Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook To follow are a few pages with suggested duties for several of the volunteer positions within the BYH organization. These are not strict rules, but guidelines and suggestions on how to make the player s and parent s seasons successful. Communication is key in all of these positions. Thank you for your commitment and willingness to help out. We are all volunteers in this organization and it s up to us to make BYH successful.
Table of Contents: Learn to Play Coordinator Division Coordinators Team Managers Ice Schedulers Tournament Coordinators Board Members General Lessons Learned (read these if nothing else!) Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 2 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision
Learn to Play Coordinator Advertise the program through various outlets Maintain participation levels of ~ 40 skaters Provide information to interested parents and answer questions via phone and email Ensure all participants have completed their registration requirements Communicate registration details to registrar and board Work with the BYH equipment manager to order team jerseys and socks for all players in the LTP program distribute to skaters Coordinate extra ice sessions and cross-ice games with other local organizations o These can be a lot of fun consider making it a pizza night at the rink. o Several local organizations have Friday evening ice slots, which work well for pizza nights! Provide on-ice or at-the-rink support for parents and children each week Coordinate and register assistant coaches and parent helpers Coordinate a River Rat day so that the players can skate during period breaks at a River Rat game may need more than one day if participation is high. Contact Stephen Leopold at sleopold@albanyriverrats.com or 487-2204. Provide feedback to board on what can be done better next year Find someone to replace you for next year! Division Coordinators Promote your division and answer inquiries prior to season start Communicate coaching assignments to all players and parents at the beginning of the season Provide coaches with registration details for their team including roster and contact information Provide coaches, team managers, and parents general expectations for their division and teams final team expectations to be communicated via the head coach or team manager Coordinate season activities with each team via team manager or coaches this will include picture day, jerseys, socks, and equipment Represent your division and resolve disputes between your teams and the board Follow up with parents and players on fees due to organization Follow up on open/needed registration details for teams and players The Mite Coordinator can work with the River Rat s Organization to have the kids skate at intermission of a River Rats game. Contact Stephen Leopold at sleopold@albanyriverrats.com or 487-2204 Collect goalie equipment, pucks, jerseys, first aid kits, and other BYH property at the end of the season to be returned to the association Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 3 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision
Team Managers Manage team funds maintain team bank account assigned through BYH o Fund raising activities o Payment of ice fees o Payment of ref fees o Payment of other team bills throughout the season Take care of team jerseys and equipment (can solicit help and assign parents to these duties as well) Prepare a team contact list (name, phone, email address, etc.) and distribute Mite managers may need to help assign numbers to players and get jerseys printed Communicate team schedule to the parents and players Communicate on a weekly basis with the referee scheduler to confirm date, time, and locations of games (this may be part of the schedulers job teams to decide) Set up a work list for each home game. Your team will be responsible for each penalty box, a scorekeeper, and a timekeeper. Develop a season schedule as soon as your home ice schedule is complete. Develop tournament schedule for your team (with scheduler) Coordinate hotel deals for away tournaments and games Assist division coordinators on collecting outstanding payments or registration details Coordinate team activities during and after the season Ice Schedulers Work with Head Coach and Team Manager to define how many games you will be playing during the season. Develop game schedule for your team o House teams typically get 10 home game slots with the expectation that 10 away games will be reciprocated. Games should be scheduled throughout the season based on total number of game slots available. o Travel teams typically get 20 home game slots with the expectation that 20 away games will be reciprocated. Games should be scheduled throughout the season based on total number of game slots available. Develop tournament schedule for your team (with team manager) Contact other organizations and fill your allotted ice slots when doing this schedule a home and a reciprocal away slot at the same time to guarantee reciprocation of ice time Communicate team schedule to the parents and players (with Team Manager) Communicate on a weekly basis with the referee scheduler to confirm date, time, and locations of games (this may be part of the managers job teams to decide) Schedule extra ice time as decided by head coach and team for practices / games Register for tournaments per team expectations and desires Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 4 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision
Tournament Coordinators Tournaments can be organized as fundraisers or a way to bring interest to the BYH organization. Several local organizations hold annual tournaments and those weekends should be avoided if you are scheduling a tournament for BYH. There are a variety of reasons and ways to run a tournament. Here is an income statement example for a tournament in 2008 that will give you an idea of the areas to collect and pay money if you re running a tournament. Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 5 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision
Board Members Set and maintain direction for BYH Maintain and represent the organization Provide guidance to the organization Manage player registration with USAHockey Maintain appropriate relationships with necessary organizations and leagues Manage organization funds o Collect fees o Pay bills o Set annual rates Negotiate ice fees and schedules annually Provide dispute resolution for players, parents, teams Maintain legal requirements of organization (non-profit, B.H. Boosters, taxes, finance reporting, etc ) Additional responsibilities (board member status not required) o Equipment manager jerseys, socks, pucks, mite goalie equipment, etc. o Ice scheduler o Tournament directors o ACE coordinator o USAHockey Liaison o Advertising and organization promotion o Fundraising o Recruiting (for players, board members, and volunteers) o Anything else that needs to be done help the organization be better! Lessons Learned 1. TOURNAMENTS: Start looking for tournaments in the summer. It is best to pick 2 to 3 away tournaments before you start scheduling your games. It is much easier to schedule around the tournaments, than to try to schedule around certain weekends. Once you receive your home ice and you have a conflict, contact the Master Scheduler and trade it in for a different weekend. 2. TEAM BUILDING: The sooner you can get your team to gel, the better. Do a pizza night or some other activity early in the season. 3. TEAM UNIFORMS: The BYH Board supplies each team with socks and jerseys. Most of the jerseys need to be returned at the end of your season. Have your team manager work to get socks through the board or equipment manager. 4. EMAIL LIST: Set up your team email list on your computer. Make sure everyone is receiving your email (you will use this as your main way to communicate information) 5. TEAM VOLUNTEERS: Organize the following volunteers for your team: Jersey Parent: 1 for home and 1 for away. Collect, hang and wash after every game. The jerseys will last longer within the organization this way. Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 6 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision
Treasurer: collect all monies, pay the referees, and pay any other bills incurred by the team. If there is money left over, put it towards your yearend party, or split it amongst the team for a refund. Tournament Director: Contact hotels suggested by the tournament or in the area to reserve a block of rooms for your team. Have parents make reservations their families so that you are not reserving everyone s room. As the tournament date approaches, contact the hotel to verify that everyone has reserved a room and if not follow up with the individuals so that they do not loose the rooms. While talking to the hotel personnel, you may want to reserve a conference room for Saturday night to have a team dinner. If the room is not booked, they may give you the room for a couple of hours. Also ask the hotel personnel for restaurants in the area. 6. OFFICIAL ROSTER: Submit your official roster to the BYH Registrar. Once they receive it back from USA Hockey, they will give you a copy. You will need it to send a long with your tournament applications. 7. TEAM STICKERS: Create your team stickers to be used on the score sheets at each game. You can write this by hand, but it is much easier to create the stickers. Information should include; player name, number, coach s name and CEP number and manager s name (all the info you write on the score sheet). You will need 3-4 for every game. Avery Stickers 8163 work well. Visit www.avery.com for the template for these labels. 8. SCHEDULING: Once you receive your home schedule, start contacting teams to set up games. Start off by scheduling only 2 games (1 at their facility, one at yours). Spread out games over the entire season so that games will run through the entire season. If you are in the Patriot League, try to schedule all your Patriot League games first. It is best to schedule your games before the Patriot League meeting (it gets crazy when all the organizations are trying to schedule at the same time). Please see the list of organization s websites to help you. If you are a House team, you should end up with 1 game a weekend, sometimes two. If you prepare your schedule a head of time, then you won t be left with idle weekends. Your season should start the last week in October, first week in November and end by the middle of March. Don t be surprised if some organizations don t even start scheduling their games until the last week in November, first week in December. 9. HOME GAME JOB CHART: Your home game responsibilities are Time Clock, Score Sheet, and both penalty boxes. Create a job chart for each home game. You should place everyone evenly within these jobs. Do not schedule the Coach, Assistant Coach or yourself (manager) at any of these jobs as you do enough throughout the season. Be sure to have your score sheet and checks to pay the officials (usually 2) for each home game. 10. FUNDRAISING: Your biggest expense is your referee fees and your tournament fees. Most tournaments cost approximately $700. Referee fees can be found on www.cdihoa.org. They range from $15-$38. The best fundraiser, I think, is Hoffman Carwash. It is a 50% profit and everyone needs to wash his or her car in the winter. The best time to hold the fundraiser is the week before Thanksgiving for 2 weeks. You will receive your tickets within a week, usually. If you need Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 7 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision
more money, you can charge the team an assessment. This should not exceed $150 per player. 11. ICE SLOTS: when you schedule a home game, make sure to get an away slot from that organization. 12. SPONSORSHIP: Teams can solicit sponsors to reduce season fees. The sponsor costs per the registration packet 2008/2009 is $300 (Gold) and $100 (Silver). It is best to have two. You can put one company name on your home jersey and another on your away jersey. If you get more than 2 companies to sponsor, you can order a sign with all your sponsor s names on it along with all your players and coaches. This is the least expensive (the object is to keep as much of the donation as possible). If you are interested in ordering a team banner, contact Rusty Gallagher (Capital Promotions). 13. TROPHIES: If the BYH Board hosts a year end banquet, they will provide trophies to the Learn to Play and Mite teams. All other teams will receive a small memento from BYH (draw string bags, bag tags, etc.). If you are interested in ordering your own trophies you can either contact Capital Promotions (Rusty Gallagher), Awards By Walsh, or other award companies. Bethlehem Youth Hockey Guidebook Page 8 of 8 Spring 2008 Revision