return to the previous base (the fielding coach makes all umpire calls in the field). Remember, if a runner is thrown or tagged out, he will be called “out” by the fielding coach and must return to the bench.
· For the first 4 Games, each batter will get a maximum of 10 pitches
Starting with Game 5, each batter will get a maximum of 7 pitches.
Strikeouts are hard but are a big part of baseball, go over a strikeout in practice
· Starting with Game 5, the three-out rule does come into play. Each ½ inning will be considered complete when either three outs have occurred or all batters have hit, whichever comes first.
· Umpires: One coach from each team will umpire the game from the field while their team is fielding. The assistant will need to stay on the bench to help with bench security and help with any substitutions. The bases should be placed on the big “X” along the base line. There will be 2 “X”’s and you will place the plate on the “X” further from home plate.