Team Mom Organization Tips
Team Moms help make every baseball season successful by assisting the Coaches with team fundraising, planning, and administration.
Becoming Team Mom, whether you volunteered for the position (or became it by default as the Coach’s Wife), is a potentially stressful position that requires leadership, organization, good time management, and the ability to delegate responsibility. That’s why it’s a role perfect for a Mom! Staying organized as a Team Mom doesn’t have to be stressful. By dedicating a few hours to upfront work at the beginning of the season, you can keep your team organized and meeting your team’s ‘off the field’ goals so the Coach can focus on building and growing the team’s success on the field.
As Team Mom, you’re a bridge between the Coach and the parents, and your leadership can help build together the Parent team by aligning on goals and helping to delegate and share the responsibilities of running the business side of a baseball team.
This is especially important when your team is heading to Cooperstown, the Cal Ripken Experience, or other large tournaments that often require months (or even years) of planning and fundraising.
Even if your team is not traveling to an expensive out of state tournament, your team likely needs fundraising for team banners, uniforms, equipment, or local tournament fees. You may also need to coordinate volunteers for anything from field maintence to concession stand duties. Every team’s needs are different, and it’s often up to the Team Mom (and her team of helpers) to make sure these responsibilities are accomplished.
Here are a few tips for staying organized as a Team Mom, including how to set up a Team Mom Binder.
Align with the Coach(es) on the Team’s Needs and Goals
Meeting with the Coach(es) early in the season is the first step to making sure that you’re clear on what their needs and expectations are for you, and for the other parents, throughout the season.
Some suggested topics to cover during this meeting include:
- Has the team roster been finalized?
- Has the tournament and game schedule been finalized?
- What is the estimated cost for all game and tournament fees?
- Is there money left over from last year?
- Is there a team checking/savings account currently set up?
- Are there outstanding invoices for tournament fees, uniforms, equipment, etc.?
- What are the fundraising goals for this year? How much money will we need to raise through donations and fundraising events?
- What are your expectations for how I communicate with parents? Do you suggest emails, regular parent meetings, or some other method of communication?
This list is not all inclusive, and should be tailored to your team’s age as well as the organization’s needs. A t-ball Team Mom’s responsibilities will differ greatly from a 14U Team Mom’s responsibilities!
Meet with the Parents to align on goals, expectations, and volunteer needs
A Parents Meeting is an important kick off to every season. The Coach usually shares the schedule and expectations for the season and will introduce you as the Team Mom. You can use this time outline your responsibilities, share your fundraising and volunteer goals for the season, collect contact information and medical information for every player, and begin to solicit volunteers to assist with anything that requires Parent involvement (concession stand, snack duties, fundraising committee, etc.)
Collect and organize Team Contact information
It is helpful to have a handy reference of your Players’ names, along with their Parent Contact Information. This will come in handy, not only for your own use, but for the Coach as well! Create a dedicated email distribution list so that you can send off a quick email if needed.
You may also want to consider, after gaining parent permission of course, to create a contact list for the other parents on the team. Especially for new families, this can greatly assist with helping them learn other parents (and their players) names, and assist with coordinating carpools, etc.
Organize Fundraising Events
Often one of the most difficult responsibilities of being a Team Mom is setting up fundraising activities for your team. Once you know your team’s fundraising goal, you will want to quickly brainstorm some fundraising activities with your Parent team. When picking a fundraising activity, you’ll want to consider time commitment, outset cost for any items you need to purchase (i.e. the popular Yeti Cooler full of liquor raffle can easily cost well into the hundreds of dollars) as well as how the money will be distributed to the team after the fundraising activity ends.
A couple fundraising tips:
- If you’re running any sort of raffle or 50/50 type of fundraiser, you will want to check locally to see if a license is required.
- Ask your parent team what they’re comfortable doing in terms of fundraising. Some parents may prefer to do several smaller fundraising events over the course of a season (selling cookies, candles, pizzas, etc.) or some may prefer to do one large fundraising event (a Memorial Day Tournament with raffles, etc.). Some other parents may just prefer to write you a check to cover their part of the fundraising goal. Definitely consider everyone’s needs and preferences when selecting fundraising activities.
- Consider soliciting local businesses for donations. You will want to find a way to recognize their generosity, whether through a banner or a post on social media.
- Local businesses like ice cream parlors, diners, and fast food restaurants will sometimes offer to do a fundraising event where a percentage of the sales over a set number of hours or days will be donated to the team. Advertising these events throughout your local area is the key to success – – you drive more sales to the local business, and in turn your percentage of the sales will be greater!
Track Fundraising and Money Management
Once you’ve set up a Fundraising activity, you’ll want to closely track the money spent and earned. Depending on how your organization is set up, you may want to consider setting up a checking account for the team so that money can be easily tracked and invoices (if any) can be paid without worrying about getting reimbursed.
A simple excel spreadsheet can be used to track all in going and outgoing money, as well as how your team’s funds are tracking towards your goals.
Create a simple system for collecting and storing receipts (both paper and electronic) so you can easily locate them for payment disputes, refund requests, or auditing of the account at the end of the season.
Assist with Equipment loans and Uniform ordering
You may need to assist the Coach(es) with loaning out equipment as well as ordering uniforms. For equipment loans, it is helpful to create a spreadsheet to remind you at the end of the season ‘what’ was loaned to ‘whom’.
For ordering uniforms, you may be responsible for collecting size information from Parents, collecting money, or placing the order itself.
Don’t Do Everything!
You don’t need to do everything alone! Be sure to solicit volunteers from that first Parent Meeting. Depending on your organization, you may need to solicit volunteers for the following:
- Concession Stand
- Field Maintenance, Facility Maintenance Bathroom Cleaning
- Walk Up Song DJ
- Fundraising Activities
- Tournament Ticket Sales
- After Practice Snacks
- End of Season Party Planning
Easily maintain a spreadsheet or Sign Up Sheet listing Name, Contact Information, and what Activity the Volunteer is signing up for (which may include Hours to be worked).
Because life happens, you may also want to consider signing up more Volunteers than you need for an activity, or a rotating list of volunteers you can depend on to help out if someone can’t make their scheduled time due to sickness, family emergencies, or other unplanned circumstances.
Build a Team Mom Binder
Being a Team Mom requires A LOT of organization! Many Team Moms collect all their team information into a Team Mom Binder. One of my best selling items in my Etsy Shop is my Team Mom Printables Pack. This pack of printable worksheets makes setting up your Team Mom Binder a breeze!
Perfect for the new or experienced team mom, these printable documents can be printed out as needed and organized in a Team Mom Binder, to keep you on top of all your team management responsibilities!
The Team Mom Printables Pack includes the a Team Mom To-Do List, as well as the following sections:
Fundraising and Team Money Management
– Fundraising Tips: 2 pages with proven in-person and virtual fundraising ideas and tips, to help you brainstorm ideas to raise money for tournaments, trips, uniforms, etc.
– Fundraising Planner: 2 pages to help brainstorm ideas, assign responsibilities to volunteers, set action dates, and track the results of your fundraising.
– Team Fundraising Tracker: 2 pages to help you track Fundraising Income and Expenses.
Parent Volunteers
– Volunteer Sign Up Sheet. Print a copy for every event you need volunteers for (uniform distribution and returns, concession stand, fundraising events, etc.) and solicit help from your fellow team parents.
– Snack Sign Up Sheet. Print and distribute this Sign Up Sheet to help get snack volunteers. Includes a section at the top where you can bring attention to team Food Allergies. As a Sports Mom of a player with food allergies, I know how important this information is when choosing team snacks.
– End of Season Party Sign-Up. If your team is organizing a potluck End of Season party, pass this sign up sheet around to get volunteers. Includes team allergy information.
– End of Season and Team Party Planners. Depending on the size of your team and sports organization, Team End of Season Parties can range from casual backyard potlucks, to Sports Banquets held at an outside venue. No matter the event, this two page planner will help you brainstorm ideas, delegate responsibilities, and track your budget for the event.
Team Management
– Team List – Keep track of Player Names, Jersey numbers, Parent/Guardian names, Phone and Email
– Team Roster – Player Name, Jersey number, positions played. A helpful reference for families new to your team – – we’ve had parents say they hand this sheet out to families so everyone knows who to cheer for!
– Coach Contact Information
– Team Contact Information (3 sheets included, for 12 players, but print out as many copies as you need for your team)
– Field Information includes sections for League, Field Name, Address,notes section.
– Venue Information for indoor stadiums, arenas, etc. with Venue Name, Address, notes section.
– Practice Schedule sheets in two format (landscape and portrait)
– 2022 Tournaments Planner – – give your team parents a long range view of tournaments to plan for!
– Uniform Sizing Info – you can hand out this sheet to parents so they can measure players at home, or use it at the field to assist with uniform fitting.
– Equipment Tracker – if your team distributes equipment to players, use this to keep track of equipment.
– Uniform Tracker – if your team distributes uniforms that are returned at the end of the season, use this form to keep track of uniforms and uniform pieces (helmets, pads, etc.)
Other Team Mom Forms
The pack also includes Dated Calendar Pages for January through December 2022, though this pack of printables can be used year after year.
Just print, fill in and organize into a Binder and you’re ready for that first Parent meeting!
Conclusion
Being a Team Mom is a lot of hard work, but is very rewarding. Your time spent helping organize volunteers and fundraising helps ensure that your team can attend the tournaments and trips they want to play in each season. You organize and delegate to volunteers to make sure that everything from the concession stand to fundraising events is staffed and covered. You help bridge the gap between the Coaches and the Parents, and provide leadership and organization to help the team meets its goals.
If you liked this post, here are a couple related posts:
Cooperstown All Star Village – Tips for Parents
Cal Ripken Experience Aberdeen – Tips for Parents
Here are some links to other Baseball related items in my Etsy Shop:
The Ultimate Baseball Mom Planner
