Elmer began playing men's fastpitch softball in high school and continued to play on a men's fastpitch commercial team after high school. He began coaching girls and women's fastpitch while associated with the White Rock Curches Athletic Association-a sports league made up of all denominations in the White Rock area of Dallas. Elmer held various positions with WRCAA; those of Men's Commissioner, Youth Commissioner and Administrator of the Association for 5 years. During those early years, Elmer took his youth and adult women's teams to many church league state playoffs. During this period, he was also coaching his son's teams in football, soccer, and baseball through the YMCA.

Elmer is a certified ASA Umpire, and has attended numerous ASA coaching schools as well as holding clinics for those girls wanting one-on-one or group lessons.

In 1985, Elmer organized, and was President of, a girls fastpitch league in the city of Dallas for the benefit of the girls enrolled in DISD schools. The league was in existence for 10 years and at one time had as many as 40 teams encompassing t-ball through 16U age groups. In 1991, Elmer organized a 10U tournament team, The Dallas Blues which he coached until the girls graduated in the year 2000. During that period, the Blues won 4 Dallas Metro Championship Tournaments, numerous Regional qualifiers, runner up in TAAF State and Hall of Fame Qualifier. They also qualified and participated in four ASA National Championship tournaments in Midland, TX (1996); Fresno, CA (1997); Detroit, MI (1998); and Sioux Falls, SD (1999). In addition, The Blues qualified and participated in 2 AFA National Championship tournaments in 1999 and 2000. Many of the girls Elmer has coached are now playing Division I and II college softball at such schools as U.T. San Antonio, U.T. Corpus Christi, Southwest Texas State, Blynn College and Cornell University, to name a few.