Chad Slyter does his best to leave his coaching hat at home when he plays slowpitch softball for Valley City Eagles/Broken Spoke.

Slyter just wrapped up his sixth year coaching the Valley City State women's fastpitch softball team.

When it comes to recreation, he doesn't want to be that irritating guy sitting in the dugout telling others how to play ball.

"This is definitely a little bit more relaxing," said Slyter, who is playing in the McQuade Softball Tournament this weekend in the men's 35-49 bracket. "I try to leave the coach's role at the university. Every once in awhile I end up coaching bases, but I have to remind myself that it's a little more low key. Ihave to take a deep breath every once in a while and try to relax."

Slyter will offer his expertise, but only if he's asked.

"Every once in awhile I'll give some hitting advice or something like that," he said. "I don't want to be the guy who gives unsolicited advice."

Ever since Slyter finished his American Legion baseball career, he has been a participant in McQuade for the past 16 years, except last summer because of a broken arm.

"We're competitive, but at the same time it's more about hanging out and having fun," said Slyter, who grew up in Dunseith. "You get to see a lot of people you know from around the state and catch up, especially in the coaching ranks. You meet a lot of people and keep in touch with a lot of people that way."

This year's McQuade has offered Slyter a relaxing moment, especially after enduring a miserable spring.

Valley City State's softball season was canceled after 21 games because of inclement weather and flooding.

"You work all year," Slyter said. "We started in August when everybody gets to school with fall practices. When our fall season is over, we get into weights and conditioning. It's a full-year thing.

"It was difficult when our season got canceled," Slyter added. "All of the girls were at home already. I had to call them over the phone. I didn't get to talk to them as a group or face to face."

Slyter and his family didn't sustain any damage to their home, but they were evacuated for three weeks.

"We were about three blocks from all the sewer back up they had on Main Street,"Slyter said. "We kind of live up on a hill, so we were OK. The city did a good job of protecting everything."

They spent the first weekend in the Twin Cities and attended a couple Twins baseball games and a Gophers fastpitch game.

The remaining time was spent in Bottineau with Slyter's wife's family. Their kids started the school year in Bottineau.

The McQuade started earlier for Slyter as he helped coach Valley City's club fastpitch team.

The girls fastpitch teams showcased their talent on Friday to help the McQuade kick off.

Girls fastpitch softball was sanctioned by the North Dakota High School Activities Association for the first time this spring, which Slyter considers a positive.

Two North Dakota players were listed on Valley City State's roster this past season. Slyter would like to add more.

"Now that the high school activities association has sanctioned it this year, it kind of creates a viability to it," he said. "Now they are getting into fastpitch, it will make a lot more players recruitable. When you're talking about budgets and the money side of things, it will be nice to be able to stay closer to home to recruit those kinds of athletes."

Slyter coached girls basketball and track at Grenora High School. From there, he coached women's basketball at Minot State-Bottineau.

He never envisioned coaching women's softball until the position came open at Valley City State, his alma mater.

"When I took the Valley City State job, I realized how much I missed being on the diamond," Slyter said. "My personality is more suited to coach women. Women's fastpitch became an easy fit. I couldn't see myself coaching anything else."