Mission Statement

Newton Girls Softball is a non-profit organization committed to providing all players who identify as female, non-binary, or questioning who are Newton residents or attend Newton Public Schools with an experience that fosters positive self-esteem, team spirit, and individual growth through personal achievement and as a team member.  NGS is committed to the development of athletic capability and sportsmanship by focusing on teaching the fundamentals of softball in an environment that supports all skill levels.

Goals

• To Teach the fundamentals of the game.
• To Encourage development and good sportsmanship of all players through participation in a team environment.
• To Have Fun, make new friends, and grow as a member of a team.
• To Win enough games to feel good about the team and the season. The league makes every effort to create balanced teams, allowing for the highest level of fair competition within each grade and ensuring that players feel good about their team and the season.

Player’s Rights

• Develop your softball skills. Have fun! Winning is better than losing, but you can have just as much fun in a losing season as in a winning one.  Remember that you are doing this to have fun.  If you're not having fun, then speak with your parents and coach and try to identify how to change things up so you have fun.
• Be able to play different positions (if that is what you want to do).  Your coach must position you in the field for a minimum of 3 of the 5 innings per game with at least two innings per game in the infield.
• Receive only positive comments from your coach, your teammates, your parents, and opposing players and coaches.

Player's Responsibilities

• Attend practices regularly.
• Be at games on time, or inform your coach in advance if you have a schedule conflict.
• Cheer your team and say only positive things about your opponents and the umpire.

Guidelines for Parents

• Be positive toward your daughter with respect to her performance, her teammates, and girls on other teams!  Positive cheering only.
• Let the coach do the coaching.
• Do not question the umpire about her decisions directly or indirectly.  If you must, quietly discuss your thoughts with your daughter's coach after the game.
• Please keep in mind that softball is sport and good performance on the field translates into winning. Winning takes on a life of its own, and energizes a team and its players.  We allow winning to happen in NGSoftball, but recognize that development comes from losing as well.  If winning becomes the sole purpose of your child's team, something is wrong.  Let us know!
• Softball is a team sport and part of being a good teammate is attendance. Therefore we expect players in Grades 4/5 and 6-8 to attend at least 75% of the games and practices. We understand that three events per week might be too much for some Grade 2/3 players during some weeks, so our expectation is for those players to attend at least 60% of the games or practices. We certainly don't want the fact that more content is available to discourage any young players from registering. However, if your daughter is considering another activity that also requires her attendance on one of her game days, PLEASE be fair to her and others by selecting only one activity this spring. 

Zero-Tolerance Rules

• The coaches are ultimately responsible for the behavior of the team parents and fans.
• Taunting of players by anyone will not be tolerated.
• Players, coaches and fans must treat the umpire with respect.
• Protests of an umpire’s judgment calls including balls and strikes, arguing, baiting, yelling nice pitch before the umpire calls the pitch, etc. are all considered heckling.
• Umpires will report un-sportsmanlike heckling or conduct by players, coaches or spectators to the head coach of the offending team. If a warning goes unheeded, the offender will be ejected from the field. If the heckling or conduct persists, the game may be suspended by the umpire.