August 16, 2018

CLIPPERS BASEBALL CLUB MEETING

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Opening: 

Clipper Baseball Club meeting was held on Thursday, August 16, 2018 at Tiffin City Hall in Tiffin, IA at 6:58pm.

Club Members Present: Adam Henderson (President), Wade Good (Vice President), Darci Roehler (Director of Operations and Interim Treasurer), Golda Monohon (Secretary), and Nick Pfeiffer (Alternate)

Others Present: Jeff Davis (9U White head coach), Keegan Bullis (9U White assistant coach), Kaleb Heffner (owner of Velocity Farm), Seth Ickowitz (7U assistant coach), and Bryan Monohon (13U Blue assistant coach)

9U White Coaches and Questions: 

Since there are several coaches that are new to coaching and/or the CCA Baseball Club, coaches were encouraged to attend the board meeting to ask questions regarding the upcoming year and expectations.

Questions asked were:

  • How does the 9U team get catcher’s gear?
    • Adam stated that the club would supply the team with catcher’s gear as well as 1 dozen soft baseballs for indoor practices, 2 dozen hard baseballs for outdoor practices, a tee, and a hitting net.
    • These items will be issued to the team by the board around January 2019
  • When/how will Batting and Fielding practices be scheduled?
    • In the next month, Adam will meet with the coaches to provide instruction on how to set up times for building usage on the CCA School District website.
    • Indoor batting practice is usually held in the white building just south of the CCA Middle School on Sundays.  It contains a pitching machine.
    • Indoor fielding practice is usually held during the week in one of the gyms within the school district.
    • Coaches will be issued key cards to that they can enter the building during their scheduled time.
    • Sara Gaeta from central administration will send the invoice to Adam for all the teams in the CCA Baseball Club for building usage.
    • There are 2 pitching mounds in Cosgrove, IA available for use as well.
    • Jonas Zimmerman with the City of Tiffin will set up a meeting and a calendar with all coaches in the area to reserve times for baseball field usage at Tiffin City Park.
  • When are membership payments due and do the coaches need to collect payments?
    • $150 is due by September 1st and $150 is due by March 2nd for 7U-13U teams
    • $100 is due by September 1st for 14U
    • Parents need to send membership dues directly to the CCA Baseball Club and NOT through the coaches
  • How much funds are distributed to the teams?
    • The 7U-13U teams will receive $3,075.
    • $2,000 is distributed toward tournament fees and $1,075 is distributed toward practice facilities, extra supplies, etc.
    • Wade recommended that the team should open a bank account and assign two people to the account to keep those individuals accountable and to avoid conflict or confusion within the team
    • If a team would like additional funds, any additional fundraising the team performs stays with the team and can be used for additional expenses such as extra tournaments, extra equipment, additional practice facilities, etc.
  • What are the available leagues in the area to set up weekday games?
    • City Park League is located in the Iowa City/Coralville area
    • PST League is located in the Cedar Rapids area, however most games are actually scheduled in Tiffin due to schedule conflicts in the Cedar Rapids area
      • By hosting a PST game in Tiffin, the team receives monetary credit for the field usage
      • Teams that participate in the PST League can earn USSSA points which count toward the USSSA state tournament at the end of the season
    • Eastern Iowa League is also available and free to join
    • Golda mentioned that for the 10U team last year, the Eastern Iowa League issued different rules than USSSA such as, players could not steal home, 10 players played on the field instead of 9, and the 5-run rule was utilized for ending innings

Velocity Farm:

Kaleb Heffner from Velocity Farm came to speak with the board and offered a discounted rate to the club for his services.

Kaleb was a pitcher in high school and college.  He blew out his shoulder in college.  After Tommy John surgery, he tried pitching again and shredded his arm the first time he went back onto the mound.  Kaleb had to learn how to pitch differently due to mobility and pain issues that he continues to have.  During this time of his career, Kaleb traveled a lot and didn’t get paid well.  He had a family at home and needed to make a change.  Kaleb flew to Denver to receive training on how to pitch in a way that did not hurt or damage his arm.  After receiving the training, he found that he could throw fast and accurately without his arm hurting.  Kaleb’s goal is to help kids throw without getting hurt.

Kaleb discussed ball handling techniques to improve pitching consistency and mitigate injury.  Kaleb demonstrated the old school method of “staying on top of the ball” versus the newer method of “giving 3rd base a high five”.  He also stated that it is easier to change pitching techniques with younger players versus older players.  Kaleb mentioned that Sophomores tend to be the hardest to change their techniques and that it takes approximately 3-4 months for those pitchers to change.  He stated that he would like to get awareness out to the club, coaches, and players to make a change for all pitchers.

Pitching Coordinator would cost $700 per team.  This fee includes a 4-hour clinic for coaches:

1.5 hours – classroom work

Break and time for questions

Mound work

This fee also includes a 2-hour clinic for every pitcher

It usually takes 2 weeks for younger players to start to see the benefits.  It takes approximately a month for players around 7-9 years old to adopt the new method of pitching. Coaches learn with the players so that they can continue to teach and support this new method of pitching away from Velocity Farm.  Kaleb also recommended that players learn how to juggle while learning this new method of pitching.  Juggling forces the player to focus on the ball which can help them acclimate and accept the new method of pitching faster.  Kaleb encourages players to take 3-5 minutes each day over the course of a month to practice.  This can be done during commercials or while video games are loading.

Kaleb sent an informational email and video to Adam that he can share with the coaches in the club and see what they think.  The email includes aggressive pricing that is advantageous to the club.  Kaleb is reaching out to several clubs, but he will limit the training to a total of 3 clubs this season.

2019 Uniforms:

Niki Frese from Ironside Apparel will meet Adam next Tuesday with approximately 12 different designs that she has come up with so far.  She has also already mocked up a hat that is similar to the current hat design but with opposite colors.  Overall the hat is black with a blue front.  There is a white “C” on the front.

All teams within the club should only purchase pre-approved uniforms by the board.  Adam will ask Niki to have home and alternate options for teams that would like to have multiple jerseys for ease of cleaning on tournament weekends or just for a variety of design.

Nick brought and shared more options for a hat logo other than the current “C” since we are “Clear Creek Amana”, not just “Clippers”.  Adam expressed concern that the school district may not allow the club to use “CCA”.  Nick already contacted the school district and stated that the use of CCA should be okay as long as we are not using the logos approved for school use only.

Adam would like to choose Under Armor gray pants for the uniform.  The charcoal gray used the past 2 years is a difficult color to purchase in case of an emergency.  The light gray is a color that can be found at most retail stores.

12U:

Currently there are only 5 players committed to 12U Gray team, one of which should really play in the 11U age group but was cut from that team’s roster.  In order to fill out the 12U Gray roster, Adam has asked Trevor Bollers to help get the word out to find more players.  Wade recommended sending out an email and Facebook message to the rest of the club to try to find more players.

14U: 

Travis Weber would like to form a second 14U team that would play the entire season instead of the current team that will play up into CCA High School baseball in May after the Clipper Classic.  So far he has 2 players for the roster.  Darci expressed concern regarding what will happen at the end of the season if some of the players on the team decide in the end that they really do want to play up into high school baseball.

Board Nominations:

Seth Ickowitz (7U assistant coach) and Adam Zupancic (9U parent) volunteered to help on the board.  Seth Ickowitz will eventually fill the opening as Treasurer and Adam Zupancic as Director of Operations.

Clipper Classic: 

The Clipper Classic has been set for May 11th and 12th, Mother’s Day weekend.

Action Items:

  • Adam
    • Meet with Niki from Ironside Apparel
    • Meet with coaches to reserve building usage for practices
    • Forward Velocity Farm Information to coaches and board members
  • Golda
    • Update the By-Laws
    • Post Membership Payment Due Dates on the website
    • Update Clipper Classic information on the website
    • Send email to coaches with email addresses for their teams

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 8:12pm by Adam Henderson.  The next meeting will be Thursday, September 20th at the Tiffin City Hall in Tiffin, IA at 7pm.  

Minutes submitted by: Golda Monohon, Secretary