Ideas needed

[nksoftball]

Hey everyone -

I just ran across this site and think that its a great resource. I am starting my first year as head varsity coach for a program that has never been very good in the past. In fact, they had 13 girls go out TOTAL in grades 8-12. There weren't even enough for a JV team.

Part of the success problem is that there really isn't much of a feeder program or structure at the younger age groups. One of the first things that I am doing is setting up a softball clinic that meets on Wednesdays for girls in grades 3-7. I am doing this in hopes that it gets them excited for softball, they get to meet me and my staff, they will learn about softball, and they will also be part of the high school program.

As part of them signing up for the camp/clinic, I am thinking of having them be a part of the "Jr. Softball Kids Club" or something like that. Right now I am trying to figure out some sort of benefits like:

- Free t-shirt
- Get a chance to be the batgirl at a game
- Special invite to the high school practices

That's about all I can figure out right now. Do any of you have any ideas that you think might work good to use as a benefit for the club? What do you think about the club idea?

Thanks for your help and ideas in advance!

[Broke Dad]

A Booster club idea is good and the T-Shirt idea is good also because it advertises the softball program. The clinics are definately a worthy idea but you're not going to be able to do enough of them to really develop the girls. However, the more interest and excitement you generate for the sport, the more involvement and motivation there will be for participation. On that note, I think you should contact whatever Little Leagues fall in your school district (hopefully they have a softball program) and offer to do coaches clinics as well. Bring your top players to do demonstrations at the coach's clinics (the coach's are dads and will surely be impressed). They'll also learn how to teach the girls how to cath, field and throw and they'll be a big payooff for you down the road. That happens to be exactly how I became interested in Fastpitch several years ago and got my daughter involved. She's now an excellent travel ball player and I expect will be playing varsity by 9th or 10th grade. Good luck and remember you can't do it all yourself. Get the LL and parents interested a pipeline will develop before too long.

[Kat]

make sure you wont be violating any rules of contact with the older girls. The last thing you want to do it is to start things going and find your program is in trouble because of a rules violation. Asking your AD should solve that problem.

[katjoebenmom]

nksoftball---just wanted to say kudos on being proactive setting up a feeder program (it will definitely pay off in a few years).

Also, great idea getting the younger girls some time with the highschool players (there's nothing they like better than the chance to hang out with the "big gurlz".

Best of luck, kjbm

[Tucson]

Make sure that they have a softball.

Maybe you could get some donations of bats or gloves and do a drawing for a winner.

Could the older girl's be mentors for the younger girls?

Teach them to pitch.

[nksoftball]

make sure you wont be violating any rules of contact with the older girls. The last thing you want to do it is to start things going and find your program is in trouble because of a rules violation. Asking your AD should solve that problem.

That's the good thing about this, there is no violation of contact rules because I will be working with girls in 3rd - 6th grade.

[nksoftball]

A Booster club idea is good and the T-Shirt idea is good also because it advertises the softball program. The clinics are definately a worthy idea but you're not going to be able to do enough of them to really develop the girls. However, the more interest and excitement you generate for the sport, the more involvement and motivation there will be for participation. On that note, I think you should contact whatever Little Leagues fall in your school district (hopefully they have a softball program) and offer to do coaches clinics as well. Bring your top players to do demonstrations at the coach's clinics (the coach's are dads and will surely be impressed). They'll also learn how to teach the girls how to cath, field and throw and they'll be a big payooff for you down the road. That happens to be exactly how I became interested in Fastpitch several years ago and got my daughter involved. She's now an excellent travel ball player and I expect will be playing varsity by 9th or 10th grade. Good luck and remember you can't do it all yourself. Get the LL and parents interested a pipeline will develop before too long.

Let me start it off this way....this is not about learning softball skills.

Yes, they will learn some while they are here, but you hit the nail on the head. You get them excited about the program while they are young. You develop the rapport and relationships with them and their family. That's a lot of what I am trying to achieve. It's one of the major things that needs to be done in order to turn this thing around. It's pretty sad when you only have 13 out of 150 or so girls going out for softball.

Brokedad - thanks for seeing a similar vision as to what I am seeing for this whole camp/clinic.

[nksoftball]

nksoftball---just wanted to say kudos on being proactive setting up a feeder program (it will definitely pay off in a few years).

Also, great idea getting the younger girls some time with the highschool players (there's nothing they like better than the chance to hang out with the "big gurlz".

Best of luck, kjbm

Thanks for the compliment. This isn't a get-rich-quick type of game, but long-term I hope that it pays off with building interest and excitement in the program.

This isn't even my best idea yet! I am planning (pending school administration approval) to have an overnighter at the school where the big girls team up with the little girls and we do some fun activities, movies, games, etc. This is of course after a Friday night game (with no game or tourney on Sat.). So the girls would meet up at the Friday night game and then go to the overnighter from there.

[nksoftball]

Make sure that they have a softball.

Maybe you could get some donations of bats or gloves and do a drawing for a winner.

Could the older girl's be mentors for the younger girls?

Teach them to pitch.

Good idea on the donations.

Starting at the beginning of March I am going to spend an hour on Sundays working with any girl grade 3-7 that wants to be a pitcher/catcher. After that I will work with my older high school girls as usual for an hour. Yes, its double the time, but I think longterm it will pay off.

[Cannonball]

When I came to my present school as a head coach, the previous coach had averaged about 16 wins a year. The coach before him averaged about 12 wins a year. To be blunt, not a baseball school. We started holding 3 camps. Fundamentals camp, Advanced Hitting Camp, and our winter program. We didn't charge much for the clinics, always made sure we gave out t-shirts and tried to get a donated attendance prize or two. From there we instituted a feeder program called "Thunder." We coach the coaches in the program in "mandatory coaching clinics." We run 5 teams in our winter program now at different age levels and they come for two hour units. We do this for 24 Sundays in the winter. One team is in our auxillary gym fielding and pitching. The other is hitting in our 14 station set up. At the conclusion of an hour, they switch. Every two hours we switch. On that last switch, we've always made room for the fastpitch team my dd played on. By the time players enter HS, we know them all by name. While the money paid isn't significant, I've never taken a dime. That has allowed us to buy equipment. We now have more equipment and facilities than most colleges. We are now considered a force in our area in baseball, average winning 24 a year, play in a very exclusive invitational tournament and have won more regional and sectional titles than anyone else in school history. I believe that this is the right way to go and would not change a thing. JMHO!