December 31, 2017

Dear Coaches, Parents, and Players:

Happy New Year! On behalf of your Lake Youth Baseball (LYB) Board of Directors, I welcome you to the 2018 baseball season. We are excited to have your child in our program and look forward to getting another great season underway. As a youth organization, our goals are simple; offer a fun and competitive environment for young people to develop their baseball skill sets and learn the value of team sports.

We will be conducting our one and only 2018 LYB “Live” registration on Saturday January 27, 2018 from 8:30am tonoon at Advent Lutheran Church located at 1516 Edison St. NW Uniontown, Ohio 44685. We will be utilizing our Lake Youth Baseball website for 2018 registration. This website allows for ONLINE REGISTRATION for our 2018 players, but this online registration will NOT be turned on until January 22, 2018. Please check this website for additional information as we continue to post updates and/or our Lake Youth Baseball Facebook page. You can see this website by clicking on:

We are still conducting one “live” registration at Advent Lutheran church primarily to allow participants to try on uniforms for sizing and answer any “special questions” you may have. You do NOT need to attend this live registration if you prefer to simply register online and size your uniforms at Beatty’s Sports. We will have laptop computers set up at Advent Lutheran Church---but our hope is that you log into the website, create an account, and fill out your online registration form BEFORE you come to Advent Lutheran Church. You can pay your registration fees either online or you can pay with a check or cash at the Advent Lutheran church registration. Lastly, you can add the correct uniform sizes to your online registration form right at Advent Lutheran Church (via Laptop Computer) or just add that information to your registration form in the privacy of your home. This online registration form will also have the ability for you to indicate an interest in being a Head Coach, Assistant Coach or other volunteer.

As you may or may not be aware, LYB does NOT receive any financial support from Lake Township or Hartville Village. That is to say that we do NOT have a tax supported parks and recreation department. Lake Township, Hartville Village, and Lake Local Schools do support us by means of allowing for use of fields and school facilities during the year. Additionally, local churches have allowed LYB to build and operate fields at their churches. The LYB organization will spend about $90,000 per year in general expenses ranging from field mowing, trash service, port a johns, baseballs, uniforms, insurance, umpires, ball field dirt, equipment and other maintenance needs. We currently operate 12 baseball fields at 6 different locations throughout the township. The LYB Board meets the second Tuesday of every month, the meetings are open for members to attend and our financial books are always open for your review.

Here is a quick summary ofLYB for 2018.

1)LYB will continue to operate with the Stark Summit Baseball League (SSBL) and Northeast Ohio Youth Baseball League (NEOYBL).

2)The LYB Website will be utilized for communication from the Board to you with important emails in reference to registration information, LYB events, weather emergencies, and other important information.

3)T ball is offered for 4 and 5 year olds.

4)“Coach Pitch” baseball is offered at the 6 and 7U age level, and “Combo Kid Pitch/Coach Pitch” at the 8u level.

5)LYB will form recreation teams at the 6U through 14U levels with LYB current rules and format which can be viewed on our website.

All LYB Coaches are required to complete a criminal background check as well as completing an online course to detect concussions. The backbone of our organization is the multitude of volunteer coaches that teach and strive to deliver a positive experience for all participants. The LYB boardand I sincerely thank our volunteer coaches that do so much for our organization.

Additionally, this past year we had several long standing board members retire from serving on the LYB board. I would personally like to recognize past board president Mr. Jeff Sturmi, Mr. Jeff Brink, Mr. Ed Zetts, Mr. Rod Smith and Mr. Bill Ek for the countless hours they have given to this organization over the past several years. If you happen to see any of these men out in town or at a Blue Streak sporting event, please join me in thanking them for their time and efforts.

THANK YOU for making LYB a great organization for the youth of our community. Please continue to monitor our website with updated information for online registration and how to complete uniform sizing. Please feel free to contact any of our LYB Board Members via phone or email, their contact information is listed on our website under “forms/docs.”

Lastly, if any member needs to set up a payment plan or request a possible reduction of registration fees, you can contact any LYB Board Member to inquire about these options. The goal of LYB is to allow any and all youth the opportunity to participate in the great game of baseball. We do NOT want financial hardship to stand in the way of this goal.

Respectfully,

Brent Schrock

President

Lake Youth Baseball