Kevin Shelton, GM for the Scrapyard Dawgs and Dallas Charge chats with softball about building the Scrap Yard Dawgs and the current state of the league.

How do you juggle the Scrap Yard Dawgs, Dallas Charge, and the Texas Glory? Who do you have to support you?

Kevin: Laura Villa is the assistant GM, she's proactive working on sponsorships for next year. Jade Hewitt working with interns and helping us with social media. From managing a team standpoint, I handle new contracts and contract extensions. Connie May runs the Scrap Yard and some of the organizational tasks and marketing strategies. Whitney Cloer, our assistant GM for the Scrap Yard Dawg who's coached at Troy and OU is involved with strengthening the organization.

How does adding another team effect the league? What do you plan to do different?

We have six teams so we have an even schedule and it's balanced. So no one is sitting idle while the rest of the league is playing. We add a little more validity to the league. Appearances are growing each year. It will allow to play more games. More games will allow fans to grow. For the Scrap Yard Dawgs, we're going to take advantage of the time that we have to make a good plan begin to execute those plans well before May. With the Dallas Charge, we didn't have that opportunity. We now have the opportunity to develop a much better plan and we have people in place. We have to make sure we don't squander this opportunity to stay out in front of building a team, social media, marketing, promotions, partnerships, etc. All the things that are behind the scenes that make the team go.

I still think when you're building a roster, you have to take chances. You have to be bold and willing to fail. You have to do it because there's so many things that you don't know. You have to do your best to manage signing the players versus having them try out. We want to establish ourselves are trailblazers and innovators. Players and coaches are essentially part time because we only play three months out of the year. It's challenging to work around their schedules. But we are willing to work with players to keep them involved and participating.

How would you compare the league now to five years ago?

The league is still growing and social media has been effective in increasing awareness. We have advocators like Sue Enquist, Jenny Finch, and Amanda Scarborough to help promote the quality of the league. Awareness is still a problem. Our mission is to grow the footprint, travel to more cities to increase awareness. I believe in the commissioner and the league.

What's your strategy for building the Scrap Yard Dawgs roster and coaching staff?

One, we have to have a coach in place.

Will he/she be a local coach?

We are looking to add a coach in the Texas area. There will be announcements coming soon.

After the USA tryouts, if some players don't make the team there's an opportunity with the Scrap Yard Dawgs. Right now, we're focused on getting a pitcher. There are many players interested in playing for the team. A big time player will be announced in November.

What's it going to take for the league to be successful?

It's important to grab the attention of sponsors and to stay relevant. Keep the players in the public eye. That's why the Dallas Charge are doing a camp in December to keep the community active. We need to keep up with the superstars. Moms are engaged because daughters are engaged with players like Haeger, Cat, and Monica.

What are you most excited about for the Scrap Yard Dawgs?

I'm most excited about the facility being built. The stadium resembles the Roman Colosseum, there's nothing like it. I'm excited about the opportunity to build a team and experimenting with putting the parts together.


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• December Camp with Haeger & Thom
• Nadia Taylor Launches Official Website

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