Hey,
It's going to be a beautiful day to kick off our softball season. I know I'm looking forward to it. I hope some of you all who were on the fence about playing this afternoon will get inspired by the nice weather and decide to join us. Before we get the season going, though, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my thoughts about how the team will operate.

First, I want to remind everyone to download the waiver and field map. Bring the waiver with you tonight. If you can't make tonight's game, than bring it to the first game you come to. Keep the field map with your equipment. All of our games with a preset location will be listed there; it'll make us easier to find. Games where we need to rely on field savers, we'll likely be playing on the Monument grounds, in the area between the sidewalks, across the street from the WWII Memorial, but I will do my best to get the word out beforehand on that.

Probably our biggest concern with CAN sports is playing time. We are committed to getting everyone who shows up involved in the game. It's difficult to ensure that everyone plays equally, but Scott, Matt and I are going to make sure all of our players will see at-bats in every regular season game, and will play in the field. To do that, we will need to move people around to positions they may not prefer and we will take people out of games who are used to playing the full nine innings. As long as everyone approaches the changes and shifts with the right attitude (i.e., supporting your teammates, and focusing on enjoying the game more than on padding your stats), it will be a lot more fun for everyone.

None of that means that we won't be playing to win. We do expect people to hustle, pay attention, know their responsibilities and help out their teammates, and we will be making strategic moves to win games. We won't deny players the opportunity to contribute to those wins, though.

Our playing time policy will change come tournament time. There is a one-hour time limit for tournament games, and if we don't win them, we don't get to keep playing. That does not mean we're taking ten players to the tournament and telling everyone else not to bother suiting up. What it does mean is that we won't guarantee playing time to anyone. Our more-skilled and hotter players will be on the field for the tournament games, and those who have been less productive won't play as much, and may not play at all. If you play your best in the regular season, you'll make a good case for post-season playing time; nobody has a slot reserved for them in the tournament lineup at this point. This is a formula that has worked well for a number of successful CAN teams, and we think it's going to be the best approach for us - but only if we make it clear from the get-go.

Every year, we get questions about friends/roommates/co-workers/significant others - all of whom are outstanding athletes, I have no doubt - playing softball. As most of you know, CAN limits the number of non-alumni players on a team to 75% of the batting order. Our board decided a couple of years ago not to take on new non-alumni for softball and flag football (we made a couple of exceptions for soccer and volleyball), as we were flirting with the limit. We may revisit that decision at some point (if you have thoughts on that or any of our other policies, you are encouraged to come to the board meetings and get involved in the discussion), but for the time being, please feel free to bring your friends out to watch the games and join us for post-game drinks, but don't tell them to bring a glove and cleats.

It's important to remember that this team is chapter-building activity. We have these teams in order to get ASU alumni involved in our organization. We can't be successful in that if we don't approach the games with the right attitude. Remember, this is co-ed, beer league, slow-pitch softball. It's almost impossible to take it too seriously - let's not try.

Speaking of beer, if you want to bring some to the game, you're more than welcome as far as we're concerned. We've been warned that the park police will be cracking down though, so you may want to bring cups or figure out some other way to drink it furtively.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Matt
(202) 607-4883
matt.enderle@gmail.com

P.S.: I just got an e-mail from the CAN sports chair informing all the coaches that there's a neo-Nazi march planned for tomorrow on the Mall, so...there's that.

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