Introduction

Congratulations on being appointed a tournament manager for Moon Township Little League Baseball. The tournament season is often the highlight of the players’ summer. It is a time when the players get a chance to make new friends, learn a lot about baseball and learn about themselves while playing their favorite game. As a manager it is your job to help them on this endeavor. We have prepared this manual as a guide to help you enjoy the tournament season as much as your players.

The objective of the tournament manager is to further develop player skills through advanced training, practicing, and competitive playing. The manager will also further develop sportsmanship and proper behavior among his players, coaches, and parents. The tournament team is now a representative of both Moon Little League Baseball, Inc. and Moon Township, PA.

For first time managers this can seem like a daunting task. It is our intention to help you keep organized by offering pointers in several of the key tasks you are going to face.

We’ve broken the manual down to several critical areas. They are as follows:

1.  Team Selection

2.  Uniform Selection

3.  Mandatory Meetings

4.  Hosting a Tournament

5.  Tournament Director

6.  Concession Coordinator

7.  Tournament Selection

8.  Sportsmanship Policy

In addition to these topics we’ve included several handouts to help you stay organized.

1.  2011 Baseball Board Contact List

2.  2011 Concession Board Contact List

3.  2011 Concession Worker Contact List

4.  Check Requisition Forms-Umpire Money and Tournament Reimbursement

5.  Sample Uniform Order sheet

6.  Sample Tournament Brackets and Umpire Cost Reference Sheet

7.  Umpire Calling Procedure / Moon Umpire List

8.  Moon Tournament Recap- Tournament Director’s Report

9.  2011 Tournament Season Recap for Newsletter

10.  Accident Incident Report

11.  Sample Tournament Rules per age group

Team Selection:

This is the first and perhaps most important job you’ll have. It can also be controversial. Our organization mandates that you hold a try out prior to selecting your team. A piece of advice is for you to attend as many games as possible after you have been appointed manager. This will help you get a better feel for the players in a non try out environment. Also, by being at as many games as possible you can pre-empt complaints from parents whose child is not chosen for your team.

Contact Jon Hower to schedule your tryout date(s)

When choosing players for your team it is also important to carefully consider how many kids you are going to have on the team. Playing on a tournament team requires a significant time investment from the parents. NOTE: A player may only be rostered on ONE Moon Tournament Team while his team is participating in tournament play. In addition to the travel to the games there is also going to be practice time and time spent working on the fields and serving in the concession stand. There is also the expense of the uniform. Because of the time and money commitments parents are going to be sensitive to how much playing time their child gets. You have to strike a balance between having enough players, having the right players, and getting all of the kids playing time. You’ll also play in tournaments that feature roster batting. Carrying too many players on the team can negatively impact the team’s performance.

Uniform Selection and Ordering:

The Board of Directors of our league has chosen two uniform styles. The choices made were to balance price and quality. You may special order other styles, but they will be significantly more expensive. It is important that we keep some consistency among all the tournament team uniforms to unify the community spirit. You are required to use the Moon emblem selected by the Board of Directors on your hats and shirts and to use only the red and white Moon colors. You are also required to order the uniforms from Team Sportswear. Mark Thompson at Team Sportswear is aware of the required emblems and has been affiliated with Moon Baseball for a number of years. His prices are better than anywhere else and Mark will work with you on the inevitable last minute problems that may arise.

You should hold a team meeting as soon as possible after the team has been formed to order the uniforms. Before the meeting, you should get samples uniforms and hats from Mark, and then get sizing from the team at the meeting. We’ve included a sample uniform order sheet for your review. It is important to make the ordering process as simple as possible. Being organized will help to avoid size issues or missing uniform pieces.

Team Sportswear requires payment when the order is picked up, so you may want to collect the money at this meeting if you can.

You need to place your order with Team Sportswear at least 14 days prior to your first tournament.

Meetings:

The league is going to hold a couple meetings that you have to attend. There will be a meeting with the Tournament Committee prior to the start of tournament season that you and your Tournament Director are required to attend. The date for this meeting is Saturday, June 18th at 9:00 am at Baker Field. Following this meeting, you will be able to pick up your tournament equipment, baseballs, practice baseballs, and a tentative practice schedule. The other meeting is for Tournament Directors and Concession Coordinators, which will be Saturday, June 25th at 9:00 am at Devenzio.

It is also important that you have a meeting with the parents of your team to discuss team goals, tournament and practice schedules. You may want to combine this with the uniform meeting mentioned above.

It is also a good idea to hold a team parent meeting prior to hosting your tournament. At this meeting you can discuss the division of labor mentioned below. Another important topic to discuss is conduct. The tournament season is competitive. Not only is it competitive but you are playing against teams from other communities. Sometimes emotions run high. It is the job of the manager and their coaches to ensure that the parents as well as the kids show good behavior. Remember that you are representing all of Moon Baseball when you travel to or host a tournament. The behavior of you and your team will reflect on all of us.

Hosting a Tournament:

Each tournament team is required to host a tournament (except 13 & 14 yr old ‘A’ or ‘B’ teams). These are important fund raisers for our league. Successful tournament seasons help us to keep the registration cost down while still having money available for improvements to the Baker Field Complex.

The first thing you need to do is to appoint a Tournament Director. The duties of the Tournament Director will be spelled out below. You and your TD will be responsible for getting teams to participate. We will post your tournament on the MCAA website and we’ll communicate with you on the number of teams that have expressed an interest in participating. The goal is to get at least 6, but preferably 8 commitments for your tournament. Other communities will be choosing their tournaments as early as May, so you and your TD should start recruiting as soon as you are chosen as the tournament manager. If you wait until mid June to start calling other communities, there is a good chance a lot of them will have their tournament schedules filled. You can get contact information from the MCAA web site (www.MCAA.net), and from other coaches and League officials.

As previously mentioned, the Tournament season provides significant revenue through our concession stand. You and the TD should arrange to have other food items for sale at the concession stand. The revenue from these other items is to be included with the general concession revenue. Anyone preparing other items can be reimbursed for their costs from the concession stand.

In the past, it was customary to hold a meeting with all participating teams a few days before the tournament to draw pools and disseminate the schedule. You may do this if you wish, but with everyone’s busy schedule these days, you will probably find very few if any teams will attend this meeting. Alternatively, the other teams will be relying on you to make a fair and balanced schedule. You will find that a number of teams attending your tournament will also be concurrently playing in another tournament. You should try to accommodate their schedule as much as possible without disrupting your tournament too much. Remember, you will want these teams to come back next year. Making a team forfeit a game will almost guarantee they won’t be back again.

During your tournament it is important that you, your coaches, team, and team parents treat the other teams like guests. Be polite. Be helpful. Make them want to come back next year.

Role of the Tournament Director:

The Tournament Director (TD) is crucial to the success of your tournament. It is up to the TD to:

1.  establish a grounds crew schedule

2.  keep track of the results of each game and post those results in a conspicuous place

3.  schedule announcers and people to work the scoreboard during games

4.  schedule and pay umpires ( Umpire Fees paid for by the Association)

5.  mediate any disputes over rules or umpire decisions

6.  communicate scheduling, rules and sportsmanship policy to all visiting managers before tournament

7.  serve as the contact for the visiting managers during the tournament

8.  alcohol strictly prohibited at all Moon Hosted Tournaments

The TD is critical to the success of your tournament. Organization is the key to this success and will make it more likely that teams will want to come back next year. Every parent of the tournament team needs to help out during the Moon hosted tournament.

NOTE: Umpire calling procedures are listed in this manual

Concession Coordinator:

A tournament hosted by a Moon team will need to have a Tournament Concession Coordinator appointed by the Manager. This coordinator will be responsible for the handling of all concession activities for the tournament being hosted. The coordinator will work with the Concession Stand President or appointed concession board tournament coordinator to establish:

  • Menu items to be sold for the tournament. NOTE: Moon Township is hosting other communities and many games are played during dinner time. It is important to have a variety of menu items outside of the normal concession food.
  • Scheduling of workers to work the concession stand during the tournament.
  • Turning in all receipts for reimbursements to concession treasurer within ONE WEEK of the completion of the tournament. Each tournament team will have a labeled, yellow envelope in bottom of cash box in which to place any receipts for reimbursement. Attach name and address to receipt so that concession treasurer can issue a check for reimbursement. MONEY SHALL NOT BE TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM CASH BOX FOR REIMBURSEMENT.
  • Coordinating with a Concession Board member to deposit money into the Bank on a daily basis. Money is not to be kept from day to day. A board member must deposit the money into the bank.


FAQ’s Regarding Tournament Concession Stand:

1.  Why do we have to make special foods for tournaments?

Offering a variety of foods other than the usual concession menu is simply a part of being a good hosting team. Many families come to our community straight from work and it is nice to offer them more than just a hot dog. For many years, our tournament menus have received many complements from those outside of our community. Our guest teams and families really do appreciate us going out of our way to provide them with a menu that offers a nice variety.

2.  Can I hire someone to work when it is my turn to work in the Concession Stand? Yes. A list of APPROVED persons to work the stand will be available to all tournament teams. If you wish to hire one of these people, you will pay that person from your own pocket. The cost will be $20 for each game worked in the concession stand. NOTE: MONEY SHALL NOT BE TAKEN FROM THE CASH BOX TO PAY A WORKER.

3.  Why can’t our team keep the money from the special foods made during the tournament? All money raised through the selling of food/drinks from the concession stand belongs to the Association. The cost of extra foods will be reimbursed by the Association as long as receipts are turned in to the concession treasurer within one week of the completion of the tournament. In other words, the Association buys the ingredients for extra foods, the money made from selling these foods belongs to the Association. If you decide to have a bake sale to raise money for your team, the Association does NOT reimburse for these items.

4.  Do we have to stock the concession stand for our tournament?

No. Concession board members will stock the stand with the USUAL items. You may purchase special foods and will be reimbursed through the treasurer. It is your responsibility to fill up the drink coolers each night so that cold drinks are available for the next day. This even includes filling up the coolers after the last game of your tournament, as a courtesy to the next tournament.

5.  What are ways that we can raise some money for our Tournament Team to host a party and/or give a small gift to the players after the Tournament Season?

A couple ways to raise money for your tournament team that does NOT take away money from the concession stand include:

·  Selling 50/50 raffle tickets for each game played.

·  Having another raffle. An example of this is that one team raffled off a bicycle that was donated to the team. Chinese Auctions items have been sold in the past.

·  Conduct a Bake Sale.

If you have any questions or concerns about how to raise money for your team, contact a Baseball Board member for clarification and approval.


Tournament Selection: