What are World Series Aunts and Uncles?
Each team is assigned an Aunt/Uncle/Cousin family (World Series Volunteers) who help guide the team through world series week. They work with managers and coaches to plan the weeks’ activities and give guidance on World Series protocol and commitments.
What does an Aunt/Uncle/Cousin family do?
Each team Aunt and Uncle can take on various responsibilities, it is up to them as to how much or little they can do for their team.
- Communicate with the team manager/coaches prior to their arrival.
- Greets their team at the Airport and gets them on their Charted bus to the hotel.
- Escort the team to their uniform fitting appointment.
- Takes the players to Everest Park to meet the World Series Staff and get their official tournament pictures taken.
- Aunts stay with the team while coaches & managers attend mandatory World Series meetings.
- Aunts are called on during all hours of the day and night to help young ladies when it is not appropriate for a male coach (Female JSWS staff conducts nightly bed checks in each room and monitors hotel activity all night long).
- Assists in finding additional practice field locations (If the JSWS assigned practice times do not work for them) or batting cages (if needed).
- Writes a weekly schedule with the manager based on game times, practice schedule and free time (Not all teams get a day off). Arrange for meals at the park if necessary to ensure the team is well fed and well hydrated at the right time for maximum on-field performance.
- Recommends local restaurants to eat lunch/dinner (that will feed the team for the per-diem provided). Managers are given meal per Diem (cash) for each player, for each meal, while at the JSWS at the mandatory managers/coaches meeting.
- Some Aunts and Uncles have been known to throw a barbecue at their home or at a park at some point during the week for their team.
- They will be the team tour guide, to local Seattle tourist attractions, like Pike place market, space needle, Ferry Boat rides, etc. Each team has very limited free (Non-JSWS) time to be tourists, so being organized is the key to seeing the most (FYI – Don’t freak out if you get buzzed by an F-18 Hornet – The Blue Angels will be in town for the Annual Seafair Hydroplane Races on Lake Washington).
- Attend the World Series Awards Dinner (Thursday night).
- It is each teams responsibility to do their own laundry, however, some Aunts and Uncles may choose to assist with this.
In the end, Aunt/Uncle/Cousin Families are here to help you win and help make the world series experience, a memory that you will remember fondly forever.
A Note to Parents: We have teams come to the World Series from all ethnic, social and economic environments. We’ve had the snooty wealthy teams, that thought making the girls stay in our 3 star middle-class hotel was beneath them and we’ve had teams so poor, the entire team shared one bat. Our priority is for the girls to have a safe and healthy environment to meet, socialize and make friends with softball players from around the globe.
The World Series is for the Girls, not for the parents. Making friends from around the world will be one of the most rewarding experiences the girls will have at JSWS. We have former players from 20 years ago that will meet with the teams and talk about how they created life long friendships and memories during their 7 days at the JSWS.
Some players will have to come out of their comfort zone, to have a memorable JSWS experience. Some Moms will have to let go, so their player can have a memorable JSWS experience. After 20 years of doing this, we know one thing for certain… If you are a parent that hangs around the team, your child will gravitate toward you and miss out on the true World Series Experience.