I met with the coaches that I will be working with this summer last night at a little pub near my place.  It was a good meeting, we got to know each other a little better and talked about the upcoming season.  It seems like we are on the same page with regards to philosophy towards how the teams should be run.  This is a good thing – it will be easier to get along for sure.

We have set, sort of, the coaching staffs for the two teams.  We need need a few things to fall into place and a potential coach needs to decide if he wants to join our staff or go with another club.  We have a parent from another team that is interested in moving over, that also needs to be hashed out.

The league, Babe Ruth Calgary is slightly different than anything that I have done before.  When a player enters the league, they go through a series of evaluations where coaches and managers from the various clubs evaluate these new players and the a draft is held.  Once a player is drafted by a club, in my case that would be the Rockies, that player plays his entire BRC career with that club – unless he is traded or chooses to re-enter the draft.  So, I guess one of the keys is to draft well, otherwise, you could be “stuck” with a weak player for a number of years.  Since I am on the ground floor, I have a fairly steep learning curve, but I am looking forward to it.  There is a lot of experience in the coaches that are around me, both with coaching in general and the league and how it operates.

I am looking forward to getting back on the field.  I do enjoy umpiring, but not in the same way as I enjoy coaching.  We start with evaluations in a few short weeks, then the draft and then March and April are indoor workouts preparing for the season.  I am sure it will be here before we know it.

I have taken two years off of coaching and it has been nice – a break.  I coached for 19 straight years up to and including 2011, my last year coaching in St. Catharines.  That is a lot of time and energy every summer.  Enjoyable, for sure.  Now, I start a new chapter in a new Province and a new league.  Looking forward to the challenges ahead.