BASEBALL & SOFTBALL
MONDAY November 14, 2016
BASEBALL DIRECTOR: Chris Benjes… ASSISTANT BASEBALL DIRECTOR: Perry Martinelli
SOFTBALL DIRECTOR: Eric Lippert…. ASSISTANT SOFTBALL DIRECTOR:
I. Welcome
A. Introductions and Thanks, spread the word about volunteers, players, concessions,
Field responsibilities - Equipment, locks, boxes, your responsibility.
II. Announcements
A. 2017 Meeting Schedule: Dec 12, Jan 9, Feb 13, Mar 13, Apr 10? Maybe… probably not.
B. Registration – On-line and mail-in starts January 1.
a. Times for Walk-in Registrations for 2017 - only on Sat Jan 14 from 11 AM to 2 PM.
b. Fee schedule unchanged from last year:
· If received before Feb 1st: 5-6 & 7-8 Age Groups: $60… 9-10 age group and up: $90
· If received before Mar 1st: 5-6 & 7-8 Age Groups: $70… 9-10 age group and up: $100
· If received before Apr 1st: 5-6 & 7-8 Age Groups: $80… 9-10 age group and up: $110
· If received on/after Apr 1st: 5-6 & 7-8 Age Groups: $100...9-10 age group and up: $150
c. Sign-ups for umpires, scoreboard operators, OD volunteers at the walk-in registration or via e-mail.
d. Interviews for the new Concession Stand jobs will be held during the walk-in registration on January 14th in the FLES Activity Room.
e. 5-6 Baseball Age Group Director help is always needed. Last year, set-up was very well-coordinated by the coaches.
C. Season Schedule
a. 5-6 BB/SB begins April 8 on Field 1. Ends June 10 with picnic
b. Spring Classic TBD, probably April 1 and 2. No Baseball practices will be scheduled on Tournament Fields.
c. 7 and up practice April 1 – April 20.
d. Opening Day is April 22: Deb Norcross. Pictures: No pictures this year.
i. Discussion about volunteers – OD could be dying unless we get new blood.
e. Opening Day Program Book and Sponsor Ads: JP Gill
f. Ads and Info for Program Book must be in by March 31.
g. BB in-house Tournament: June 12 – 23
h. All-star Baseball & Softball games Saturday June 17.
D. Facilities
a. Batting Cage – Will be locked for the winter in December.
b. Field Boxes – will be a new combo for 2017. Problems with closing and locking boxes.
c. Security bollards to be installed this winter.
III. Old/New Business related to Baseball and Softball
a. No more restroom or concession duty.
b. One-on-one rule. Don’t be alone 1-1 with kids. Protect yourself and them.
c. Do not drive/park on fields!!!
d. Concussion info and Coaches Background checks.
IV. Break into SB and BB Meetings – Next meeting December 12.
11 Reasons why Forest Hill Travel Baseball Players 8-12U must play In-House
1. Baseball players improve with practice. The more that players play the game, the better their skills become. Playing on both travel and in-house teams gives the travel player twice the experience of playing baseball, making him a stronger, better player. Better players are the building blocks of a strong baseball program.
2. Travel players are distributed throughout the in-house league and become the leaders and role models of their in-house teams. They are the players that the non-travel players look up to, emulate, and learn from. The travel players become an integral part of the in-house teams by raising the bar of excellence for the other team members, making them strive for excellence as well.
3. All of the travel players get the chance to shine on their in-house teams and become the stars – a true confidence and morale builder.
4. Travel players get to play positions on their in-house teams that they may not play on their travel team. This promotes a well-rounded baseball experience.
5. Travel players enjoy the rivalry that occurs when they are playing against their travel teammates during in-house games.
6. Travel players enjoy their in-house games because they can have fun, relax, work on new skills, and enjoy the game of baseball without the stress and competition that is inherent in travel games.
7. Travel players contribute to the overall strength of the in-house age-group by providing the talent necessary for exciting, competitive games.
8. In 2006, Forest Hill Baseball experimented with excusing the 12U travel players from in-house, and the results were not positive. The overall quality of the in-house league was greatly diminished and the games were long and boring because there was simply not enough quality pitching and hitting. The age-groups need the travel players to provide the spark to make the games fun and exciting, just like Major League Baseball and NFL Football need their marquis players to improve their games.
9. In addition, the overall quality of the 2006 12U travel players could have been improved by in-house participation as they just didn’t get the chance to play enough baseball in their travel league alone.
10. Travel baseball is supported by in-house baseball and is secondary to in-house. The Travel program can not exist without a strong in-house program to feed it, and the baseball program is only as strong as the teams that comprise its age groups. The travel players drastically strengthen the in-house teams and therefore are a necessary part of a strong baseball program.
11. Splitting the travel players from the rec players will degrade our rec program. We would lose 2 full teams per age group. That would cut the number of teams down to a less-than-desirable number for scheduling and competition purposes and it would pull the talent out of the program to the point where it would be boring - no pitching, no hitting, no decent competition.Rec programs must come first. That's where the majority of the families participate, and I do not want to degrade our Rec baseball program.
BASEBALL ONLY
BASEBALL MEETING AGENDA - MONDAY November 14, 2016
I. Announcements
a. Manager/Coach selection process. We are currently taking applications for Age Group Directors, managers, coaches, other volunteers.
b. Rec Baseball In-house-Baseball AGD’s:
5-6 - Open
7-8 - John Connelly
9-10 - Perry Martinelli
11-12 – Marty Strunkstein
13-15 - Glenn Weaver? Are you in for another year?
15-20 - Joe Conn
c. Fall Baseball
i. Registration is in May and June. The earlier you sign up, the less the chance of being placed on a waiting list waiting for additional players to form an additional team. Players that register in May save $ as an early-bird incentive. Huge $ penalty for late sign-ups.
ii. Players trying out for a fall travel team MUST REGISTER AND PAY for Rec Fall Ball before they will be considered for the team. While we will never turn away a child at a tryout, we must have a registration form and payment by tryout-time in July or else the player will simply not be considered for the fall travel team and will not be offered a spot - no matter how well he performs.
Once a player is placed on a team – Rec or Travel - there are no refunds. Period. We develop tight team budgets and refunding someone means the team’s budget will be short or the other parents will have to pay additional to make ends meet..
II. Travel Baseball:
We are still merging the Storm program with the Express program and eventually eliminating the Storm teams as they age out. No sense in having a Metro team when there is no Metro baseball anymore. All Travel teams will be financially independent and able to carry funds from year-to-year.
§ 8U: George Sobieralski/John Caslin, 9U: Al Dooling, 10U: Mark Worden, 11U: JR Leed, 12U: Bill Hart, 13U: Perry Martinelli, 14U: Open for someone to start a team, 15U Storm: Scott Kalista, 16U Storm: Kris King, 16U Express, Todd Celuch, 17U Storm: Tim Norcross, 15-20 Express: Joe Conn
§ Restriction for 13-15 Rec Players - may not play full time travel, varsity, Club. No playups. Tournament will be invitational based on performance during regular season.
§ Travel players need to sign up before Jan 31st. Little interest means no tryout.
§ Indoor practices will be scheduled by the Travel managers. Schedule indoor time NOW! Fees for indoor time now come out of the team budget.
§ Tryouts scheduled to begin Feb 4. Schedule will be on web site.
§ Need to make sure we don’t over-extend ourselves and sign up for too many tournaments which get costly and could potentially burn out our players.
III. 2017 use for Field 4 and Field 9:
§ Tues and/or Thurs on Field 4 will is reserved for the 16-19 teams
§ Field 9 can be used by 13U and possibly 14U teams.
§ 14U and older teams will share Field 4 for all days except Tue/Thu.V. Fundraisers –
IV. Fundraising events:
Spring Training Camp, raffles, Bull Roast, Golf
Tournaments – Spring, Summer Classic, All-Star.
All fundraisers must be approved through the Board of Directors.
V. New/Old Business related to Baseball/Softball
a. Discussion about mandatory practice for ½ hour before 9-10 and 11-12 game and practice on weekends.
b. Umpire training –Mar 3, March 10, March 17 and March 24 – all Fridays in March. Must be 14 and can sign up at registration or send Chris e-mail. Veteran umpires need not attend but are encouraged to come and learn as much as you can. All umpires will be filling out a contractor-form again this year.
c. Mandatory clinics again in early March this year for new managers/coaches, especially at the 5-6 and 7-8 level. Many coaches simply have no clue how to teach baseball, how to run a practice, or how to play a game. We want to make sure the players are all taught the same things and more importantly, the CORRECT things.
VI. Questions/discussion
a. Conduct – Parents, players and coaches. Zero tolerance continues again this year, because it works! 2 ejections and gone for the season. No public umpire comments! Parents/spouses need to let the coaches coach the team. Players/coaches only in bench area and on the field.
b. Please stress to all parents that if they have a problem, please get it resolved BEFORE baseball is over. We can’t fix a problem that occurs in May if we don’t hear about it until September.
c. Adherence to FH policies – drafts, play-up policies, manager selection, try-outs, playing time, evals, deadlines, travel vs. in-house, program bashing, hot-heads, Code of Conduct. 2017 discussion….
d. Last but not least, remember that this program is for kids to have fun, to learn baseball, sportsmanship, responsibility and above all, how to become a decent young adult.
Teaching by example is the best way. If you demonstrate sportsmanship, you are teaching sportsmanship. But if you act like a butthead trying to win at all costs, bending the rules, being a sore loser, you are teaching your kids that this behavior is acceptable. It is not. Do you want your future grandchildren to have decent coaches, or coaches that cheat and scream and yell like idiots? The mentality starts NOW. Your children are a direct reflection of you.
"The only purpose for adults in this game is to be role models for the children. If you cease to be a role model, your presence will no longer be required!"