Welcome to the Gopher State Baseball Association Spotlight! We will be highlighting our baseball communities throughout the summer. Leading off is home to arguably the best logo in the GSBL, St. Michael-Albertville!

"When assigning coaches we look at previous experience within our association first, have the players improved, are the players having fun, is the coach engaged and putting in the effort. We also look at coaching and baseball knowledge, their vision for the season and the team, the goals they would have for the team and players, and their expectations. Do their values match the values of our association and community? Do they communicate well with players, other coaches, and the parents? Do they utilize assistant coaches well? There are many variables to look at when choosing coaches and we do our best to look at every angle and choose the best coach for that team."

"Our tryout process changed from inside during winter to late summer out on the diamonds just over two years ago. We engage about 18 independent evaluators that come to our fields in August to evaluate players. We run multiple stations including hitting, infield, outfield, and running. Each player runs through the stations with multiple opportunities to hit, field, catch, etc. The evaluation takes between 2 - 3 hours per age group depending on how many players we have signed up. We use an electronic evaluation system that calculates scores based on the criteria we set. Evaluators input their scores on their mobile device and the software tabulates and ranks the players. We typically have 400 players that attend tryouts each year. Teams are formed based on their overall tryout score."

"Since Baseball is a summer sport we see many other sports utilizing the summer as a great opportunity for development. As an example, Football is a fall sport but since the kids are out of school they may run camps and other developmental programs in the evenings. This directly conflicts with Baseball games and practices. Keeping players engaged and dedicated to baseball has become more difficult over the last few years. We are also seeing the growth of club teams that bring players to their facilities during the off season. However, some of those options are starting to move into spring and offerings of summer baseball are also being advertised. We in community baseball have the challenge of keeping our dedicated players by providing them with the tools and skills they need to compete while also providing a recreational experience for others while keeping the price manageable for parents."

"My advice is to other associations is to keep the pulse of the community. With so many opportunities for kids communication is important to keep them aware and engaged in your association."