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Geneva Baseball AssociationCoach Responsibilities and Conduct Guidelines03-16-15Managers and coaches are appointed by GBA and must understand at all times they are representing GBA while acting as a coach to the players and parents. Managers must communicate any concerns or complaints from parents or players to their league presidents. The selection process is done by application and will include a voluntary background check. Coaches are selected based on previous experience, feedback (surveys) from parents and participation in programs and clinics. The leagues presidents will review candidates and make recommendations for appointment by the GBA board. If a coach would like to receive feedback of their performance they can contact the leagues president.Responsibilities and Expectations:Always put the player first. Make this an enjoyable and memorable season for them. Coaches must have patience and stress the positives to these young players. Any criticism of a player should be working towards building them up not tearing them down. Players need to feel comfortable that it is okay to try and fail than to be afraid of trying in the first place. It is okay for them to make mistakes as long as they are learning from municate timely to your parents and players regarding expectations, schedules and any other team correspondence. Get help from a coach or parent if necessary to accomplish this.Players should be given opportunities to try all positions if possible, while weighing safety and personal success. If a player is not ready for a certain position, work with them while communicating with the player and their parents. Try rotating more early in the season and tighten up positions as the season progresses especially at the younger levels. This way the players get the opportunities they seek but also learn a few positions really well.Do not leave prior to all players being picked up by their parents from games or practices. Know the rules and follow them. Have a copy of them with you at all the games. Don’t bend or change the rules at game time. If there are any questions or concerns with the rules contact your league president.Plan your practice ahead of time. If possible, let your coaches know what the plans are prior to arriving at practice so that you can make the most of everyone’s time.Encourage your parents and players to let you know ahead of time if they are going to miss or be late for a practice or game.Make sure practice times are appropriate and reasonable for the age group you are coaching. Please consider weather conditions when holding a practice or game.You are allowed and encouraged to add practices for your team if you can find a place. Please keep in mind that players and families may have other activities so please be reasonable with this. You can also practice some prior to or after games if they are willing.Get help with practices so that players are not standing around. Keep them active and involve the parents.Consider dividing up responsibilities between coaches. It is recommended that one coach sit with players who are on the bench and talk to them about the situations and plays happening on the field.Consider meeting with your coaches mid-season to review each player’s progress and come up with a plan of what to work on with them the rest of the season.Sportsmanship and Conduct:Coaches are expected to conduct themselves as role models for these young players.They should always be respectful to players, parents and umpires.There should be no yelling across the field in an intimidating or disrespectful manor. There should not be any abusive language or swearing.Any major disciplining of players should be done in private and parents should be made aware.Never touch a player in an aggressive manor. Avoid any contact unless the contact is instructional and the player appears comfortable with it.Never touch or show aggressive behavior towards an umpire.Any concerns regarding conduct of any players or coaches should be brought to the attention of your league president. This includes any major disciplinary action towards a player.Safety:Always inspect field and practice areas prior to practicing or playing. Report any issues immediately to your league president and/or the Director of Fields.Players must be supervised anytime they are doing an activity including warm-ups. Make sure they have adequate space and that all players are paying attention.Make sure players are adequately warmed-up and warmed-down for games and practices.Safety kits are located in the field boxes. Please let the Director of Field and Equipment know if any supplies are getting low.All batters and runners must be wearing a helmet. Players warming up pitchers must be wearing catcher’s helmets! No exceptions! Spare catcher’s helmets are placed in the field boxes if needed. Catchers must be in full catcher’s gear, including an athletic cup, when a batter is present.On smaller fields the on-deck batter should be on the side behind the current batter. The player should also be positioned away from the dugout opening.Only one player should be on-deck at a time. Other players waiting to go on-deck should not be waiting inside the opponent’s dugout. They should wait outside until it is their turn. They can then move through the opponent’s dugout to get to the on-deck circle if necessary.Please choose an appropriate place to warm-up pitchers so that the pitcher is not throwing into spectators. You may also need to ask spectators to move in order to make room for you that is not too far away from the field.Players should stay in the bench area when not actively warming up or playing. Please report any safety concerns immediately to your league President.Field Care and Etiquette:The home team is responsible (does not mean visitor team can’t help) for any final preparation to the field prior to the game and putting the field to “bed” after games. This includes raking in all low spots around the mound, plate area and bases and using some water to pack them down. This will go a long way to keep our fields in good shape for the season. Get players involved if they are an appropriate age. Any infractions of this should be reported to your league president.Please have players refrain from digging on the mound, plate area and in the fields. Teach them to fill them in instead. Convey to them to take pride in our fields.If possible, periodically quickly repair the mound between innings. Packing the dirt along with a little water can go a long way to keeping the mound in good condition throughout the game.Early in the spring season, prior to practices, take a few minutes to have players collect rocks from the fields. Line the players up in a line and walk across the field and place the rocks in their gloves. Only takes a few minutes. Place rocks in a pile by the field boxes for GPD to pick up.After your game or practice, if the next team has not shown up yet, please replace all bases and equipment into the field box and lock it. Do not assume there is another scheduled game or practice after yours. Once again, put the field to bed by filling in low spots on the mound, bases and plate areas.Rain soaked fields should not be played on. Field Conditioner in limited amounts may be applied to the field when rain may have occurred during the game.Hitting or throwing baseballs into the fences for warm-up practice is not allowed. This practice damages our fences and can create unsafe conditions for our players! This practice will not be tolerated.If a field is prepped for a game and you are not the next game on that field then please stay off of that field unless you plan to rake and re-chalk the field after you are done. You must allow time for this though. If the next teams starts showing up, immediately remove your players from the field and begin re-preparing the field.Unless otherwise specified by your league president -Home team takes 3rd base dugout for regular season gamesUpper bracket takes 3rd base dugout for tournament gamesIf the field is open prior to a game, infield practice can commence 30 minutes prior to game time. The team with the most players generally should take the field first or refer to the rules.If the field is open prior to your game, you may take batting practice up until 30 minutes prior to game time. If both teams would like BP then work it out together. You should stop batting practice 30 minutes prior to the game to allow for infield practice.Please keep spectators away from directly behind the backstop so as to not distract the pitcher. Also please keep spectators outside the fence line down the lines. Please clean out the dugout and remove all trash as soon as your game is over. Have the players assist with this.Do your post game talks off of the field if other teams are waiting for the field.For lighted fields, please check with your league president for protocols for getting lights turned on.Do not contact the Geneva Park District directly. Any communications regarding fields should go through the Director of Fields or the GBA Commissioner.Game Etiquette:Please ask spectators, coaches, and players to refrain from saying anything derogatory about the other team or players. Some examples are: “He’s not going to swing!”, “You can strike him out!”, “You can hit that pitcher!”, “He’s going to drop it!”. Praising your own players to encouraged, but not at the expense of the other players and team. Please try to remember their feelings as well. Please ask spectators, coaches, and players to refrain from saying anything to the umpire. If there is a question about a call, it should be calmly discussed between the Managers and the umpire. Not from across the field or by others.Please have base coaches refrain from making calls or safe/out gestures at bases so that they do not sway the umpire’s calls. Let the umpires call the games as they see it.While it is okay for players to root their fellow players on and to even chant, players and coaches should refrain from making any loud or distracting noises or actions from the time the pitcher becomes set and through the completion of the pitch to the batter/catcher.In Mustang and above, please have your lineup ready to exchange with your opponent. It should have both the players name and number listed.Please have pitchers warmed up prior to their turn pitching. Have parents help if necessary. The pitchers should only have to take a few warm-up pitches at the start of an inning. This helps keep the games moving so that games can be completed timely.Please replace catchers on-base with 2 outs so that they can be ready when the team takes the field. Have a coach or parent help them get ready. Keep the game moving.When a team obtains a big lead on another team and the slaughter rule does not apply yet, please use common sense in having players not steal and advance on overthrows and so on. REMEMBER, THEY ARE ONLY KIDS AND THIS IS ONLY A GAME!!!. ................
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