KINDERPLAY IS IN FULL SWING!

Want your 3 to 6 year old future Softball or Baseball All Star to get into the 'swing' of the season? We have the answer...  KINDERPLAY!  

Yes, the Mad River Program and its talented group of volunteer coaches have developed a new program specifically designed for the youngest players in the dugout!  The goal of this exciting new venture, which is open to both boys and girls, is to introduce young players to softball and baseball through fun and age-appropriate experiences.  Basic skills common to these sports are infused into fun games and activities that will help young players start off on the right foot by building solid fundamentals.  

The Arcata High School gymnasium is reserved for our KinderPlay athletes. Come rain or shine, we've got a place to play! The first KinderPlay session was last Saturday, March 24th and brought in a total of 17 future MVPs! Missed the opening session? Not to worry. Interested players who have yet to sign up can register on site at this Saturday's session.

The program will run most Saturdays, from 10-11 a.m. through April and May. For indoor participation, players will need tennis shoes. If players have cleats (not required), they can be worn outside if the weather is good and the high school softball team doesn't have a game. Otherwise, players don't need any equipment except for a glove and a fun-loving attitude! Bats are exciting but can be a safety issue, so for now, please leave bats at home.

During the KinderPlay hour, we encourage parent participation, but it is certainly not required. The Arcata High School Gym is located at 1720 M Street in Arcata, around the back of the main school building. If you have any questions, please ask!

RETURN OF THE MAD RIVER PITCHING CLINICS!

Over the last couple of years, Mad River Girls Fastpitch Softball Association has sponsored weekly "pitching clinics". We are pleased to announce the return of this wonderful opportunity, which is open to all girls who are interested in learning to pitch as well as those who want to improve their existing skills!  The first pitching clinic is scheduled  for this Sunday, April 1st, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Arcata High School (we have access to the gym if the weather is poor... and as of right now, it doesn't look good!) We invite ANY and ALL 10u's to come to this session to begin to learn a pitching routine that will help them succeed as pitchers. 10u pitchers will be working with Board Member and NCAA National Fastpitch Champion Sarah Jones and Arcata High School senior pitcher, Frankie Christen, We also invite 12/14u pitchers who will be working with Board Member, HSU Hall of Fame Pitcher Kelly Helms, and possibly, Board Member, Former CR  Player, and current Eureka High School Head Coach, Shanna McCracken. We request a parent accompany the pitcher to the clinic to serve as the designated catcher.  There is also a $5 clinic fee and we ask that all participants RSVP. Please RSVP your player's attendance to the clinic via email at madrivergirlssoftball@gmail.com so we can plan accordingly! Thank you!

GET READY FOR KINDER PLAY!!

It is official!! The Arcata High School gymnasium has been reserved for our Kinder Play athletes! Come rain or shine, we've got a place to play! Our first session of Kinder Play will begin this Saturday, March 24th, at 10 a.m. and will run 1 hour. For indoor participation, players will need tennis shoes. If players have cleats (not required), they can be worn outside if the weather is good and the high school softball team does not have a game. Otherwise, players shouldn't need any other equipment except for a glove! Bats are exciting but can be a safety issue, so for now, please leave bats at home. During the Kinder Play hour, we encourage parent participation, but it is certainly not required. Interested players who have yet to sign up can register on site. The high school is located at 1720 M Street, in Arcata. The gym is around the back of the main building...  drive past the pool, drive past the school, turn right at the last entry, drive up the road and make a sharp turn and you will be in front of the gym. We look forward to meeting you and your young ball players.  If you have any questions, please ask!

Travel Team Practice Sunday March 18 Samoa Gym

Travel Team Practice for Sat the 17th for the 10u, 12u has been rained out! Shocker, I know! I anticipate the 14u Winship practice will also be rained out due to our lovely Humboldt County weather! The good news, however, is that we have been able to secure the Samoa Gym (across the road from the Samoa cookhouse) for Sunday, March 18th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. instead!! This practice location will be for all three travel age brackets, 10u, 12u, and 14u! Lori Reed, the 14u coach will be leading the charge! Unfortunately, Sarah and I will not be in attendance (hence the original Saturday practice instead of Sunday) but I have volunteered some of you to assist Lori with her practice plan. She's already got it figured out as she and I dialoged earlier today! For those of you who I have volunteered, I will be sending you confirmation texts/email to see if you are game on for the task! For any recreational coaches who are interested in checking it out, we still encourage you to come if you are available! Thanks you guys! Have a great practice! Week day practices for Travel Teams (and Rec Teams) will be predicated on the weather first and availability of indoor locations second! As always, please stay tuned!

KinderPlay

For our KinderPlay Participants (approximately ages 3 to 6, no prior experience!)

Thank you so much for choosing the Mad River Softball organization to expose your young child to the sport of soft/baseball! We know that you have choices when it comes to the participation of your child in the sport! It is our belief that many of the skills transfer between baseball and softball so we feel that the KinderPlay is a great way to expose young kids to both sports! Our goal is to introduce KinderPlay players to the game through a fun and age appropriate experience. We plan to do that by infusing skills of the game into fun games and activities that will help young players start off on the right foot by building solid fundamentals that should help build and promote game success as they develop.... It was also our hope to start the program on March 17th. The program will run most Saturdays, from 10-11 a.m. at the Arcata Sports Complex through April and May. A schedule will be distributed as soon as we can get up and running! Unfortunately, due to the weather, the city has not taken off the tarps for us to begin. Currently, we are searching for some back up options to get these little guys going. As soon as I know anything, I will let you all know! We are VERY MUCH looking forward to working with this age bracket! If you have any questions, please let me know!

Kelly Helms
Mad River Girls Softball
Board Member

Coaches Corner

Please note we have added a new "Coaches Corner" to the blog where we will post forms, guides, and other info of specific interest to our Mad River Coaches. Currently, we have posted information relating to the ACE Coaches Certification Program and a sample practice plan that you can download. Hopefully this new "Coaches Corner" tab on the blog will prove a useful conduit for posting additional documents that we think may be of interest to our volunteer coaches.

We also want to thank our coaches for their attendance at the 2012 coaches meeting last night and for stepping up to volunteer for our ASA Program! Thank You!

Reminder... equipment will be handed out Sunday March 18 at 3 p.m. at the Arcata Sports Complex in Arcata. Equipment distribution will happen rain or shine! If you cannot be present during this time, please contact Joe McDonald 707-672-4793 to make alternative arrangements! Practices will begin next week weather willing! Lets Play Ball!

Rec and Travel Ball Update

The Board of Directors for the Mad River Fastpitch Softball Association believes that communication is immensely valuable within our organization. As a result, we feel the need to update you after our recent Board meeting:

1) Currently, there are over 100 softball registrants ranging from ASA age 3 in the new KinderPlay program to age 13 in the 14u recreational and travel ball programs. It’s quite a bit of data to process so please be patient with us while we organize! We are very pleased about our numbers especially on our first go within our new organizational structure. We also want to make sure we do it right so are taking our time to do so! We hope that is okay with all of you (we know that waiting can be a killer!).

2) Recreational team distribution is being based on several factors, including assessment information collected on Sunday, March 4th, which, by the way, the turn out was FABULOUS! Thank you very much for making the commitment to be there. We know that some of you came from Willow Creek, some from Garberville, and some raced home from the basketball tournament in Crescent City! Your efforts were much appreciated! Along with assessment information, geographics, willingness to travel to a neighboring city, and special requests (in the hopes for team parity) will be evaluated. The first round of team distributions have been completed and will be shared later this week.

3) We are currently gearing up for our recreational coaches meeting, tentatively set for Tuesday, March 13th. We have contacted individuals who are interested in coaching at the recreational level. If you fall into that category and have not notified us of your interest to coach, please do so ASAP. We are also seeking "support personnel" if any of you are interested in helping and working with your daughter's team. (An email response works fine)

4) Practice sites have been secured to start practice the week of March 19th. That should give recreational coaches plenty of time to contact players and notify them of their first practice. Any paperwork that parents and players still have on hand can be turned in to any Mad River Softball Board Member or to the coaches themselves on the 1st day of the practice.

5) As for travel, the response back to my initial "Calling all Travel Players" email about the upcoming Medford tournament about a week or so ago, has been slow. We know there is plenty of interest because many of you indicated that on the registration forms and we even have some travel deposits! It is our feeling that you may not know enough or understand enough about how that program works or maybe you are joining us late? We aren't really sure. We understand that many of the details might be fuzzy as we are working cooperatively with the Fogg organization to create a stronger, united, and more competitive travel program and some of you might just be new to the notion of travel ball itself. Our plans are to get more thorough travel information out relatively soon but unfortunately, time has been very limited with all the details we are working through relating to the rec program. Quite simply, there are not enough hours in the day for all the things we'd like to accomplish!)

As a result, the Board has decided not to rush into anything that might jeopardize the integrity of our program and has canceled the notion of heading to Medford. This occurred for a few reasons: 1) 10u, 12u, and 14u did not have enough players to field a team based on the feedback I was provided by the email Kelly sent, 2) word from Medford is only one 14u team is signed up for this Medford tournament and it is not us! There are approximately three 12u teams and there are ZERO teams signed up for the 10u division. 3) It has been our experience that when we don't listen to instinct and try to move something forward before it is ready, it often backfires. It just seems to make sense to slow the process down, build it right, put the players in place appropriately, and focus on the next tournament contest scheduled in April. The Board figures that if things go well over the course of our travel adventure, we can always extend and/or expand our travel season somewhere else within the travel schedule to make up for that missed contest date.

If any of you have any questions, comments, concerns, or feedback, whatsoever, please be sure to speak up!! Thank you

Welcome to Mad River Girls Softball!

Thank you parents and players for participating in our 2012 player assessment at Humboldt University last Sunday! We experienced an incredible turn-out and an amazing level of enthusiasm for our rapidly expanding program - Humboldt County's only ASA Softball multi-level, recreational and competitive travel organization! We also thank our many skilled volunteers that ran the varied assessment stations, which included several former college players, current and former High School fastpitch coaches from Arcata, Eureka, and Fortuna, and many other softball-savoy volunteers. It was an excellent day and a great way to kick-start the season for Mad River's newly expanded and "retrofitted" program. Now that we have player numbers defined, stay tuned for upcoming announcements and emails relating to Rec Program team assignments and practice and games schedules.

We are pleased to provide you with a choice when it comes to selecting a girl’s softball organization! Thank you for choosing Mad River, which is unique in many ways! How unique is it? Below are just a few of the reasons why we stand out from other programs:

1. We are the only Amateur Softball Association (ASA) organization in Humboldt County. Why is this important? First, ASA softball is aligned with the college level and style of play. What does this mean? It means that the rules enforced in the NJCAA, NCAA, and NAIA are the same rules that apply to ASA softball, making it a seamless transition for the amateur softball player to further her softball career at the college level of play and beyond. To give you an example, in ASA and in college, both feet must start on the pitching mound prior to the start of a pitch and when delivering the pitch, a pitcher may not step back off the rubber. In other softball organizations, including Little League and High School softball, these moves are legal. In ASA and college, however, these moves are are strictly enforced as illegal. Such differences in regulations make it challenging for a player to transition into college level play as it mandates that the player significantly modify their habituated playing techniques.

2. ASA softball is not bound by territories. Because of this, we are excited to announce that we have players stretching from Willow Creek to Garberville! Over time, our hope is to expand those areas into Crescent City as well as Hoopa!

3. ASA has many levels of play including recreational and more competitive travel programs. These levels include “Gold” for the elite 18u travel softball athlete, “A” for the highly competitive, skilled travel softball player ranging from 8u to 18u, “B” for the recreational athlete who enjoys travel play but at a less competitive level, and “C” the recreational program that challenges the first year player to the most seasoned and experienced.

4. Our organization’s Board of Directors includes three former college players: Kelly Helms, Hall of Fame Humboldt State University pitcher, Sarah Jones, NCAA National Softball Champion from Humboldt State University, and Shanna McCracken, College of the Redwoods utility player.

5. Our first-year travel coaches included former ASA, high school, and college players like Lilo Reith and Heather Goodwin, as well as coaches with recreational and high school level coaching accolades like Lori Reed and Melanie Pizzini. As we move into the second year of our travel program, we are looking to include and incorporate College of the Redwoods players Karlie Harpin and Brittany Gonzalez, as well as Humboldt State University player, Kirsten Nouzovsky into our already strong coaching staff.

6. We care deeply about providing a quality softball experience for you and your softball player. Our purpose is not to tally wins, but to instead support the development of the players, the teams, and the program as a whole. In our organization, it is all about the experience that we provide in hopes of developing strong, confident and empowered young ladies as the foundation for an elite softball organization that can successfully host all the competitive levels that ASA softball has to offer.

Again... Our thanks to the players, parents, and the Association's many volunteers that are the Foundation of our Program.

The Board of Directors, Mad River Girls Fastpitch Softball Association
~Kelly Helms, Nicholas Hetrick, Sarah Jones, Shanna McCracken, and Jessica Parker~

Assessment Day & Sign-ups this Sunday March 4th!

Welcome to Mad River Girls Softball! We are looking forward to an exciting season of change! Last season we expanded our recreational program to include a travel division and this season we are looking to accommodate players in both a recreational and travel capacity. Recreational and travel players this season stretch from Willow Creek all the way to Garberville! With that said, we would like to remind you about the recreational and travel assessments scheduled for Sunday, March 4th at the Humboldt State University Fieldhouse. Players 10 and under are scheduled for a 9:30 assessment time. Players 12 and under are scheduled for a 10:30 assessment time and players 14 and under are scheduled for an 11:30 assessment time.

We would like to stress the importance of player attendance at assessments for the evaluation of each player and the effective distribution of players to a recreational and/or travel team. On assessment day, player and team distribution will be evaluated based on geographics, skill, and age. For example, a player based on skill who qualifies for a 12u age bracket would be more appropriately placed and challenged at the 14u level. Evaluators at the assessments include three board members, Kelly Helms, Shanna McCracken, and Sarah Jones, all of which have played college softball and coached at either the recreational, travel, high school, and/or college levels. Other evaluators will include former softball players in ASA, high school, and college programs like Cari Killingsworth, Lilo Reith, and Heather Goodwin. Support personnel will also be on hand to assist with the logistics and operations of the assessments. If you have not yet signed up with Mad River Girls Softball, it’s not too late! Simply come at the appropriate time for your player's age and we will get you signed up and run thru the assessment!

Finally, if you are not a member of our facebook page, we would encourage you to check it out! The website is located at:http://www.facebook.com/groups/155033233999/