Gresham Little League: Coaches & Managers
Gresham Little League teams are managed and coached by volunteers, typically parents of players. Every team, from T-Ball through Majors, needs 1 manager and at least 1-2 assistant coaches.
The GLL President appoints all managers and coaches, subject to ratification by GLL Board Members. There is no seniority or tenure in serving as a manager or coach year to year.
Guidelines
Managers and coaches must provide a positive role model for all players. Please read and become familiar with the league's local rules for your division, codes of conduct, parent handbook, and saftey codes. Also, all managers and coaches must submit a National Volunteer Form prior to the season. Here is the LINK to go to the form.
Team Administration
Managing a Little League typically begins with a parent meeting. Hold a parent meeting prior to your first practice to set proper expectations and cover logistics. Each parent needs to sign on for volunteer duties during the season. Some of the positions needed to ensure your team functions smoothly are:
TEAM PARENT
The Team Parent is the liaison between the Manager and the team parents and allows the Manager and Coaches to better focus on leading the ballplayers. Each team needs one parent to help the coaches coordinate activities and communicate updates. This is a great way to get to know all the families on the team! Responsibilities of the Team Parent include:
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Assist Manager/Coach with preparing and distributing a team roster, complete with phone numbers and email addresses.
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Assist Manager/Coach with preparing and distributing schedules to parents (i.e., scheduling post-game snacks, scorekeeping duty, etc.)
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Stay in constant communication with the parents about things they need to know (rainouts, reschedules, photos, team party, money owed).
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Encourage sportsmanship.
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OPTIONAL: Plan a team party at the end of the season. This can be held at a local restaurant or at someone’s house.
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OPTIONAL: Plan and purchase manager/coach appreciation gifts. Purchase and present player trophies or other mementoes at the team party.
* Note that some managers may elect to handle some of these duties themselves
CONCESSIONS COORDINATOR:
Scheduling parent/teen volunteers to help work the Concession Stand. The Concessions coordinator will receive the concessions schedule from the manager/coach and you will need to insert parents from your team into the dates that your team is scheduled to perform concessions duties. An easy way to do this is to list the dates on a sheet of paper and have parents sign up at a practice or send it via email and have parents sign up for the date that is most convenient for them. If you have parents who have not signed up, put them into a date and then send them an email or give them the copy and ask if they have a conflict. Team parent, and coaches and managers should not have to perform concessions duty but can if you do not have enough volunteers.
FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR: The league has many ways in which to raise money with fundraising being an extremely important component. The money raised is spent on maintaining the fields, scholarships for players, uniforms, etc.. The fundraiser coordinator is a parent who picks up the fundraising product from the fundraising director (usually on picture day). This parent will distribute the product to all the players and at the end of the fundraiser they collect the money from the parents and turn it into the league.
FIELD HELP:
To allow coaches and managers to prepare the kids for the game and to talk to the kids after the game, parents are needed to assist in preparing and breaking down the fields. Before every game the fields need to be checked for rocks or other debris, raked, foul lines need to be chalked/painted, base paths and batters boxes chalked/painted (Farms, Minors, Majors). Bases need to be placed on the fields and in Farms cones need to be placed on the fields. Any parent on the team can assist with field work.
UMPIRES:
In Farms, Minors and Majors strikes, balls and outs are called. Each umpire is a volunteer. There is mandatory umpiring training each year. For more information on umpiring click on this link.
Tools and Tips
Managing a Little League team requires organization. Field practices, batting cage time, and game preparation are all part of delivering a quality experience to the kids. Below are some resources that may help you in managing or coaching your Gresham Little League team.
