2017

Coach Handbook
Table of Contents

Page 3 PrefaceSo You Want to Be a Coach?

Page 4WelcomeWelcome to FTBA

Page 4Section1Coaches Pledge/Ethics

Coach Pledge

Penalty

Page 5Section2Post Tryouts

Roster Selections

Letter of Release

Equipment and Scheduling Practice

Parent Meeting

Page 6Section3Best Practices

Intro

Competitive Play Description

Fair Play League/Competitive Play Tournament Description

Fair Play Description

Team Grid

Page 8Section4MBL Meetings

MBL Regional Alignment Meeting

MBL Scheduling Meeting

MBL Mandatory Coach Meeting

Page 9Section5How to register on the Metro Baseball Website

Page 9Section6FTBA Website

Page 9Section7Practices

Scheduling

List of objectives

Routines

Practice Agendas

Page 10Section8Scheduling team tournaments

Process to register & Expense reimbursement

Page 10Section9FTBA Coaches Meetings and Clinics

Mandatory Coaches Clinics Attendance

Mandatory Coach Meeting

FarmingtonHigh School Coaches and Players Clinic

New Coaches Meet with Coach Liaison

Page 10Section10League Play

Umpires

Contact Opposing Teams

Rain-Out Procedures

Page 11Section11State Tournaments - MBT, MSF, GopherState, etc…

Page 11Section12League Tournaments

Page 11Section13August Classic

Page 11Section14Fall baseball league

Page 12Section15Important Dates and Meetings

Page 12Section16End of Season Obligations

Page 12Section17Other Important Information

Preface

"I put the relation of a great coach to a player just below the relation of a mother to a son."

Being a coach today can be an exciting and enriching experience. For many coaches, their guidance and leadership of players can have long lasting impacts well beyond the few years they coached them on the playing field. The job of a coach can almost be a hybrid role comprised of teaching the game and parenting. The “X’s and O’s” are only a part of this job and yes it is a job. As a coach, we are teaching our players not only the game of baseball on the field but also about the game of life off the field. If this job is done properly, our kids will tell stories years from now about how they would not have developed as well as they did without your teachings, guidance and support from YOU their coach.

Here is a brief (and incomplete) list of what it will take to be great coach:

  • Passionate about helping others learn, grow and perform
  • Understands that this is a game, for kids
  • Organized/Prepared – practicing with purpose should be paramount
  • Exercises and encourages a disciplined approach to practice and games
  • Trustworthy – by players, coaches and the program
  • Can rally coaches and parents around him/her that he can trust and that can support the on and off the field activities
  • Commitment – being a coach takes a lot of time both on the field running practices and games and off the field preparing for practices and games
  • A commitment to learn – those that teach should always be learning themselves
  • Motivator
  • Patience
  • Vision Driven – able to see both short term and long term
  • Positive attitude
  • Leader by example – representing your team and your community well

So you want to be a coach? Perhaps you have never thought about the lifelong impacts you will have on these kids or the many characteristics that go into being a great coach. If you are up to this challenge and you believe you have what it takes, then please read through the following pages carefully as you prepare to coach…the Farmington way.

Welcome to FTBA

Welcome Coach,

As a member of the FTBA (Farmington Travel Baseball Association) program, you now have the privilege and honor to represent your team, their families, the FTBA Board members and our community for the upcoming season. Standards of behavior are high and a willingness to live up to them is part of being a member of a team.

As a coach you must understand that your responsibilities are of great importance and that your actions have the potential to significantly influence the young athletes in the program. Therefore, the following pledge should be upheld to the best of each coach’s ability.

Section 1: Coaches Pledge/Ethics

“COACHES PLEDGE”

The pledge below is part of a continuing effort to uphold a high standard of commitment to the youth in our program. As a coach you have the responsibility to conduct yourself in a manner that demonstrates good sportsmanship, and respect for players, fans, officials and the game itself. I fail to do so, I understanding that there will be consequences for my actions.

As an FTBA coach “I Will……”:

  1. Treat each athlete, opposing coach, parent and official with respect and dignity.
  2. Do my best to be prepared for all practices and games and teach the fundamental skills, so that all athletes have an opportunity to improve their skills through active participation.
  3. Become thoroughly familiar with the rules of my sport.
  4. Uphold the authority of officials who are assigned to the contests in which I coach and I will assist them in every way to conduct a fair and impartial contest.
  5. Communicate to my athletes and their parents the rights and responsibilities of individuals on our team.
  6. Cooperate with the Directors and Administrators of our organization in the enforcement of rules and regulations, and I will report any irregularities that violate sound competitive practices.
  7. Protect the health and safety of my athletes by insisting that all of the activities under my responsibilities are conducted for their psychological and physiological welfare, rather than for the vicarious interests of adults.
  8. Not use profanity.
  9. Not indulge in the use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs while attending FTBA events.
  10. I and my team will represent FTBA and the Farmington Community with my personal best efforts, never bringing embarrassment or an unfavorable view to my team or the organization.
  11. I will do my best to remember that youth sports are to be fun and to enjoy competition, and that winning and losing is part of everyone’s experience, respecting both the opponents and my team’s efforts.

Penalty

Abuse brings restrictions. A penalty may vary from a minimum of a one game suspension to permanent restriction for that season depending on the FTBA’s board’s findings.

If at any time a coach observes unacceptable conduct by a player, coach, referee, parent, or spectator, the coach must notify the Program Director. All reported events of unacceptable conduct will be investigated by the FTBA Travel Board and may include a Complaint and Conduct Committee.

If at any time during an FTBA event it is felt that the behavior could affect the safety and health of any of the participants, the individual(s) in charge of the event should be notified and the athletic event should be cancelled without notice.

For umpire misconduct, the coaches or tournament officials and for coach misconduct, the umpire or tournament officials. All action(s) taken in this event must be reported to the FTBA Travel Director.

As a coach, from time to time, decisions made on the field prompt reactions from parents or spectators. As a coach you have the responsibility to coach the team. Any such reaction or confrontation that deters you from coaching or distracts the players from the game is subject to a 24 hour rule that you can instigate.

All of the persons involved will have a 24 hour cooling off period before any discussion on the matter takes place. Please inform your parents of this policy at a parent meeting before the start of the season.

Section 2: Post Tryouts

The FTBA Coaches Committee will select the head coach for each team and will then provide the head coach with a list of eligible assistant coaches. The head coach can choose 2 assistant coaches from the list for a total of 3 official coaches. A person will only be named an official coach for 1 travel baseball team per season.

Roster Selections: Will be handled by that specific age group and playing level head coach working with the Travel and/or Assistant Travel Director, the Coach and Player Development Director and the Tryout Director. The FTBA Webmaster is usually in attendance, so we can list the roster on the web site as we move through team selections. Head coaches will only see the tryout scores and group rankings for their specific age and playing level. Please refer to the Parents and players handbook for additional information on tryouts and team selection procedures.

The number of teams organized at each level will vary depending on the number of players trying out and the number of fields available for each age group. The number of players per team will consist of 11-12 players. Example: If 39 players try out for a particular level; three traveling teams would be formed; 36 players would be selected based off of try out scores/coaches selection. The remaining 3 players would be released and therefore rolled over to the in-house program. If there were 35 players, then two teams of 12 & one team of 11 would be formed with the level of participants per team being based on the a number of factors including breakdown of the tryout scores for an age group and the coaches input if needed.If the head coach is not available for team selection, FTBA will do their best to work with the head coach or we will work together to assign one of your selected assistant coaches to conduct the team selection.

Letters of Release: Letter of release forms will be provided by FTBA. In some instances, FTBA will complete the letters of release. All players who are released will be sent a refund by check (less the tryout fee of $35), within 14 days of your notification to us of your final roster selections.

Equipment and Scheduling Practices: FTBA Provided Equipment: Will include a ball bag, equipment bag with catcher’s gear and helmets, scorebook, roster (contact list), chalk, diamond dry, hitting tee, soft toss net, etc… If you have any questions regarding the items issued to your team, or what is available at the field, please contact the Equipment and Field Supplies Director. *Head Coaches will be required to provide a $200 deposit before the equipment and/or keys are issued to you. This check will be shredded at the end of the season when the following is complete:

  1. equipment and/or key(s) are returned to FTBA. All equipment and keys need to be returned by the end of August unless you have approval to use the equipment for fall baseball. Please contact the Equipment/field supplies Director if that is your intention.
  2. Player end of season evals given to player and family as well as FTBA player/coach director
  3. PTR forms returned to FTBA player/coach director.

FTBA will provide each team’s three named coaches a new Farmington Travel Baseball hat. FTBA will also provide coaches one shirt. Additional coaches shirts will be available for purchase from FTBA’s official uniform vendor. FTBA requires each coach to wear either an approved FTBA baseball hat or coaches shirt for each league or tournament game played.

FTBA will also provide each head coach $150 to be spent on baseball tryout aides. These items must be for baseball, all purchases must have a receipt. Receipt must be turned into FTBA treasurer for payment.

Indoor practices will be scheduled by the Scheduling Director. The FTBA Scheduling Director, under the direction of the Farmington Parks and Recreation, and ISD 192 district will also schedule your outdoor practices and facilities and these fields usually become available around April 15th.

Team Parents/Player Meeting:

FTBA requires that all head coaches host parent/player meeting prior to your first practice. A parent/player meeting is a great time to share your philosophy, team objectives, cover rules/policies/procedures, set expectations, cover communication, ask for team volunteers and to allow for questions/feedback.

Section 3: Best Practices

FTBA was established with a primary purpose to teach youth the fundamentals of baseball in a competitive environment. Beneath this umbrella, FTBA believes that players should be learning and playing the game in a way that is both fun and leads to a lifetime interest in the sport.

As a youth sports organization, FTBA recognizes that the opinions of how to manage a team can span a wide spectrum. It also understands that both players and parents can be negatively impacted if the expectations for any given coach, player and/or team are not met. Since these expectations can be different for everyone, FTBA has created the following “best practices” guidelines for levels of play which will be used to communicate to all parties involved what the expectations should be for each team. We believe that these clearly communicated expectations will further assist parents, players and coaches in the enjoyment of their season.

Each team in our program is placed into one of three categories: 1) Competitive, 2) Fair Play League/ Competitive Tournament and 3) Fair Play. These categories will provide coach, players and parents the guidelines necessary to understand how the team will be run in the areas of player participation (innings), number of positions played, batting order, number of pitchers developed, approach to league and tournament games and more.

Competitive Play: A team participating under the category of “Competitive Play” will be managed by coaches in a manner that best prepares the athletes for their next level of baseball. A competitive team coach will approach each league and tournament game in a manner that gives his/her team the best opportunity to win. However, all parties involved must understand the coaches need to strategize based on in game scenarios and upcoming game plans.

  • Player Participation: The Metro Baseball League and the majority of tournaments that FTBA teams participate in do not provide player participation minimums. Thus for competitive team play, a coach will substitute non starters into the game as needed based on that particular coach’s coaching strategies. However, it should be expected that each player will play a minimum of three innings in the field (exceptions: game shortened due to rule, discipline and attendance issues as defined in our handbook, player injury and player availability for the entire game)
  • Player Position Rotation: Players will not be openly rotated from position to position in games or practices but instead will be designated to 2 to 3 non pitching positions that best help the team. Position players will practice and play games at these 2 to 3 designated positions as determined by the coaches which include 1) OF, 2) Catcher, 3) First Base, 4) Second Base, 5) Short Stop, 6) Third Base.
  • Batting Line-up: In some scenarios, league or tournament rules may require a team bat only 9 players (or 10 if an Extra Hitter is an option). In those cases, the coach will set what he/she believes is the best starting batting line-up for the team. In cases where there are no rule requirements on a batting order, FTBA teams shall bat all players available for the game.
  • Pitchers: Each competitive team shall develop and use in games a minimum of 5 players that fill the role of pitcher. It is up to the competitive teams coach to determine if the team has more than 5 pitchers to develop and use based on talent, depth, number of games, etc.
  • Starting Line-up: Coaches will adjust the line-up throughout the season so each player on the team will have opportunities to start the game both offensively and defensively.
  • Designated Hitter: In some cases game rules allow for the use of designated hitter. FTBA requires that coaches only use the DH in cases where injury or special circumstances warrant such a decision.

Note: If a parent(s) does not wish for their son to participate at this level of play, they should notify FTBA in writing at least 1 week prior to tryouts of the upcoming season.

Fair Play League/Competitive Play Tournament: A team participating under the category of “Fair Play League/Competitive Play” will be managed by coaches using a combination of both the “competitive” and the “fair play” guidelines.

  • League play- coaches will manage in a manner that is similar to that of the guidelines of “Fair Play” listed below during each of the 16 Metro Baseball League regular season games.
  • Tournament play - coaches will manage in a manner that is similar to that of the guidelines of “Competitive Play” listed above in any weekend tournament games, MBL league tournament games or post season tournament games with the exception listed below.
  • Teams participating at this level should have a minimum of 6 pitchers being developed
  • Players will learn and rotate to a variety of different positions in both the infield and outfield during practices and league games.
  • If game rules allow, all players present at a tournament game shall be in the batting line-up and shall play at least 3 innings (exception: game shortened due to rule, discipline and attendance issues as defined in our handbook, player injury, player availability for entire game)

Note: If a parent(s) does not wish for their son to participate at this level or higher, they should notify FTBA in writing at least 1 week prior to tryouts of the upcoming season.