Offseason Work as a Manager

If you're a die hard ball player, you're missing it already. The best thing to do if you fall in to that category: manage a team; November and December give you lots to do.

First off, league meetings and wrap ups happen in November (usually). Nobody has other ball commitments and there is the time to discuss changes and such. It's hard to talk about changes in the spring right before the league starts and in between spring/summer/fall leagues.

The best part of this time of year though, is getting your team set for tournaments in the next year. Planning your tournaments before the year turns over is useful for a number of reasons:

1. Lots of people have to put in their request for vacation time at the beginning of the year. Knowing when a tournament is allows them to make sure they book the required time off for travel, etc.
   
   
2. Tournament organizers have time to answer questions about their tournament and their responses will be received much sooner.
   
   
3. Decisions don't have to be made right away. You can 'sleep on it' for a couple weeks if you have to. There is no rush.
   
   
4. Fundraisers can be planned. You have lots of time to work out what fundraisers you will do and when.

There are a lot more reasons specific to each team, but these should set a good framework for starting some managerial items now. Hang in there slopitch fans, only 5 more months to go.