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posted 01/10/2010 As the spring baseball and softball seasons approach us, I thought it was worthwhile to remind our participants of the goals of CCYBS and how we are going forward to achieve them.
The CCYBS Program has five main goals:
• To teach children of Concord-Carlisle sportsmanship, teamwork and respect for athletic competition.
• To create an environment where children of all abilities learn and enjoy the games of baseball and softball.
• To provide qualified instruction, at all levels, to help children improve their abilities and interest in the games.
• To continue to increase the competiveness of CCYBS teams which participate in regional leagues and tournaments.
• To be a feeder program for the middle and high school baseball and softball programs by teaching, where practical, fundamentals and strategies which are consistent with those programs.
To accomplish these goals we are focusing our efforts on player and coach development. Specifically,
• We are building on the coaching clinics we started last spring by educating coaches on how best to instruct children of all ages on all aspects of the game. To achieve this we are bringing in John Kelley, the CCHS Varsity Baseball coach, and Lisa McGloin, the Varsity CCHS Softball Coach, and their players, as well as coaches from outside the program to run preseason instructional clinics.
• The CCYBS Board is encouraging all of its baseball coaches to attend a Cal Ripken preseason instructional clinic in February. To help drive attendance, CCYBS is covering half the cost of these sessions.
• This spring, CCYBS will again offer a coaching clinic run by Lisa McGloin. All prospective softball coaches are strongly encouraged to attend. In addition, Joslyn Higgins and Lisa McGloin have developed a detailed coaching guide for softball entitled "Coaches Packet - Skills, Drills and Tips.” This guide is available on the CCYBS website.
• The spring 2010 baseball season is being extended two weeks to include a formal pre-season. This pre-season will focus on player development and will include umpired games that do not count in league standings. This will allow children to learn the finer aspects of the game, at all age levels, before more competitive games begin.
• Last fall, for the first time, we participated in a fall recreational league to allow children the ability to play within the CCYBS program from April through October. This program was focused on instruction, with all teams at the lower age participating in weekly player development programs, run by the high school baseball coach, as well as outside instructors.
• We are strengthening our partnership with the local Cal Ripken Baseball chapter to better utilize their tools for player and coach development. In addition, we are using the Cal Ripken organization to provide a competitive league for our select summer baseball teams.
• We are continuing our Fall Step up-league for 12 – 13 year old boys who plan to move to the big diamond in the spring. This is an instructional league, to the point, where games are stopped to educate players of both teams on the finer details of the game at the competitive level.
• To provide children better access to local training facilities in the off-season, we have begun to partner with local training clinics to provide discounts to CCYBS participants.
We continue to work on all aspects of the program and value your input. In addition, we need parents to help at all levels. We have a number of administrative roles which need to be filled. If you are interested in assisting at this level please contact me
.
I look forward to the upcoming spring season and to the continued improvement of CCYBS.
Ralph Verrilli
President, CCYBS
