Thoughts for PARENTS...

Parents,

In an effort to be transparent and to help education all of you in how the SOX Program operates and the philosophy behind it, I want to make available to you some of our internal interaction from time to time. Sometimes I think many of you don't know what all goes on behind the scenes to make this program a success. We have a lot of moving parts and making them all sync is a huge challenge. So, I have included below a copy of some internal communication between me, coaches, and team managers. Hopefully some of this transparancy will help you see the effort and thought process that goes on below the surface.

Thanks for your support of the SOX Program. You have made the RIGHT decision to be here.
Terry

Coaches,


As I inch my way along in trying to make adjustments to do my job in a way to best meet the vision (evaluation and instruction) of our program, there are a few things I will do differently this year. They are:

· Monitor pitch counts in tournament play
· Monitor innings played in tournament play
These 2 things will allow me to identify players who are struggling and interact with you to help elevate their performance. To do this, I need your Tournament Reports each week by Tuesday

· Monitor semi-disasters
For example: in a tournament, your team goes 0-3 and gives up 55 runs and scores 6. Or: in a tournament, your pitchers walk 52 batters in 4 games. Meet with you individually when some of these things occur

· Meet with you on a regular basis to get your input and for all of us to help each other
· Meet with TM’s on a regular basis for the same reason
My thought/philosophy on how to structure the program is for us (Me, You, and TM) to have enough interaction so that we all have a clear understanding of how the program operates and expectations. And so, we are ONE voice in working/interacting with parents regarding any and all questions that may arise

· Work with you to set up workouts (customized / individual) to help fix identified weaknesses of individual players and teams. This should be done during November / December

· Work with you to continually evaluate your team needs throughout the season

· See all teams play early in the spring, but focus on teams that are struggling

· Hold us all accountable for:
1) Player development/improvement
2) Individualized instruction to meet the needs of each player
3) Team instruction
4) Player and parent expectations
5) WINNING! Yes, winning is important (although not the most important factor)
In order of importance:
     Evaluation
     Instruction
     Expectations
     Winning (winning is a by-product of the first 3)

BASIC FOUNDATIONAL THOUGHT…we (me, you, TM) work as a TEAM, to meet our expectations and goals…and, we are all accountable (to God, to the program, to each other, to our players, and to our parents.

Just some information to help us all filter into the system and our roles. Don’t forget our mandatory meeting Nov. 2. In this meeting, I will lay out the thought process behind the WHOLE program.

Thanks for all you do…I believe we have some outstanding coaches (and TM’s) and look forward to working with you.