What is a Team Parent?

Team Parent (noun):
/teem pair-uhnt/

A Team Parent is a key volunteer who helps keep things organized off the field so coaches can focus on the game. They help with communication, uniforms, snacks, schedules, and making sure families have the information they need throughout the season.

Team Parents are the connection between the league, the coaches, and the families, and they make a big difference in helping the season run smoothly for everyone.

Thank you for volunteering to be a Team Parent, your support is a huge part of what makes Western Little League run smoothly and successfully. Whether it’s helping coordinate volunteers or keeping families informed, your role is instrumental throughout the season!

This section is your go-to guide for everything you’ll need this season, from responsibilities and templates to communication tools, Snack Bar sign-ups, and more. You don’t have to do it all alone, this toolkit is here to make your job easier, and the league is always here to support you.

Let’s work together to make this season fun, organized, and memorable for every player and family on your team.

Key Responsibilities

• Working with the coach to coordinate an initial team meeting with all parents at the start of the season to help communicate season expectations
• Coordinating weekly communication with families through GameChanger. Making sure that all parents have placed their phone numbers in GameChanger will make contact much easier
  
• Work with families if they want to coordinate a team banner (optional)
• Ensuring that you have a volunteer from the team for each home game to work in the snack bar (required)
  
• Ensuring you have someone volunteering to lead post-game bleacher clean-up (just someone to remind famlies to pick up and throw away trash)
  
• Organizing the team meal payment either at the start of the season, or before each game
  
• Supporting uniform distribution and ensuring you communicate pant, belt and sock color as early as possible
  
• Rallying volunteers for special events when the League needs the muscle (Opening Day, Picture Day, fundraisers)
• Encouraging all families to take photos of games throughout the season and post them on social media (tagging Western's social sites)
  
• Helping coaches plan the end-of-season celebration
  
• Coordinating an end-of-season gift for the coach(es) (optional)

Scorekeeping

As Team Parent, part of your role includes helping the coaching staff ensure there is a scorekeeper assigned for every game (both home and away) using the GameChanger app, which is also Western Little League’s official platform for team communication.

Why Scorekeeping Matters:

• It allows families to follow the game in real time, especially when they can’t attend in person.
• It helps the coaches review stats and game activity after each game.
  
• It ensures GameChanger functions properly as our communication and tracking tool.
  

You can encourage parents to learn how to score keep by attending a training session at the beginning of the season, and by going to GameChanger University online, which offers easy and quick tutorials.

💡 Note: All Team Parents must complete a Volunteer Application at the start of the season.

All team communications will be sent via GameChanger, which is Western Little League’s official messaging platform. Below are some helpful messages templates that Team Parents typically send to the team throughout the season; these are just some examples, and you can customize or create your own to communicate with your team's famlies.

Season Kickoff Message

Hi team! I’m [Your Name], your Team Parent this season, I'm going to be working with [Coach Name] to help keep everyone informed, and things running smoothly. I’ll be sending weekly updates right here on GameChanger to keep you posted on snacks, volunteers, and any last-minute changes.

The practice and game schedule will be uploaded here soon, please make sure to RSVP to all practices and games, this will help to ensure we know who to expect, particularly with games, if we need to pull in a pool player from another team. An immediate ask from parents is to please go into their player's profile > go to Contacts > under Emergency Contact click on +Add Emergency Number. This will provide myself, and Coach with the best number to reach out to you on.

For each home game, we’ll need one volunteer for the snack bar and one person to help make sure everyone cleans up around their space in the bleachers after each game. I’ll post a sign-up schedule soon thank you in advance for helping make this season run smoothly!

Weekly Game Reminder

Weekly Update

🏟 Game: Saturday @ 10:00 AM - Location Home/Away
🍔 Snack Bar: [Volunteer Name]
🧹 Bleacher Clean-up: [Volunteer Name]
⏰ Please arrive 1-hour before game time. Please make sure to RSVP if you're child will be in attendance. Thanks, team!

The above information can also be added into the Notes for an event in GameChanger for easy access.

Rainout/Delay Update

⚠️ Game Update 

Game is delayed/canceled due to rain. I’ll share reschedule info here on GameChanger as soon as we get it!

Little League Night at the Stockton Ports

Mark your calendars - Little League Night at the Stockton Ports is coming up! This is always a fun night for families and players to celebrate the season together at Banner Island Ballpark.

🗓 Date: [Insert date]
🕕 Gates open: [Time] | First pitch: [Time]
👕 Wear your team jersey and hat!

Families are encouraged to attend and sit together in our reserved section, and tickets can be purchased at the Snack Bar up until [deadline date]. Players will get to talk on the the field in the pre-game parade, so make sure your player is early, security screening can hugely delay getting into the complex.

Let me know if you have questions!

💰 Hit-a-Thon Fundraiser - First Announcement

Team - our big Hit-a-Thon fundraiser is around the corner and we need your help to make it a success! This is our leagues largest fundraiser and is huge for making sure that we can keep providing the community experience our players deserve.

Here’s what to know:

• Each player will get 10 pitches and try to hit it as far as possible!
• We’re asking families to help collect pledges from friends, family, or neighbors. Sponsors can pledge per hit or give a flat donation.
• Funds raised help support the league and directly benefit our team.

📅 Event Date: [Insert date]

Details coming soon

Let’s rally together - even small donations add up! Stay tuned for more info this week.

💰 Hit-a-Thon Reminder / Midweek Push

Just a reminder that our Hit-a-Thon is this [day]! If you haven’t already, now’s the time to help your player collect a few last pledges.

Even one or two small donations go a long way - and we’ve got some great prizes for top hitters and top fundraisers league-wide!

📅 Date: [Insert date]
📍 Location: [Field or event area]
⏰ [Time frame]

Thanks for helping support Western Little League and keeping our kids on the field!