Menlo Atherton Little League
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2010 PCA Honoring The Game Award Winner
Sportsmanship/PCA

Menlo-Atherton Little League
Sportsmanship/PCA

Sections:

2011 MA-LL Family Pledge
2010 League Survey Results
MA-LL PCA Commitment
2010 Sportsmanship Award Winners
Special Recognition for MA Little League Coach

2010 MA Little League Survey Results

For the second straight year, the League conducted a formal feedback survey of all families involved in all divisions from T-Ball, Pitching Machine, Majors, Challenger and Juniors. As in 2009, nearly 30% of families responded, which is an extremely high response rate for any research survey. The survey’s objectives were to solicit input on how the League and its coaches were performing on multiple metrics and garner insight into what the League was doing right and where it needed to improve. Here are the key findings:

Strengths/What MA-LL is Doing Well

  • The League performed as well or better on virtually every metric in 2010 vs. 2009 and made significant improvement on several measures:
    • Website
    • Registration
    • Evaluations/Tryouts process prior to drafs
    • Coach selection
    • Clinics (especially accessibility and hitting)
  • The League overall and our Coaches are perceived very highly. Parents indicated that MA LL is a solid, well run organization with a good culture and a strong and very dedicated group of coaches at all levels. There was a particularly positive response and overall sentiment about the T-Ball division.

Opportunities For Improvement:
  • Communication: Generally provide clearer understanding in the following areas:
    • Rules by Division – what are they and what are the differences between divisions.
    • Player/Draft Selection – how are players rated, how are they placed into a division and how are they selected on a particular team.
    • All-Star Selection - who selects the players and better define the selection process making it as objective as possible.
    • Coach Selection - who selects the coaches, what are the qualifications by division and how are they selected.
    • The Grievance Procedure - what is the process (for players, parents, coaches) and who do we contact for what and when.
    • Scheduling - provide better and timelier information for scheduling (practices, games, post season, clinics, events, etc.) and any changes. This applies both at the League and team level.
  • Coach Development: Continue to improve the training, education and capabilities of our coaches in all divisions so they can better teach the kids skill development, the mental game and baseball IQ. Continue to ensure that our coaches balance winning with good sportsmanship, learning the game and having fun.

Net Takeaway/Next Steps
MA LL continues to make progress as a Youth Sports Organization. The Board, Coaches and parent volunteers are all helping to make the League a good one for all concerned. There are several clear areas for improvement and the League’s Board will be developing enhancements over the winter months to address the needed improvements to be instituted in time for the 2011 season.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided their feedback. It was very helpful. We also acknowledge the support of the folks at Market Tools, Inc. and Zoomerang (the online survey tool) for their expertise and contributions to our feedback initiative.

MA Little League PCA Commitment

Menlo–Atherton Little League is dedicated to managing the balance between winning and learning life lessons through sport as part of our core values. At all levels of play the League makes a concerted effort to educate its coaches, players and parents on the importance of sportsmanship and fair play at all times, both on and off the field.

To this end, M-A Little League has partnered with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). PCA is a nonprofit organization founded at Stanford University with the mission to transform youth sports so sports can transform youth. PCA was created to revolutionize the culture of youth sports to give all young athletes the opportunity for a positive, character-building experience. More background and information on PCA can be found on their website (www.positivecoach.org).

PCA has two primary goals:

  1. Replace the "win-at-all-cost" model of coaching with the Double-Goal Coach®, i.e., the Coach who wants to win but has a second, more important, goal of using sports to teach life lessons
  2. Teach youth sports organization leaders how to create an organizational culture in which Honoring the Game and not just winning is the norm

The Menlo Atherton Little League adheres to the philosophy and goals of PCA and has been an affiliate member of PCA for a number of years. We expect our Coaches and our parents to follow the tenants of the PCA philosophy and offer educational clinics for both our Coaches and parents of our players. As part of our coaches development program, the League has committed to a good-faith effort to ensure that every coach in our organization is trained and certified or re-certified this year as a Double-Goal CoachTM. Coaches can be trained and certified in a live workshop or through PCA’s online workshop at www.PositiveCoach.org.

For additional sportsmanship and responsible youth sports perspective and resources, please click on this link: https://www.responsiblesports.com/default.aspx

PCA Team Parent

In addition to having all coaches PCA certified, each team at every level elects a PCA Parent Representative to help coaches work with their team’s families to foster good sportsmanship as part of the team’s culture and in the stands.The role of the PCA Team Parent is part educator, part booster and part role model. THe PCA Parent plays an increasingly integral role in helping each team, from T-Ball to Majors, to create a positive experience for all involved all season long (click on this link for more details: PCA Parent Role).

Parent/Player Pledge

Menlo-Atherton Little League believes strongly in balancing winning with learning and sportsmanship. We are striving to build a league culture where kids can play hard, learn and have fun without the "win at all costs" pressures that negatively affect kids and youth sports organizations today. Parents are encouraged and expected to keep proper perspective and be good role models.  Additionally, players are expected to understand what good sportsmanship means and to adhere to a set of guidelines. To this end, before the season starts, we ask each parent of each player in all divisions and each player, especially in the Single A to Majors divisions, to sign a pledge of sportsmanship acknowledging some basic expectations for behavior, committing to set a good example and adhering to a simple code of conduct (click here to see the MA Little League Parent/Player Pledge).

Training & Education

The League again held educational sportsmanship training for its coaches and Team Parents.  All Coaches in each division were required to complete a workshop from PCA as part of their preparations for the season.  Team Parents selected by their coaches, from Single A to Majors divisions, were invited to participate in an educational workshop conducted by PCA representatives specifically for better understanding the role and responsibilities of the Team Parent and providing tips to influence good sportsmanship behavior by parents in the stands.

Additionally, PCA has a sizeable resource library of tips, perspective and information regarding sports psychology and how to develop good sportsmanship habits on its website (www.PositiveCoach.org) for both Coaches and parents (PCA Resource Library).

2010 PCA Seal of Commitment 


Sportsmanship Awards

As a further demonstration of the League’s commitment to good sportsmanship, each team - from Single A to Majors - selects one of their players who have best demonstrated excellent sportsmanship throughout the season. These players are given special recognition in a public ceremony at the end of the baseball season for their contribution to sportsmanship and to MA Little League.

Congratulations 2010 Sportsmanship Award Winners !!

On Saturday, June 12th, at the annual Player Appreciation Day, Menlo Atherton Little League announced the recipients of this year’s Sportsmanship Awards. Honored were one player from each team, and one or two coaches from each division, who showed a great sense of sportsmanship throughout the season.

This year Menlo-Atherton Little League was one of four youth sports organizations across the nation to be recognized by the Positive Coaching Alliance for its efforts in promoting sportsmanship among its coaches, parents and players!

Back Row: Coaches Dan Burke, Dan Aguiar, Jeff Phillips, Lindsay Bowen, Doug Kaufman, Bob Crowe; Middle: Andre Kyle-Abad, Connor Mead, Rob Wilds, Max Chapman, Michael Landolfi, Jack Posthauer, James Beckwith, Gavin Lombardi, Lane Leschly, Zach Novak, Max Comolli (sub), Kyle Bryan, Heath Hooper, Jackson Benning, Austin Wensko, Chloe West;  Front Row: Joshua Goldberg, Rowen Barnes, Trey Ross, Andrew Morris, Christian Van Stralen, Matthew Huo, Alex Mummery, Jake Albro, Joe Posthauer, Alexi Stavropoulos, Sam Forese, Christopher Oyster;  Not pictured: (Coaches) John Crevelt and Brad Bowen; (Players) Max Comolli, James Ballard, Will Garlinghouse, Conor Newby

2010 Sportsmanship Award WInners

Congratulations 2009 Sportsmanship Award winners!!

To underscore the league's commitment to sportsmanship, each team in A, AA, AAA and Majors awarded the "Sportsmanship Award" to the one player who best exemplified the spirit of the game and the spirit of Little League itself -- "Play Fair, Strive to Win, Do One's Best."

Pictured: (Back: Austin Wilson, Ben Simon, Stephen Kaufman, JR Hardy, Andrew Simpson, Riley Haught, Ian Rosenfeld, James Burke, Suraj Dhawan, Andrew Wyatt, Brad Yaffe, Jackson Benning; Front: Liam Smith-Leitch, Cooper Ketsdever, Joe Posthauer, Hunter Thompson, Robby Batista, Rob Wild, Grant Porter, Zachary Meyer, Peter Vitale, Nolan Birkeland, Ethan Mimeles; Not Pictured: Grant Komin, Emelio Obando, Will Moldau, Walt Smithers)


2009 Sportsmanship Award Winners

Special Recognition for MA Little League Coach!!

On August 8, 2009, one of M-A Little League’s very own, Mike Mainiero – Coach of the AA Tigers, was honored at AT&T Park as one of the Bay Area’s best examples of leadership in sportsmanship and being a “Double Goal” Coach – i.e., balancing winning with learning life lessons through sport.

The Award was sponsored by the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) and more than 200 submissions were received. Mike was one of just 10 coaches from around the Bay Area across all different sports and age groups to have been selected. Mike and the other nine award winners were formally recognized on field by the Giants and PCA staff during the game. As part of the Giant’s PCA Day, Mike and the others also had a chance to get their own ‘chalk talk’ session with several of the Giants coaches on how to manage and motivate players.

Here’s a short summary of what the AA Commissioners said of Mike in support of his nomination.

“Mike is truly one those coaches you wish every child had the opportunity to learn from. He cherishes life, life’s challenges and the skills needed to navigate through it all. He emphasizes how baseball brings about the same or similar challenges each of us will face throughout our lives and uses every situation as a teachable moment.”

As a first step in the process of getting to one nominee for the league, each of the different divisions within M-A LL were asked to identify the one coach in their respective divisions that, similar to our player Sportsmanship Awards, best embodies the spirit of Little League Baseball - "To Play Fair, Strive to Win, and Do One's Best" and consistently demonstrates excellent sportsmanship. The nominees by division were:

A: Dean Wilkins
AA: Mike Mainiero
AAA: Bill Hoy
Majors: Brian Rodrigues

Congrats to Mike and the others for being great role models. We are fortunate to have a group of coaches throughout our league who put a priority on sportsmanship as part of the youth sports experience and a league culture that tries to balance winning with teaching our kids life lessons.