Good morning all,

Welcome to Spring softball 2023! My name is Chris Dierschow. I am excited to announce that along with Amanda Bradbury and John Bredlau, we will be the coaches for your daughter this Spring! Amanda, John, and myself have been involved in youth sports for quite some time! We bring a focus of fun and fundamentals to the sport that we hope your daughter will enjoy.

A little more about me: I have been a coach in this organization every year since 2010. My oldest daughter is a current Sycamore High School Varsity player and starting pitcher. She began playing as a Kindergarten player in this very same program! I have served on the SGS Board of Directors (2010-2020), including 4 years as the Past President. I was a Sycos coach (2014, 2016-2020). I am the current head coach at Kishwaukee Valley Storm 16U and have been there the last 3 seasons (2021-present). 

WEBSITE:

I have all of our practices listed on our sgsball.com team page here. Please get familiar with the website, and our team page, as I will use that as a main form of communication for scheduling, cancelations, and changes. If you need to edit your accounts to add family members or guardians to receive notifications, please do that right away. Games will be added to our schedule at a later date by the SGS Board of Directors.

PRACTICES:

I have 20 practices scheduled between now and Opening Day. We will be utilizing Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I do expect some of those dates to get canceled because of weather/bitter wind. Please pay close attention to the start/end times, and event notes for each date as they vary as the schedule progresses. Please have players dress in layers when the weather is cooler. I am a big fan of athletic base layers (such as Under Armour cold gear/heat gear) underneath softball pants and shirts. I also very much prefer long-sleeve t-shirts or hoodies instead of heavy winter coats during practice time. Headband/earbands are also always a good investment for the early Spring too. They tend to work with the protective fielder masks that are required for everyone to have along with a softball glove. SGS can provide a batting helmet and a bat for those who may need one. I will get a tally at the first practice who may need a helmet and/or bat. Catchers gear will be provided by SGS as well.

Be sure that your player brings along a sports water bottle for all events, even when the weather is colder. 

You must come into practice to grab your player at the end of practice. I will not send a player off to the parking lot on their own, off to another field on their own, or off with another player/guardian (unless arrangements are made with me and the families involved ahead of time). 

GAMES:

Games will be added to the schedule at a later date as stated above. We will play some games out of town against opponents like DeKalb, Genoa, and Kirkland. Maps to those fields will be available by clicking on the location of the game on our team schedule. Arrival times for players will be set for games to allow time for the team to get warmed up before the actual game begins. I will communicate those times as the game schedule comes out. 

I very much look forward to meeting those I have not met previously, and seeing some familiar faces as well! I think this is going to be a very fun season, and we can't wait to get started. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. My cell is listed below.

If you are interested in being a Parent Helper in any way for practices, let me know right away!

Best Regards,

Coach Chris

630 300 8232