PBSF Team Planning Guide

Introduction to Team Planning

A baseball season demands lots of coordination by every team to run smoothly. The Team Planning Guide is intended to provide each team a helpful framework for planning and implementing a well-organized season.

This Guide includes a recommended agenda for a successful pre-season meeting, the essential team jobs expected of parents, and a checklist of recommended tasks for the key position of Team Administrator.

UPDATED! A sample "coaches kit" of document templates for lineups, team meetings, rosters plus links to resources online.

Pre-season Meeting

Once teams are selected, it is the head coach’s responsibility to promptly schedule a pre-season meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to make sure that parents understand that they are as important to the success of the team as their players and to begin planning the season. Representation from each team family is mandatory. Coaches should schedule the meeting with ample lead-time to assure a full turnout.

A recommended agenda for this meeting is as follows:

  1. Review League Philosophy, Guidelines, and Expectations
  2. Discuss practice and game guidelines and review basic division rules
  3. Review equipment requirements
  4. Assign volunteers for team jobs
  5. Establish a line of communication. There are numerous communications required throughout season, including the need for last minute messages (rain outs, changes in schedules, etc.). Parents should be asked to check email regularly throughout season, including weekends. If anyone does not have email access or weekend email access, an alternative will be needed. Phone trees or other methods of quickly communicating last minute messages should be discussed.
  6. Collect complete contact information. The Team Administrator will use this to create a roster.

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Team Jobs

The following job listing illustrates the degree of parental involvement needed throughout the season.

Appointed Jobs at Beginning of Season:

  • Team Administrator—Refer to the Team Administrator Checklist for a list of the responsibilities. The TA must be comfortable with basic computer skills such as email, word processing, and simple data entry within a spreadsheet.
  • Scorekeeper(s)—Maintain the scorebook (and pay close attention) during games. No previous experience required; it is easy to learn as long as you have a basic understanding of the rules of baseball. There are many good websites that clearly explain how to keep score. Note: The scorekeeper needs to pay close attention to the game.
  • Publicity Parent(s)—Submit game information to the PBF-designated journalist after each game. The journalist uses this information to submit stories to the Piedmont Post and the Piedmonter. Refer to TEAM PUBLICITY PROCEDURES for more information.
  • Jersey Coordinator—Distribute jerseys to each player and collect all jerseys at the end of the season. You should maintain a log to ensure all jerseys are accounted for.
  • A's Night Coordinator Team liaison to league for the A's night fundraiser. Responsibilities include collecting ticket order forms from team families, distributing tickets, and helping to organize the pre-game tailgater.
  • Yearbook Coordinator Each team is responsible for creating a page for the PBSF annual yearbook. If you are a creative person, this fun jjob is for you. You have complete artistic license to create your team's page. For ideas, you may want to peruse last year's publication.
  • Community Service Coordinator Coordinate small community service project for your team under League direction.
  • Awards/Party Planners—Traditionally, PBF teams hold an end-of-season party. Try to schedule the party as well in advance as possible. Talk to coaches and parents for ideas. At the party, trophies and coaches gifts are awarded. Trophies can be ordered at Golden State Awards, 4239 Piedmont Avenue or a similar store. They usually take less than a week to make, and cost about $10 each. Verify proper spelling of names with parents before ordering trophies. Additionally, we encourage teams to have some sort of season kick-off, like a post-game potluck at the field, so the players and families can get to know each other early in the season.

Rotated Jobs:

  • Field Prep—Prepare the field for play before each “home” game. The job takes two people at least 30 to 40 minutes for most fields. Plan on completing this job at least 20 minutes before game time so the teams can “take infield.”
  • Snack Duty—Bring ample water and an easy-to-eat snack (sliced fruit, sunflower seeds, bread, etc.) for the dugout during the game, and a snack and drink for after the game.
  • Carpool—Driving to and from out of town practices and to out-of-town games. (It is at the discretion of each coach to be included in carpool coverage.) Carpools meet at the parking lot in front of the Community Center on Highland Ave, within Piedmont Park.

Ongoing Jobs:

  • Coaching Assistants—Assist coaches with running practices and games whenever possible. More parents helping make for more productive practices and easier games.
  • Rooting Section—Come on out to the games and cheer your team on!

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Team Administrator Checklist

The Team Administrator is an integral component to a well-run team. It is imperative that the Team Administrator is comfortable with basic computer skills such as email, word processing, and simple data entry within a spreadsheet.

Note: Use your TeamSnap site to send automatic email reminders, create a team calendar, and upload documents and photos. The league will provide you with the login details.

This checklist is intended to define the job’s key responsibilities while providing the Team Administrator with a useful tool to help facilitate a smooth season.

  1. Create a Team Roster. Have parents complete contact information from each family. Information includes: names of parents and/or guardians (parent 1, parent 2), home address, phone numbers (home, business, cell), and emails (multiple when available).
  2. Send out a group email and ask for a reply to validate all addresses.
  3. Send out a group email that includes:
    • A listing of volunteers as discussed at the team meeting.
    • A reiteration of the team communication procedure determined at the team meeting.
    • A phone tree (when needed).

Schedule Preparation—Ask parents, via TeamSnap email, for:

  • Dates during season that they may be unavailable. These should be entered in the Availability tab for your team.
  • Number of players they can accommodate for carpool duty. Use the refreshments tab, then choose a player and enter "3 players" in the "bringing"field.
  • Volunteers for field preparation.
  • The Coaches will provide you with a practice schedule and a game schedule when available on TeamSnap.
  • Using the information you received back from parents regarding which days they could/could not drive, slot parents for roughly the same number of each type of job on the schedule. If you have two or three parents driving on a given day, try to assign them field prep and snack as well to keep things simple. Also, team up inexperienced field “prepers” with experienced partners.
  • Send updated schedules when appropriate. If contact information changes throughout the season, resend as well using TeamSnap

Reminders—Set Teamsnap to send a reminder 1 day before each game to all families about game information, associated responsibilities, and any other information the coaches may want to communicate.

Update Changes—Expect numerous changes to the schedule during the season.

If a game is canceled and then rescheduled, cancel the orginial game in Teamsap (cancel, don't delete) then create a new game for the makeup.

Sample Documents

FIGURE 1—Example Team Schedule

PIEDMONT HIGHLANDERS

PRACTICE AND GAME SCHEDULE

Updated April 15
Date Event Time Location Carpool Snack Field Prep
April 28 Practice 4:00 Wagner Ranch Lincoln

Moore

Washington

 N/A N/A
May 1 Game 1:00 Del Ray Jones

Smith

Wilson

 Smith N/A
May 2 Game 10:00 am Coaches Field N/A Jackson Jones

Butler
May 4 Practice 4:00 Wagner Ranch Jackson

Lennon

McCartney

 N/A N/A

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TEAM PUBLICITY PROCEDURES

Players love seeing their name in the paper; the time spent by parents to make this happen is well worth it!

PBF commissions a high school student each year to consolidate all team write-ups into one large article that the student forwards to the two local papers (Piedmont Post and Piedmonter) every Sunday night during baseball season. Use the game publicity form on the site.

Team publicity people are asked to follow the following procedures:

  1. As soon as possible after each game, create a brief write-up of the game highlights. Try to include as many player names (from your team) as you can.
  2. Submit the write-up using the PBSF Game Publicity form by Sunday, 8:00 p.m., and include the following information:
    • Team Name
    • Division (i.e., Shetland, Pinto, etc.)
    • Opponent Town and Team Name (e.g. Orinda Yankees)
    • Game Date
    • Game Location
    • Highlights

Throughout the course of the season, make sure you include every player’s name a few times.