Batter up! Baseball season is upon us. Preparations are underway as Coronado Little League held its annual mandatory training clinic on Sunday, January 28, at Bradley Field. Over thirty team managers and umpires were in attendance.
The training session’s purpose was to help both new and seasoned team managers review how to teach fundamental skills through positive coaching methods and review concussion safety protocol. In addition to the clinic, Coronado Little League used Alive Scan to perform mobile fingerprinting for all the league’s volunteers.
Meghan Eastham, Safety Officer for Coronado Little League stated, “Any organizations that have direct contact with youths for 16 hours or more, must abide by the state’s AB506 Law that was passed in September 2021, and went into effect in January 2022. AB506 basically means all volunteers must complete a background check, child abuse and neglect reporting training. We have over 30 team managers and a total of 100 plus coaches and umpires that are all volunteer positions. We want to make sure everyone is compliant to all the league’s rules and state laws.”
During training, the team managers were divided into two groups based on their teams’ divisions from T-Ball, Minors AA, Minors AAA, Intermediate, and Juniors. What’s new this year at the clinic was the presence of the Coronado High School Baseball Varsity Head Coach Morgan Cummins, and four of his players. Coach Morgan spoke to the team managers who will be handling the older kids in little league. He talked about the skills he trains all the high school baseball teams that included the freshmen, junior varsity, and varsity. While he spoke, the four boys from the varsity team demonstrated the skills in front of the team managers.
“It’s good to be part of today’s clinic. It will help bridge the gap between the two programs. By the time they leave the Little League program, they will not be new to high school level baseball,” explained Coach Morgan.
As a parent of a boy who has played at nearly every level in Coronado, and helped manage a team along the way, I can attest to the great system that we have for ensuring the boys have fun and are prepared to compete. Athleticism isn’t always obvious, as I’ve seen boys struggle in Minors AA who are now receiving offers from colleges around the country. If you aren’t volunteering to coach, manage, score, or umpire, give it a try, you may help open doors to children that will someday play for Coronado High and it’s quite a lot of fun too!
