Nice Win!

Had a nice win tonight parents. The kids are running thru the bases now! Hey what do yo know...if I can only get Trace to quit running on his heels and to stop sliding into bases we would really have something. Kids are hustling around the bases and having fun! Tell your child after they hit the ball to put their head down and RUN FOREST RUN!!!! Too many are still watching the ball after they hit it. We will continue to stress it but it would really help if this week you push it hard. We will also continue to do so.

Had a few rough spots hitting today but for the most part a nice effort. Very impressed with the defensive play tonight. Yes we had errors, I can deal with errors, but had very few mental errors. The kids were very focused tonight on defense and it showed. They have a good sense of the defensive side of the ball right now. We need to work on fluidity, which we will in the spring, but they really have a good feeling of where to go with the ball when hit to them.

Next game Thursday against the Tigers. This is the rain out game. Nick has snacks. I know RJ and Raynard won't be there. If anyone else won't make it, please let me know.

Can't wait 'til Thursday!!!!

Saturday's Game Rained Out!!

Saturday's 9 AM game has been rained out due to field conditions. Reschedule pending....will let you know. Next game Monday night. Let me know if you won't be there. Thanks!
Coach Tom

Thoughts....

Looking forward to playing on Saturday. Game time 9 AM. Let's get there around 8:30 ish to losen up and field some ground balls. We worked on hitting and fielding on Thursday night at practice. The kids got a lot of cuts in.

One thing that I stressed on defense, in regards to fielding ground balls, was to move your feet, get your glove out in front of your body and work from the dirt up. What I mean by that is...

1. Get in front of the ball by having an active lower body. MOVE THOSE FEET!
2. Get your glove in front of your body and get your butt down underneath you.
3. Work your glove up from the dirt rather than down towards the dirt

All of these things will equate to a successfully fielded ground ball. Fitzgerald Guarantee.

Continue to stress this with your kid the rest of this season cause by the end of the fall season they will be sick of hearing me say it. Then after a layoff thru the winter, my big mouth will be there again stressing it.

I was watching a kid pitch game this week and saw this as a big issue even at that level. It is not an ability thing it is a practice thing. This is something we will practice, practice, practice in the spring.

We can improve on defense and will improve on defense because we have a lot of talent. Every kid can improve and no one is near their potential. I am a defensive minded guy and always enjoyed the defensive side of the game when I played. Pitching and defense is what it takes to win at any level and both will be stressed as we move the Big Stick Cardinals towards playing high school ball.

See ya Saturday!

Concession Stand & Practice

Everything went great last night. I think everyone actually had a lot of fun. Man are we dorks or what? Looking forward to tonight.

Concession stand starts at 5:15 PM.
Practice starts at 5:30 PM....we'll go as long as the kids want to go! Defense, defense, defense, and a little hitting sprinkled in.

Coach Tom

Coach Tom- Tip of the Week- Aug 25th

Baserunning Tip!

With less than two outs make sure that the ball is down on the ground before proceeding to the next base.


**friendly reminder- Pastor, it's your turn for snacks on Saturday**
And concession duty's tomorrow ladies.. and hiting practice for those that can make it after 5:30pm.

Defense and Paying Attention

I found our area of improvement....defense and paying attention.

Let's face it the kids are doing great in so many areas. In fact they are doing better in more areas than they are not doing well in.

What do they do well

• Hit
• Run the bases
• Have fun

What they need to improve on

• Paying attention
• Defense (Ground Balls, Fly Balls, Knowing where to go with the ball)

We will work on these two items at practice on Thursday. Field 94. Anytime after 5:30 is fine. I will be there the entire night helping with the concession stand, but will take a break during our practice time.

See everyone on Thursday night....let me know if you will be there.

Today's Game

Well, I tried an experiment today and it didn't go too well. But that is why they call it an experiment. I asked a lot of our kids today. I switched it up quite a bit. There were kids on defense that were playing positions they never practiced or played in a game, and the unfamiliarity showed. This close one is on Coach Tom. However, they did pull their defense together in the latter part of the game and I could not be prouder of this group of young men!

The kids pulled it out and really showed some heart out there. They are really dialing it in. Everyone is contributing and there seems to be new heroes every game.

Who is the next hero on Monday night?

See you then.

Coach Tom

Housekeeping- Email Test

Hi Everyone!
Great game today.. it was a tough one.. whew..
Just a couple of housekeeping items with the blog..
Overall.. I think it's going well- unless you're not getting email updates.. then not so much. (Public apology #1 to Ethan's family!)

So just a recap. You should be getting email notifications when Coach or I add comments to this blog. If you are not getting updates, please email me at Christinetwnmom3@yahoo.com

Second- Snack schedule is up next to the game day schedule. (Jacob has snack duty for Monday's game) If we have a rainout game, whoever was scheduled to bring snacks will bring on the make up game (Make sense?)

Lastly, to make sure I'm not going crazy or assuming that everyone knows how a blog works- Can I ask a favor? Can I get a reply comment to this blog posting this weekend from all the cardinal parents?

Click on comment and add your "ok.. I'm getting email notifications, or Coach Tom rocks.. whatever you want to say!"

Saturday 10:15

See everyone Saturday at 10:15. We will have everyone except for Trace. He has a soccer conflict and has decided to play his soccer opener instead of with the beloved Big Stick Cardinals....:( I'll be ok, really, don't cry for my Argentina! I assume everyone else will be there?

Game time is 10:45 but let's get there early and get lose. We are home team. Field 95

Remind your kids to listen to those base coaches and "be aggressive on the basepaths!" Let's take the extra base!

Updated Concession Stand Schedule

Thanks to everyone!

26th - Clymer, Becher, Blake-Fortner, Johnson
27th - Haynes, Rudin, Fitzgerald, Anderson

Practice Scheduled - August 27th - 5:30 PM - Whenever!

I have acquired access to the pitching machine on Thursday, August 27th from 5:30 PM - whenver. Field 94. If you are interested please let me know. Be a lot of fun. Tyson, Trace and I will be there. Hope to have you join us. Can never get enough cuts.

Updated Concession Stand Schedule

ONE shift left to fill on the 26th!

26th - Clymer, Becher, Blake-Fortner, ?????

27th - Haynes, Rudin, Fitzgerald, Anderson

Schedule Update!!!! Rainout Rescheduled

Please make sure to check out spaa.com to see when our make up game is for our rainout from Monday. Rainout make up game is scheduled for the 1st Thursday in September. 6 PM.

Coach Tom

Phone Numbers

Can everyone please email me there 1st and 2nd choice for phone numbers? I want to get all of these in my cell phone. Thanks.

August 17th Game Postponed Due to Rain!

Make up date pending....as soon as I get it I will let you know.

Rainout Pending!

At the time of this posting it looks like tonights game may be rained out. It has not yet, but I can't imagine it won't be. Check SPAA.Com and click on Rainouts before heading to the field.
Coach T

Concession Stand Update

Aug 26th - Clymers(1), Bechers(1)...need 2 more
Aug 27th - Haynes (1)....need 3 more

The Fitzgerald family will work one of these days too. Will decide as this thing plays out.

5:15 - 8:00 PM

Snack Duty...

Hi Parents...
Snack Schedule will be posted next to the game schedule on our blog.
For Tomorrow nights game, we have Nick bringing snacks..

If you can not bring snacks on the dates I've assigned, just let me know and we can change it-

Thanks
Christine

(Great Game today.. I think I can still hear Teri screaming in my ear! Go Cardinals!)

Concession Stand Duty

We have concession stand duty this fall. Our dates are below..

August 26th 5:15 - 8:00PM (4-5 people needed)
August 27th 5:15 - 8:00 PM (4-5 people needed)

If under the age of 14 you can not enter the concession stand to work...SPAA rules.....although we saw kids younger than 14 working today.

Please just email me with which day works best for you and we will get this requirement behind us.

Thanks.

WELCOME PARENTS AND PLAYERS!!

Welcome to our Cardinals Blog Page!!!
I thought it would be a good idea to organize the emails that Coach sends us, as well as any other important information regarding our boys.

Please, please be kind to me. If I misspell a name, anything in this blog, please let me know.

I have listed a few important items to the right of this blog. If you see anything that should be added.... please don't hesitate to let me know.

Christine
(Jacob's Mom)

Coach Tom- Tip of the Week- Aug 13th

On a ball hit to the outfield grass, round 1^st base, listen to your 1^st base coach and hustle for 2^nd base!!! Be thinking 2 at all times!

We are going to be very aggressive on the base paths this fall! Tell your kids tonight, Friday and Saturday morning to hustle out of the batter’s box and get down that baseline. Don’t watch the ball! Get your head down and move it!!!!

Same goes for being a base runner on 1^st or 2^nd base. We are going to run, run, run. The coaches on 1^st and 3^rd base are going to be aggressive! If we aren’t hustling and being aggressive as players this strategy won’t be successful. Very important going from home to 2^nd, 1^st to 3^rd and 2^nd to home. Let’s take extra bases!!!!

This will be reinforced all year! Hustle and listen to your base coaches. Be ready to take the extra base at all times!

See everyone Saturday morning at 8:30 AM.

Coach Tom

Coach Tom July 25th- Housekeeping

Couple housekeeping items….

Get to the batting cages….get to the batting cages….get to the batting cages. This is going to be a big transition for the kids. I can’t stress this enough. We have 14-21 days before our first game. We are going to try and get access to a pitching machine for our practice on August 8^th. Stay tuned. Timing is everything. This is a process. Stay patient. If you can get your boy to the batting cages a couple times before our first game I know it will make a world of difference. I’ve been with some of the boys at the batting cages already, and the difference from round to round was apparent.

To those that paid your entry fee today, thank you. For others bring it to our next practice.

Next Practice – August 1^st 9 AM at DAA #2….pending a freak thunderstorm at 6:30 AM!

SPAA requires a copy of every child’s birth certificate. Please make a copy of that and have it available at our next practice. This is a requirement.

See you soon!

Coach Tom