2019 PARK RIVER PIRATES PARENT HANDBOOK

Thank you for becoming part of the Park River Pirates Baseball family! The

goal of Pirates baseball is to provide a fun and competitive environment for all

players that play baseball in Park River. Our mission is to provide the absolute

best player development no matter what age group players fall into.

This handbook is meant to provide information to families so they can have

the best experience possible especially when they are new to the program. This is

the first edition of this handbook. I will do my best to provide the most thorough

and accurate information possible.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Registration will be done on parkriverparks.com website. Click on the

Baseball tab and scroll down to find the registration tab. Registration is

$100/player regardless of school district affiliation. Players registering prior to

April 15th, 2019 will receive a $75 discount and pay only $25. All information on

the registration form must be filled out prior to a player participating in organized

team practices. Data collected during the registration process will only be viewed

by the Parks and Recreation Director, Baseball Boosters board members, Director

of Baseball Operations, coaches and team managers. The information will not be

shared with any 3rd parties.

EQUIPMENT NEEDS AND WHERE TO BUY THEM

Players need a certain amount of equipment to play. Some is provided by

Park River Baseball and the rest is up to the parents. Everyone needs to have their

own baseball mitt. You do not need to purchase a catcher’s mitt. This is provided

with every equipment bag.

Jersey: Any players in the 8U Majors and 6U Minors need to purchase a jersey.

You do not need to buy one every year. You can purchase this jersey while filling

out the registration. Jerseys at these age group are for the players to keep. All

players starting with Cal Ripken (9 years old) through Babe Ruth will be provided a

jersey. The jersey will need to be turned in at the end of the season.

Baseball Cap: Baseball caps can be purchased at Northdale Oil. We do not handle

individual orders for caps.

Pants and belt: Starting at the Cal Ripken age, players are required to have white

baseball pants with a black belt.

Cleats: Baseball cleats are not a required item although they are highly

recommended. Metal baseball cleats are not legal until players reach the Babe

Ruth age group (13-15 years old).

All bats, batting helmets, catcher’s gear and baseballs are provided by Park River

Baseball Boosters. Some parents opt to buy a bat for their child. If you decide to

buy a bat for your son or daughter, please be sure to adhere to Cal Ripken and

Babe Ruth bat standards. If bats are not legal by these standards, they cannot be

used at practice or during games.

PARENT PROGRAM COMMITMENTS

With most youth activities, there is a certain level of parent commitments

that need to be met to ensure the best possible program for our players. The

following requirements are necessary to make that happen.

1. Parents are required to sell a book of raffle tickets over the course of the

season. Raffle tickets will be handed out during the respective

player/parent meetings held prior to the 1st practice. The raffle is organized

by the Park River Baseball Boosters. All proceeds from the raffle are used to

provide baseball related equipment.

2. Parents are required to earn 1 credit for each participating child in the

program during the course of the season. Credits can be earned by working

in the concession stand or working in other areas during hosted

tournaments. Parents can sign up for these shifts under the DIBS tab on the

parkriverparks.com website. Detailed instructions on how to sign up will be

provided later in the handbook.

3. Parents are required to provide a $200 deposit upon receiving their book of

raffle tickets and player jersey. Deposits will be returned upon returning

sold raffle tickets, completing 1 credit and returning player jersey.

4. Parents are responsible for letting coaches know if their player will not be

at games or practices. Coaches will make arrangements with their teams on

how they would like this communication to take place.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD SPORTSENGINE APP

SportsEngine is the website used for all information regarding Park River

Baseball. The easiest way to keep up with what is going on with each team is to

download the SportsEngine app to your smart phone. This will allow you to get

real time updates to time changes or cancellations of games and practices. This

can also be used as a tool for team communications between parents. Once you

have the app, you will need to pick your team and make it a favorite to receive all

relevant information. I will go through the step by step procedure.

1. Open the app store on your smartphone.

2. Click the search function and enter SportsEngine.

3. Download the app. The logo should look something like this:

4. Open the app. In the upper right corner you will see a search magnifying

glass. Click to open the search function.

5. In the search field, type in the Mobile Team ID. This number is found on the

individual team home page. You will notice on the screen shot below that

the Mobile Team ID is located in the upper left corner of the team page.

Below is example:

6. Once you have clicked on the team it will now be a favorite. You will then

have access to the game schedule, practice schedule, roster, message

board and chat function.

7. If you have trouble doing this, please call me and I will walk you through it.

WHAT IS DIBS AND HOW TO USE IT

DIBS is a simple way for people to look at the concession schedule and be

able to choose what shift you would like to sign up for. It will also show any

tournament functions that need to be signed up for. An example of this would be

collecting gate fees, running a scoreboard, field maintenance, etc.

The following will be a step by step instruction on how to access DIBS and

sign up for a session. The screen shots that will be taken are for example and do

not necessarily reflect a current open time slot.

1. Start by going to the parkriverparks.com website and logging into your

SportsEngine account. This would have been created when you registered

you child for baseball. You do not have to login but I highly recommend it.

2. On the top right of the page, you will see a tab that says More+. Hover over

this tab and you will see the page for DIBS. Click on Dibs.

3. Once you click on Dibs, you will see a screen like the one above. You will

need to pick a Dibs session. Click on 2018 Baseball Season as shown by the

Red arrow above.

4. Once you click on the session, you will see a listing of open sessions. The

screen will look like this.

5. The yellow arrow shows what the Dib item is for. In this example

“concessions.” This tells you what you are signing up for. The Red arrow

shows you the date and time for the available session. The green arrow

pointing at Filter Dib Items, allows you to filter dates for when you would

like to work. Click on the item you want to sign up for when you have

decided to make a commitment to a session. Where to click is indicated by

the black arrow.

6. Once you have clicked on an item to “claim” that session, you will see the

following screen:

7. Click on “Claim this Dib Item” to claim the session. Fill out the information

as indicated on the pop up screen. Once you have filled in all required

information, click on Claim Dib item to finish claiming an item. It is highly

recommended that you put in your email address. SportsEngine will send

you a reminder email 24 hours before your shift.

8. Once you have completed the process, you will be brought back to the

calendar view of available Items. You will now see your name and the name

of your athlete as affirmation that you have completed the process. If you

entered your email or logged in to your account, you will receive a

confirmation email.

That completes the steps to sign up for concessions. Currently, you cannot do this

from a smartphone. You can complete this process from a tablet, laptop or home

computer.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

As stated in the opening, the mission of Park River Baseball is to give all

players the best opportunity to development to their maximum potential. There

are several key factors that our organization feels is key to reaching that

potential.

Hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult things to do in all of sports.

The importance of taking cuts in the batting cage cannot be stressed enough.

There are typically several opportunities to get time in the batting cage before

regularly scheduled practices begin. These sessions are not mandatory but are

highly encouraged.

Tournament play outside of our regular season league schedule is another

important building block for our players. We feel it is important for their growth

as individuals and a team to play in these environments. We will play at least one

tournament at each age group starting at 9 years of age. Playing against larger

towns and in highly competitive environments gives our players the confidence

and knowledge that they can compete with anyone.

There is a spring training camp held each year. Kids will be given

information and it will also be on the website. The Parks and Rec Director will

email information on this event to everyone who has registered for baseball in

the current season. Another good reason to get those registrations done early!

Again, this is not mandatory but highly encouraged to get our athletes off on the

front foot once the season begins.

Pitching is of utmost importance to a successful program. Pirates Baseball

has always felt this way and this philosophy has become even more important

with the addition of a pitch count at all levels of play starting at the Cal Ripken

level. We want every kid that has even the slightest inkling of pitching to have the

opportunity to try and do so. The more players that can pitch, the better off each

team is.

ROSTER AND MOVE UP POLICY

Park River Baseball requires a policy where players can be moved to a

different level of play other than the level dictated by player’s date of birth.

Moving players to a different level of play enhances playing opportunities for the

affected player(s), and also the affected team(s). Rostering of players is held by

the Director of Baseball Operations to be consistent and beneficial to players,

teams and the baseball program as a whole.

The Director of Baseball Operations will be the lone entity that determines

who, when, if and where players are placed on rosters with Park River Baseball.

This will include determining sizes of rosters at each level of play. List of

registrants will be collected by Park River Parks and Recreation then provided to

the Director of Baseball Operations or delegate for rostering and placement.

In the event a team composition requires a tryout, tryout process will be

under the direction of the Director of Baseball Operations or delegate.

The term roster includes in house, league and travel rosters. The term

travel roster includes State advancing and beyond.

Park River Baseball will roster players on their respective rosters based on

the age parameters defined by Babe Ruth Baseball. Any deviation will be based on

the following criteria:

Age of affected player(s)

Current skill level of affected player(s)

Sibling on team of adjacent level of play

Needs of the program

Application of the above mentioned criteria will be held solely by the Director of

Baseball Operations with input from Park River Parks and Rec Director.

Everyone involved with Park River Baseball would like to thank you for

registering to play this great sport. Baseball season is relatively quick in our region

and we try to maximize the time we have to play the game. Having a strong

support group of parents is vital to a successful program. Please do your best to

come and cheer for our teams, volunteer to work during hosted tournaments and

support our coaches.

Park River Baseball is known throughout North Dakota and Northwest

Minnesota as one of the best programs around. You and your athlete now have

the opportunity and privilege to be part of something special. Please thank the

folks that make this happen; Coaches, Booster Board Members, Park Board

Directors, grounds crew and all those who volunteer.

We hope that you have a fun and fulfilling season with Park River Pirates

Baseball.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!