How To Be A Great Team Mom!
/I consider myself a pro of trial and error! :D I know that without error, I’m not trying! So bring it on! :] I am also the queen of procrastination! So to say that my first season was spent dealing with last minute mess-ups is an understatement! But what I learned through that is SO valuable to me. I absolutely LOVED being team mom and look forward to many seasons to come, being a “behind the scenes” helper to my players, parents, and coaches! Are you new to the team mom gig? I would love to help!
Where to start:
Preparation is key! This goes for the season in general, and each individual game! I used buckets for the boys, to keep their gear organized during games and not have to dig through their bags each time they needed to get something out! I kept the buckets with me throughout the season and got to each game early in order to get them set out and ready! I asked parents to bring in their players stuff as they arrived and help them get set up and organized for the game! This obviously wouldn’t be necessary for older aged players, but for my t-ball kiddos it was the perfect set up! I used my Cricut to put the kid’s names on their buckets! Though most of them can’t read yet, they could usually recognize their name! And of course after parents helped putting their stuff in them, it was easier for them to recognize which one is theirs and keep track of it!
Patience! (Haha, duh) Everyone knows when working with other people’s children you’ve got to have patience, but this is a whole new level! It’s obvious that every human on the earth has a different way of parenting and different “style”. I am loud by nature, and can come off very easily as yelling! Usually I would disagree, but that’s a perspective of someone else that I cannot change! So I had to be very cautious in the way I spoke to my players to help them be ready for whatever was next! Reminding them it was time to hit, and get their bat and helmet on, or hats and gloves and to line up to take the field! Little guys don’t ever listen the first time, right? So I repeated myself A LOT! :D And of course when they’re across the dugout and didn’t hear me the first time, I gotta say it louder! Well, remember that their parents are usually closer to me than they are, outside the dugout. I was lucky to not have a single complaint this season, but it was something I had to be really cautious about!
Communication is essential! At our first team meet up I had all my parents text me with their name, their players name, their email, and the other parents info as well if they wanted to be included in the information texts. This was our main form of communication all throughout the season. And since our coach didn’t have a consistent practice night, this was important for that especially! I would send out a text before each practice and each game to remind my parents of those events, what time they were, and what field we would be on! I reminded them of things like warmer weather and to bring proper hydration, and assignments in the snack shack that needed to be filled!
Arrive EARLY! I asked my players before each game to arrive 30 minutes early so that they could get warmed up with the coaches, and set up their stuff in the dugout. It took me a couple games to get my scheduling right, to be there at the time I requested! (I am not proud to be procrastinator and almost always late..) My players would stagger in during that 30 minutes before the game perfectly! Not everyone was 30 minutes early, but it worked out well for everyone to at least get there on time!
Snack Assigments! We used an app called Shutterfly Share Sites! We were able to put all of our games in there, and in turn it gave options to sign up for snacks! It made things pretty simple for signing up, but the app wasn’t my favorite when it came to simplicity of use, and notifications! I made sure to text my parents the day of (evening games) or the day before the game they were signed up for to make sure they remembered and were still set to bring them! I always said if they weren’t able to, to just let me know and I’d take care of it! We only had one game that the parent forgot snacks! And it was of course the one game I didn’t remember to send my reminder text, and it was our LAST game! Haha oh well! Since I’m the last one out of the dugout, by the time I noticed half the team was already gone!
HAVE FUN! I didn’t put too much pressure on myself, my players, or my parents to be perfect or have a perfect season! It was a learning experience for most of us as it was our first season in T-ball and the little league! I think overall it was a HUGE success and I hope that I get to hang onto some of my players for several seasons to come and watch them grow! Because you better bet, I’ll be TEAM MOM for as long as I can!!! I hope that by the time Charlie doesn’t need me as a team mom anymore, Isaiah will be ready and want to play baseball! We have truly come to love this sport, and I’m excited to watch Charlie grow and continue to improve!
What was your favorite thing about being TEAM MOM? What was your biggest lesson learned in your first season?
