For the 2023 season, Rookie Camp is scheduled for Monday, May 8, with a rain date of Tuesday, May 9.
Captains and other involved people should meet at the field for 9:30 AM.
Players being evaluated should be there by 9:45 AM for sign-in, and also for some warm-up. Players must bring photo ID to confirm their age.
Rookies will be evaluated by the team Captains attending on throwing, catching, hitting and running. A rating will be given from 1 thru 5, with 1 being the lowest in each category. Any player being evaluated that is given a total rating of 5 or under does not meet the Minimum Safety Standard to play in the ESSA for safety reasons. All Captains evaluating should take this into consideration when recording the new player rating.
Prior to the event, the Commissioner should send an e-mail to the new players outlining the Rookie Camp date and time, and remind them to bring identification to confirm they meet the age eligibity requirement (minimum of 55).
Review the rating process, distribute clipboards with rating sheets with rookie names (Registrar (Jan)).
Captains to collect team bags for the season (from Equipment Managers (Eric Burton)).
Field setup: bags, bats, pitching screen, cones, etc. (Bill Law)
Player sign-in (Jan Macaulay, Bettina Samson):
Introductions of Captains (Commissioner).
Explanation of how the evaluations will run.
Introduce each rookie and their shirt number;
Captains should write the shirt number on the evaluation sheet
for easy identification.
Form two lines, Group A at second base, Group B at short stop.
Ground balls will be hit to each line, rookie will throw to first
base.
Balls will be hit to each line 3 times, then players will change
lines and take another 3 balls.
Players will be evaluated on ground ball fielding and infield
throwing.
Need: Person to hit ground balls (non-Captain - ???); person to field at first (non-Captain - ???); person to collect balls at home plate (non-Captain - ???).
Form two lines, Group A in left centre, Group B in right centre.
Players will field fly balls and throw to cutoffs.
Players will be evaluated on fly ball fielding and throwing from outfield.
Need: Person to hit ground balls (non-Captain - ???); people to cut-off throws (non-Captain - ???); person to collect balls at home plate (non-Captain - ???).
Players in Group A will rotate through taking 5 pitches.
After the 5'th batted ball, the player will run from home to
second base.
Group B will help field balls and return to the pitchers mound.
Players will be evaluated on hitting and running.
After Group A is finished, Group B bats with Group A in the field.
Need: Person to pitch balls (Joe);
non-batting rookies to retrieve balls in infield / outfield and
relay to pitchers area;
person to collect balls at pitchers area (non-Captain - Nick).
Players will return their shirts (Jan Macaulay, Bettina Samson).
Captains to review their ratings, then give rating sheets to Statistician (Mike), and clipboards to Jan/Bettina.
Field clean-up.
The average ESSA player would be a 3 in each category; comparisons are within this Association, not to the Major Leagues, or other softball leagues.
For hitting, characteristics need not all be met. E.g. a consistent line drive hitter who can place the ball between fielders could be a 5 even if they never hit balls over the outfielders.
For running, speed also factors mobility in the infield, chasing balls in the outfield. The maximum rating for a player that always takes a runner from the screen would normally be 2.