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Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the Coaches at Andover High School?
What can I do to prepare for the season?
1. Be in good physical shape.
2. Play catch for at least 4 weeks before the season begins on a regular basis.
3. Swing the bat. Take 200 cuts per day in preparation for practices in March. Your bat speed will be superior to that of your peers who did not prepare and your results should reflect that in practice.
4. Make good choices and be a good citizen. Your actions speak volumes about you and the team you represent. We are striving to build a program that reflects the values of the community of Andover.
Will there be any tryouts or cuts made?
The best way that I can answer that is by saying that it depends on the number of participants. Cuts will be determined based on talent, skills, attitude and citizenship. The first 5 - 10 days of practice may or may not provide ample opportunity for players to impress the coaches. It is difficult, but we hope to have many of our cuts made by the end of the first week. All cuts will be made by Thursday, March 31. In some cases, players can look much different inside the gym versus playing outside evaluations can be subjective. We hope that every player is prepared to show his best. Team assignments should be complete by the end of March with the understanding that players can rise and fall through the program depending upon performance. In essence, every day is a tryout! Baseball can be summed up very simply by saying, "What have you done for me lately?" The system's not perfect, but we will do the best we can with the time we have to be fair and honest in our evaluations. We have a lot of experience and we always discuss every player as an entire group before making any cut. All players who are cut are able to obtain refunds from the activities office. There may be a possibility of playing another sport - I believe tennis and lacrosse start their seasons after baseball does.
When will there be informational meetings?
Our annual baseball meeting will be held Monday, January 17, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at AHS. The booster club will have fund raiser and volunteer information and I will speak to the importance of being ready physically and mentally on the first night of practice. This is also an opportunity to meet the coaches.
We will hold an "Open House" of sorts on Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m. This is during our practice session and will give parents an opportunity to see what we're working on and how we're doing it. It is also time to pay for player packs and required apparel as well as talk about how we need everyone's support with booster club activities.
Why is there such a need for fund raising? Doesn't or shouldn't the District provide what you need for playing games?
The School District provides quite a bit for our baseball program. There are five paid coaches (approximately $19,000), transportation to and from games, officials, field maintenance, insurance, administration for the school and to the MN State HS League and a small equipment budget. Your $280 fees cover a portion of our expenses. Added up, the fee collection nets about $20,000 which basically cover coaching salaries and leaves a small amount to pay for so many other things. The School District, through our tax dollars, pays for many other areas of the budget. Multiply that by many activities and five high schools and it equates to a couple million dollars.
In order for us to keep current with continually changing safety standards and the overall break down of equipment, we need to replace items on a yearly basis like catcher's gear, bats, L-Screens, baseballs, helmets, provide for a field maintenance budget (if we want a top-notch playing surface), provide for some more coaches (we have a 9B coach and a pitching coach added to our budget) and provide for fun experiences (like playing in the Dome.)
The Andover Huskies Baseball Booster Club (est. 2008) plays a huge role in filling gaps for us. Without booster club support, we'd really struggle to have the quality equipment we have and not be able to organize all of the volunteers to work on our baseball fields. They have organized a Community Day, our end of the season banquet, Cub Foods grocery bagging, youth clinics, MN Twins ticket sales and rock salt sales. All of these things help our program and help Anoka-Hennepin become stronger organizations to help develop our youth to be responsible and respectful citizens.
The School District is needing to cut activities budgets every year, and the need for a stronger booster club has never been more important. The Booster Club is our "10th person" who really gives us a home field advantage! It's probably not a coincidence that as our booster club became established, we had our best season on record - 3 Academic All-Staters, an All-Metro and All-State player, a section semi-finals push, 14 wins, a top 20 ranking and 4 NWSC All-conference players.
