Make Sure Your Youth Baseball Pre-Season Meeting Covers These 5 Things
It might sound a bit crazy to parents who are new to the scene, but a comprehensive baseball pre-season meeting for parents and players should absolutely be part of the equation. Even for a 7u rec team.
Here’s why: Setting clear expectations is crucial to team chemistry and viability.
I recommend pre-season meetings cover, at minimum, these 5 things:
Practice & Game Policy: How early should you arrive? What is the procedure if you need to miss a practice or a game? What are the penalties for habitual lateness or frequent absences?
Parent Behavior Policy: Many teams employ the 24 hour rule which mandates a cooling off period of 24 hours before a parent can speak with a coach about something that happened in the game that they didn’t like (most often this involves playing time…). In addition, parent behavior towards umpires is at an all time low. Organizations get penalized by tournament organizers for harassing their umpires. I’ve seen teams permanently banned, parents banned, players banned, all because of mouthing off to an umpire. There should be a team/organizational parent contract and player contract that are signed at the beginning of each season, outlining all the guidelines and consequences for not adhering to the rules.
Fundraising Expectations: Not all teams will have this, but if yours does, be sure to have clear knowledge of what you’re responsible for before the season starts and know how the money will be allocated. Some programs apply it to individual players, some spread it out across the team.
Paperwork and Documentation: Many tournaments have gone digital, lessening the need for the coach to have the binder of birth certificates in his/her bag at the ready, but you should still take this pre-season time to make sure you have what you need as far as birth certificates, insurance information, or anything else that may need your attention. This way you’re not scrambling at 6am on a Saturday morning for a copy of your child’s birth certificate.
Policy on Playing for More than One Team: This is a whole blog post in itself, but many players will play for a rec and a travel team at the same time. Or even a town travel team and a club team at the same time. Know your coach’s stance on this before registering and talk with both squads about how to handle things like pitch count and which team takes precedent when both have a game on the same day. This is super super important!
Getting in front of these things pays dividends in the long run and allows you and your family to feel less overwhelmed throughout the season.
Here’s to a great 2024!