A letter to the coach, from the Commissioner

Dear Prospective Coach,

We are very pleased that you have expressed an interest in coaching in our Little League. However, before you accept this responsiblity our committee feels that the philosophy and rules of the Orthodox Little League (please note the emphasis of the word Orthodox) should be made very clear.

Our philosophy is one that stresses sportsmanship, fun, and good clean competition. Although every team wants to win and tries their best to, ours is not a "win at all all cost" philosophy. We expect our leauge to be a positive learning experience for our children where the middos they learn in Yeshiva are strengthened, not abandoned during play. We believe that our philosophy can be realized only if the coaches stress it, display it themselves and serve as positive role models for our children.

It is very difficult to write this letter to well meaning, conscientious people who are so willing to give of their valuable time to help our children grow. However, if you have been to some of our games, you may have seen how the behavior of a few is in total opposition to everything we stand for as Orthodox Jews. Coaches scream at players not to them, actually curse the umpires (who are also our kids) and fight with opposing coaches.

With the above in mind, the League coordinators have decided that coaches who are reported to the League for improper conduct will be warned once and if that doesn'ty solve the problem, he/she will have to be suspended from coaching in our League.

In summary, coaches are to teach the game, back up umpires, help control parents and make sure the game is conducted and played the way it really should be. Almost as an aside we would like to say that the players on the opposing team are our kids too!

We sincerely hope that this letter is received with teh good intentions with which it was written and that with your help this will be our best year yet.

Thank you,
The Coordinators Committee