PARENT CODE OF CONDUCT

POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT
     Even at a young age the boys place tremendous pressure on themselves to perform. They also feel pressure from the game situations, teammates, coaches and parents. Stepping up to the plate or onto the rubber in a game especially a moment of great consequence is rarely a teaching moment using verbal instructions. We ask that you please refrain from phrases such as "come on, let's go, be a hitter, we need you right now, just throw strikes" etc. the list can go on and on. Perfection would be cheering and clapping only. We understand that may not be feasible so please try to keep comments positive such as yay "name", looking good.

UMPIRES
     At NO time will parents have ANY communication with umpires. I have only seen 3 calls reversed in competitive baseball in 21 years. The coaches will handle all communication and case presentation when we feel the call was wrong. We will almost always maintain our composure. If you are expecting us to "go off" on umpires you will be disappointed. No comments during the game either such as the big one " good call blue". 99% of the time that just means a really close call or a tie went our way. If you choose to thank an ump or let them know they called a great game please do so after the game. (This does not include giving them a piece of your mind if things didn't go our way.) Even though they are paid sparingly they are volunteers in my eyes and have a tough job and hard calls to make. Umpires deserve our up most respect.

LET THE COACHES COACH
     As a parent of a team member you have entrusted the coaching staff to teach your son the game of baseball. Please refrain from coaching from the stands during practices or games. This only confuses the kids because they don't know who to listen to and will ultimately listen to the parent because there are greater ramifications if they do not listen. Anyone who has ever coached also knows while coaching this absolutely makes your skin crawl. Please work with your son when team activities aren't going on. Please do not come on to the field during practice or games unless asked to do so. In November of 2015 while managing a tournament game a parent yelled four (home) to his son from the stands when the coaches were yelling two (2nd base) because that is where the sure out was and the run was going to score any way. Guess where he threw the ball. Almost over the backstop which than rolled down the first base side so the kid going to third scored and the sure out at second was now on third and a single turned into a double. I know we are all competitive and things can be tense especially in tournament elimination games. You also may not agree with the decision we have made but that is on us and something out of your control. I can guarantee you this will happen a maximum of two times on this team. First will time will be a final warning and second time that parent will be asked to leave.

Playing Time, Defensive Positions, and Batting Order
    In the years to come this will come up with most players at some point. The funny part is that most times it is not the player who is questioning these items. I understand as a parent we have a bit more of a global view of the team and sometimes these discussions need to take place. As coaches we are not perfect and will definitely miss things at some point. Practice and league play will be to develop each player at each position. Tournaments will be competitive and where we will test all the work we have been doing. As coaches we have to field the team we feel will bring us the most success in the tournament. The ultimate goal is to be able to play everyone at every position in a tournament because they have all developed so well.
If you have a question about YOUR players playing time please feel free to speak to me about it. I ask that your son be present during the conversation. We will discuss why the coaching staff has chosen the line up we have, improvements that can be made to the player’s performance, a
plan to help with improvements, and pick a future date to reconvene and see if improvements have been made and adjust the line up if the player has earned a better position in the topic area.


     In conclusion I know this may seem a little harsh but it these are common problems on most teams especially those that are unsuccessful and need to be addressed. As a club we want to lay out as many clear expectations as we can so there are no questions. We need to be a cohesive family. As in most things in life a break down in communication is where things usually start going wrong. I am always open to any questions or concerns. Complaining or criticizing with no actions to fix the problems is just gossip. Many good teams have been have been destroyed by this cancer and many more I'm sure are to follow. Unfortunately it is rarely the kids that cause teams to be discontent or fail.
We will not be “that” team.

Respectfully,
Coach Dennis
8U High Heat Baseball Club