Review: A Softball Coaches Tool Kit by Peter Sprenkle 04/12/08
Reviewed by Vince Muehe

Every coach has experienced their first season as a coach. We become coaches because we want to be, because out spouse wants us to be, our children want us to be, or very commonly - the association or league says, "We'd have a team for your daughter, if we had a coach".

From there we are thrust into a coaching roll without experience. A visit to many bookstores will result in finding books about how to teach the game of fastpitch softball, but unfortunately, in youth sports, that's only a part of the coach's roll.

In some cases, the coach may be required to build a roster, conduct try-outs, communicate with parents, set-up practices, acquire and maintain equipment for practices and games, arrange for travel, become a fund-raising guru and an accountant to balance the team budget. Coaches wear many hats in youth sports.

The non-coaching part of being a coach is often the most difficult aspect. You have to communicate with athletes, parents, sponsors, equipment providers, etc.

A Softball Coaches Tool Kit by Peter Sprenkle is a great resource to help put together a team through the evaluation process, setting expectations with parents, setting up practice plans, travel plans, letters to parents, athlete recognition / motivation, a variety of drills for practices or evaluations and many more topics.

The main difference between A Softball Coaches Tool Kit and many other books is that instead of just telling you that you should consider having a letter to the parents that discusses a season overview, coaching philosophy, goals for the season, expectations for sportsmanship, team rules and a team roster; A Softball Coaches Tool Kit provides sample letters, sample motivation posters, and other documents both in the book and on a CD! The files are in standard Microsoft Word format.

Having the files on the CD can save a coach hours of thinking about what to write and creating a document. Coaches can simply open the file and modify it as they need to fit their requirements for their type of team.

Here is a simplified listing of the contents of the book. The actual table of contents is more detailed.

• Getting Started
  • Starting the Team
  • Communication with Parents
  • Equipment
  • Uniforms
  • Some of the files included to support this area include:
    • Coaching Philosophy
    • Goals for the Season
    • Expectations
    • Team Rules
    • Parent Letters
    • Coach-Parent and Coach-Player Commitments
    • Liability Waiver
    • Medical Treatment Permit
    • Team Driver
    • Team Guidelines
    • Success Factors
    • Finances
    • Chaperone Duties
• Running the Team
  • Line Up and Scorecard
  • Getting Prepared for Practice
  • Developing a Practice Plan
  • Sample Practice Plans - Defense / Offense / Indoor / Outfield / Pitching / Speed
  • Tools for Running Practice
  • Working with Parents
  • Team Trips
• Communication, Development, Motivation, Recognition
  • Communications
  • Development of the Coach
  • Motivation
  • Recognition
  • Assessments and Evaluations
  • Scouting Sheet
  • Self Assessments
  • Softball Exam
  • Season Evaluation
• A Team Handbook
  • An entire sample handbook is available on the CD!

A Softball Coaches Toolkit is available for purchase for $22.50 (USD) directly from the author at his web site. This book has the potential to help new and even experienced coaches become more organized, which will earn them more respect from parents and athletes. This book is highly recommended!