Coaches To-Do List:

** Softball team volunteers - 10U and older -  (Coaches, Asst Coaches and Team Managers) will get similar instructions to do this on MN Softball's and Tri-County's websites.  Below is for Little League volunteers.

**** 8U softball is considered Little League and must follow directions shown here. 

Most Critical:

1. Complete criminal background check.
2. Complete concussion training and upload completion certificate to your profile on this website.
3. Complete Little League Abuse Awareness Training and upload completion certificate to your profile on this website.

Who Needs What:
Coaches - Shown above.  All three things are required
Asst Coaches - NAMED ASST COACHES - those on the bench for games.  Need all three just like head coach.
Practice Helpers - They need to be signed up as asst coaches but just background checks.
Team Manager / Team Parent - Needs to be signed up as team manager and must do background check and Little League Abuse Awareness

Also:

• Go to your team site, found in 'Team Central' and email your team with introductions and initial communications.
• Pick your assistant coaches and get them to sign up as a volunteer as an 'Assistant Coach'.  Have them email the office and let us know which team to assign them to.  Remember to remind us what level (i.e. T-Ball) and team as we may have several Red teams across the league.
• Pick a team manager to help you with non coaching items.  While not required, we recommend another family  just to spread the effort out.  However a spouse or other family member is fine.  Similar to above, have them sign up as a 'Team Manager' and email the office so we can assign to the team.
• Set up gamechanger - see directions below

Coaches are required to complete the following:
** Softball team volunteers (Coaches, Asst Coaches and Team Managers) will get similar instructions to do this on MN Softball's and Tri-County's websites.  Below is for Little League volunteers.  

Criminal Background Check

Within a few days of registering as a volunteer you will receive an email to perform your background check.  Click the link in the email and follow the directions.   This should take about 60 seconds at most.  The results we be kept confidential and secure with JD Palantine and we will review and approve.  No further effort is need for the background check unless we need to speak with you, BUT YOU STILL MUST COMPLETE the Concussion Training every three years and Little League Abuse Awareness training EVERY YEAR.

Little League International requires a nationwide criminal background check every year for Little League volunteer.  Softball coaches are also required to complete this but through our softball side and with Minnesota Softball and Tri-County Softball.  Softball coaches will receive specific instructions as we near the start of the season for all requirements from our league administrator.

Little League partners with JD Palentine for nationwide criminal background checks. Any criminal offenses regarding minors is disqualifying for any role in Little League.  Background checks will be initiated by the league via email after the volunteer has signed up on our website.  Team managers will also be required to have a criminal background check.  

Concussion Training

The state of MN requires you to complete a concussion training course every three years .  Softball coaches will also require similar training and will be instructed separately on how to do so with Minnesota Softball.   Expect this training to take 30 minutes.

Complete the training in the link above, copy your completion certificate and upload the file in your user profile on this site.  We will accept any concussion training certificate you may have completed with other sports associations.  Please be aware, while your certificate is good for three calendar years, we need a copy uploaded EVERY YEAR.

Little League Abuse Awareness Training

Complete Little League's Abuse Awareness Training and upload your certificate of completion in your user profile on this site every year.  We will NOT accept any other form of abuse training.  SafeSport completion, while similar in content, will not be accepted.  Please complete our little league training.  Expect it to take one hour.

GameChanger

Gamechanger is the mobile app used in connection with our platform Sports Connect.  This is a very powerful app but from a third party and thus needs to be used a certain way to make it most useful.

A key concept is to think of data flow as a one way street.  Data flows from our league site down onto Gamechanger.  Data does not flow the other way.  This is important to know because all the contact info for the entire roster will correctly be brought into Gamechanger if you follow the following process:

1. Make sure you have been signed up on our website as a Coach, Asst Coach or Team Manager.
2. Insure the office has assigned you to the right team.
3. Make sure your team roster is correct, and update your schedule on the website with practices and games so that all of these will flow into gamechanger.  Any changes to your schedule or roster, and you can update GameChanger with a synchronization.
4. Log into Gamechanger with the same username as you do on our website and your team will be awaiting you.
   1. Tap Create Team or the "+" sign to create a new team.
   2. Choose the option to Import Sports Connect.
   3. If you haven't already confirmed your email address, click Open Email App which will direct you to your email. Select Confirm Email Address, and you'll be redirected back to the GameChanger app.
   4. Select the team(s) to import. Make sure the team(s) you want to import have a check next to them, and then tap import in the upper corner of the screen. You will see the status of teams importing at the bottom of the screen. 

Note:

• Any updates made to your schedule or roster will automatically update to the GameChanger GameChanger app. However, events that are listed as "Rescheduled" or "Postponed" on Sports Connect will not appear in GameChanger. You can manually trigger a schedule reimport via these steps.
• Results from games scored in GameChanger will not appear on Sports Connect. Please make sure to head into the GameChanger app to view results (or, if you've created an Organization, you can try our Scoreboard Widget feature to show those results elsewhere).

References:

1. Importing your team from Sports Connect
2. GameChanger Help Center