Note to Coaches

What We Expect from You

We appreciate the work you do as a coach. Without you, our program would not exist. On occasion there will be a coach who loses sight of why we are all volunteering our time. Here is what we look for in evaluating a coach:

1. A person who genuinely likes working with kids. Our coaches care as much about every player on the team as about his or her own son or daughter. In fact, our coaches care as much about the players on the other teams (and our player-umpires) as they do about the players on their own team. So, if you are physically or verbally abusive to any of the children (including your own child), or if your team does not have fun, you will not be coaching for ESAA.
    
2. A person who likes to teach. Yes, winning is better than losing. Yes, we want to teach our player to be competitive and to win. In fact, ESAA is known all over Chicagoland for the quality of our players and coaches. However, we need coaches who remember that these are, after all, still children. Our primary job is to teach them the skills of the fine game of baseball and softball, and that is how you will be judged as a coach--not on your win-loss record. So, if you fail to teach the players the fundamentals of the game, or teach them the wrong things in order to win, or teach them to cheat or be poor sports, then you will not be coaching for ESAA.
    
3. A person who is a good role model for children. We are trying to teach our children to be good sports, even if this idea does not seem as universal as it was in the past at the high school, college and professional levels. So, if you think that arguing with the umpires or other coaches, heckling the other team, or even cheering obnoxiously for your own team is a good idea (likewise if you allow your players to "trash talk", cheat, or try to hurt other players), then you will not be coaching for ESAA.
    
4. A person who is responsible. We have over 1,000 boys and girls in the ESAA program. The board of directors and/or commissioners of each league cannot be present at every game. We count on our coaches to be responsible. You are our "first line" of responsibility. That means that you represent the association at all times. So, if you can't control your players, fans, or coaches, if you don't take care of the equipment or return all of it at the end of the year, if you don't fill out the player evaluation forms in a fair and timely manner, then you will not be coaching for ESAA.  Coaching under the influence of alcohol is absolutely prohibited.   Any coach breaking this rule will be banned for the remainder of the season. 

How do we enforce these criteria? If you do something serious enough, you will be suspended immediately by the league commissioner, pending a hearing and a decision by the board of directors of ESAA.  But even if you do not do something that serious, you will be evaluated at the end of the year by the player's parents, the league commissioner, and the board.  This evaluation will be taken into account the following year when the coaches are chosen. Remember, coaching in ESAA is a privilege, not a right.

So thank you again for your work this year.  Please do yourself and the association proud.

~ ESAA Board of Directors