VFW Parents and Players,
VFW Baseball has always been something I've looked forward to on a yearly basis and continue to be very committed to another summer of baseball. My VFW coaches in Austin (Coach Leathers and Coach Dolan) 22 + years ago provided a great experience for me as a player and it’s my goal to do the same for our players today. We will work hard, will play well, and will have FUN. I plan on coaching both teams as much as possible and will have excellent assistants that will help us throughout the season. There will be games/practices that I will not be able to attend due to family obligations and other potential conflicts. Overall, we are going to do the best we can to accommodate our players and provide an excellent baseball environment that promotes player development and continues to build our baseball culture in Owatonna.
Once again, we will have two teams this year that has addressed a few problems we have had in the past. We continued this format for the following reasons in this order: 1) Level of instruction – we needed an improvement at the 9th grade or U15 level (summer). We want to be able to provide the instruction that we feel is necessary to improve as a team and baseball program. 2) Allowing 3 – 4, 9th graders to play up in the old system of VFW baseball hurt the U15 team and our baseball program. We want our boys to stay together and improve as a grade/team without sacrificing a group of players.
In closing, our local VFW Post 3723 continues to be a great supporter of baseball and we appreciate their service and commitment to our youth. All of us are very excited for another summer of VFW Baseball! Below you will find a number of expectations regarding our schedule, help needed, and guidelines used throughout the summer. If you have any questions, please email or call.
Yours in Baseball,
Coach Cummins
GAME SCHEDULE
Please print a copy of the game schedule. Within your schedule, mark dates that you will miss for your team (VFW 9 or VFW 10). In the top corner, list your name.
After schedules have been collected – they will be tallied to ensure we have proper numbers to competitively field a team. If we have any issues, players will be notified by Sunday, May 29th. For instance, all 10th grade players decide to go on the same trip. This will be discussed and resolved.
The VFW 9 and VFW 10 games are all marked accordingly on our schedule. We DO NOT expect players to attend both games of a day or night double header. Players are expected to arrive at the time posted in the description of the game for batting practice or expected to arrive at the time for departure at Dartt's Park. Example: VFW 10 is scheduled for a 5:00 PM game. Players arrive at 3:15 for batting practice, play the game, and then can leave or stay and watch the next game. VFW 9 IS NOT expected to be at the ballpark until their batting practice begins. We will respect the time of all players and families within our VFW program.
PRACTICE SCHEDULE
All VFW players are expected to attend practices. Practice times will be set in the best interest of all players and 90% of them have evolved into small group or 1:1 practice sessions. This has worked very well and has accommodated our athletes that ability to attend other activities or programs. Please note: individual and small group practice will be critical to our overall development. Full team practice prior to our District tournament has been very important and players should make plans necessary to attend these events.
Open practice will also occur on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of each week. Open practice is just that - a time when players can come down to Dartt's Park and work together on developing their skills. Typically, the ballpark will be open from 9:30 AM - 1:00 PM. There will be times that we practice as a large group or smaller groups to focus on one area of play (bullpens, infield work, hitting, etc.).
PARENT HELP - VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for two parent reps (VFW 9 and VFW 10) that would be willing to assist us in a few areas: concession stand, scoreboard, music operator, food coordinator for DH’s, travel assistance, etc. It is expected that each set of parents can work at least one game in our concession stand this summer. We plan on sending out a google document with signup responsibilities at the end of May. If you are interested in becoming a parent rep, please send Coach Cummins an email at your earliest convenience. Your help is greatly appreciated.
SUMMER EXPECTATIONS & GUIDELINES