Baseball Manitoba
Sport Development Committee Meeting
Sunday March 19, 2017
Holiday Inn – Airport West
Winnipeg, MB
11:30AM
Attendance: Jason Miller (Baseball Manitoba), Joe Raposo (Baseball Manitoba),Blake Stephens (Brandon), Kevin Crellin (Bonivital), Rob Gudnason (Pembina Hills), Dulaney Blatz (South Central), Ken Legge (St. James), Dan Cox (Red River), Dallas and Terri Williamson (Oildome), Nicole Madsen (Midwest), Roger Langlais (North Winnipeg), Darrell Humeniuk (Interlake), Erin Henderson (Portage), Bobbi Bottle (Challenger).
Absent: Winnipeg South, Parkland and Carillon
Meeting Notes:
1. The meeting was called to order at 10:30am
2. Added to the agenda – nothing.
3. Approval of agenda – (Nicole/Roger)
4. Reviewed last meeting minutes – November 2016
5. Approval of March 20, 2016 minutes (Blake/Dan)
6. There was no business arising from the minutes.
7. Business:
Current Programming
A. Winter Ball – Joe reviewed the program. Jason attended SAGE, a conference for Phys Ed Teachers. In 2017 we gave out 27 kits. Please contact Jason if there are any schools that would like one in your area – we need to fill the list for 2018.
B. Rally Cap – Joe reviewed the program and noted the change to Dairy Queen as the Nation al Sponsor. Jason reviewed the $2000 of product sponsorship to 2 associations (Brandon and St. James) in 2016. Baseball Canada has delivered and we will get shirts for all RC players in MB. League reps are reminded to get all player and team numbers in to Brenda before April 15 as that is when we start packing Rally Cap boxes. Dan asked if all RC coaches needed to take the NCCP clinic. Jason explained that it is still a requirement for one coach per team and that the online clinic is available and recommended for all coaches.
C. Grand Slam – Joe reviewed the program. Jason confirmed that Tim Horton’s has agreed to sponsor the program with button up uniform tops for all GS players in MB. Once again, get your numbers in to Brenda before April 15. Finally, the Grand Slam Provincial Jamboree will be June 17 at Shaw Park. So, please host regional events on June 3 or 10. Be sure to notify Jason of these regional events so that he can send out medals for all players and envelopes for the draw winner to attend the Provincial.
D. Mosquito Monster Mania – Joe reviewed the program, focusing on the one day event, coach and umpire training, skill development, modified games. The events in Winnipeg and Brandon were discussed. Lowe Farm also hosts a major 11U tournament – as discussed by Dulaney. Jason offered office support for all events and reminded others that rural teams are welcome to register for and attend any event they wish.
E. My First Pitch – Joe reviewed the program. Jason reminded all reps to book clinics by emailing Jason. That way, the clinic can be posted and booklets can be sent out. It is very important for hosts to submit the list of coaches who attended the clinic with hometown and email addresses.
New Programs
A. Challenger Baseball – See below for Bobbi’s report.
B. True Sport – Jason briefly discussed True Sport and Baseball’s involvement and the positive message it sends to our membership. Jason suggested that the people in the room should look to join true sport individually and as an association.
C. Ideas from the Committee:
a. Play Ball Day – Baseball Canada and Rogers Sportsnet have partnered up to grow the awareness of our game. See PSA - http://www.baseball.ca/rogers-and-baseball-canada-partner-to-grow-the-game-from-coast-to-coast. This is also showed on Sportsnet as a commercial. There will be more PSAs to come this season. June 21 (changed from June 30) will be the National day. We will try and incorporate the Goldeyes in MB.
b. Participaction 150 playlist. Baseball is on the list. Please check it out at https://www.participaction.com/en-ca/programs/participaction-150-play-list there are online toolkits for communities looking to hosts events in conjunction with Canada’s 150th birthday.
Camps/Clinics
A. Winter Academy – The camp is at capacity – 6 sessions, 2 cities, 15 coaches and 175 players. There were players on a wait list for each session. There is room to expand this for 2018. Please contact Jason if you want to see one in your area next winter.
B. Spring Break Camp – Returning to U of M and will remain the same. We have 75 kids in the day camp and 38 in the evening sessions.
C. 5 Tool Camps – Please let Jason know if you would like to host a week-long camp in August. We will continue with the camp at Crescentwood and will look to host one in the east side of Winnipeg also. We will look to go back to Minnedosa and even try to host in Brandon as well.
D. Other Camps –
a. Wesmen – none planned as they are in season.
b. Goldeyes - none planned as they are in pre-season.
c. Home Run Sports Training Centre – see website/on-going - http://homerunsportstrainingcentre.com/
d. Triple Crown - see website/on-going - http://site.triplecrownsports.ca/
e. Blue Jays Camps – Brandon applied and was granted to host the 2017 event on July 18 and 19 at Andrews Field. Blake spoke about their last experience hosting this camp being negative. They hope Softball community will get more involved this time around and will share in some of the volunteer hours. Registration is now open - http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/tor/baseball_academy/honda-super-camps/
8. Other Business:
a. There was a long discussion about umpire/coach relationship. It was agreed that all areas could use some type of rule to protect young umpires from older coaches and keep the umpires interested in returning. Jason reminded the group that something will come down th pipe from the umpire committee on this; either non-confrontation rule (as discussed in 2016) or the Card rules (much like soccer). We will join with the umpires and educate players and coaches, so that the rule is adopted and accepted over a 2-3 year cycle.
b. There was a brief discussion regarding the 70 foot base rule at 11U. Dulaney stated that he felt there were too many outs and not enough kids reaching base. Blake thought too few players could actually play the left side of the infield due to arm strength. Jason stated that both of these points can be addressed by effective coaching (developing arm strength for all players and teaching the value of putting the ball in play and running hard to first. All others were completely in favor of staying with the 70 foot base paths at Provincials.
9. Next Meeting – TBD by VP – Sport Development, Joe Raposo.
10. Adjournment – 1:30 PM (Dan/Bobbi)
MARCH 2017 CHALLENGER REPORT
2017 is very quickly starting to take shape and we have been very busy getting ready. At the national level, the Jays Care Foundation has officially taken leadership of the program. Links to a video detailing the Blue Jays Winter Tour in Regina as well as the official announcement can be found on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Our committee is also growing: we were able to recruit, a Treasurer, a Buddy Coordinator team and a Parent Representative for our executive committee. We also have a Fundraising sub-committee of 5. There is still an open invitation for membership as we hope to have league conveners as well as other positions filled by the end of the season in 2017. The goal for 2017 is to organize as an official association with enough dedicated members and a proper constitution. Baseball Manitoba has helped us this year with a basic income/expenditure line. This allows our committee to filter as well as disperse income and expenses fairly based on need by the leagues. All major event and overall program marketing expenses will come from our provincial budget while league operating expenses will come from the league budgets.
As an ongoing effort to grow the Challenger program within Manitoba, a workshop was held for members of Winnipeg South MBA in January. This included a presentation on details of Challenger Baseball’s history, current statistics and organizational structure in Manitoba and also what our future goals are and how the league could bring on a Challenger Division to support the number of players in their area. Winnipeg South ultimately did decide to bring on a Challenger Division for the 2017 season and we look forward to this exciting partnership.
One of the big questions leagues have asked is: how much work is involved for us as a league? While this isn’t a simple answer and in reality they can be as involved as they want to be, the short end of it is that we want to make sure current over-taxed volunteers are not adding to their workload as much as possible. While we definitely recommend and will strive towards formation of a league based committee with a director/convener board member, currently, our provincial committee is handling all the set up and logistics of each Challenger Division as a whole. This includes ensuring a budget and sponsorships/grants/fundraising are in place, ensuring equipment and uniforms are available, recruitment and registration of players, buddies and coaches, team formation and scheduling. The league is asked to provide advertising support (ie: a link on their website, sharing posters/flyers with their membership, etc), a separate line in the existing league financials to accommodate income/expenses and also accept and disperse monies based on their specific division’s needs and also accommodation through making a field available. In lieu of a league level convener/director until one is recruited, a representative from our provincial committee will sit in on league board meetings as a “member at large” to provide updates and request decision input from the board where needed (The person appointed for both SJAMBA and WSMBA is currently myself, Bobbi Bottle).
We have started our 2017 marketing campaign. On top of new posters/pamphlets, we have set up a temporary website to convey information about our program at www.leaguelineup.com/challengerbaseballmanitoba. If you know of anyone who might want to know more, feel free to share my contact information or pass theirs to me, including phone number and email address. Hard copies of our poster/pamphlets can be made available per request.
Online registration began on February 15 through SJAMBA’s Team Snap account and LeagueLineUp for WSMBA. We also are facilitating several “in person” registrations between now and April 15. SJAMBA home games will be played at Optimist Park/Sturgeon Heights while WSMBA home games will be at Bonnycastle on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings starting the first week of May (weather permitting) until the end of July. We are discussing how a “post-season” would work for those players who would be interested.
In 2017, we expect massive growth as the word is getting out there. Like every other league, we need to get a bit creative on our recruitment of coaches. Jays Care Foundation has announced that our coaches and coordinators have been invited to attend an all-expense paid development workshop in Hamilton, Ontario on April 1-2. From that, we hope to bring back valuable information to run our own development clinic at the end of April for those who were not able to make the Jays Care one and also add in some
more localized training such as first aid training and discussions concerning adapting the game and teaching baseball skills to our specific group of players. All 2017 coaches are required to complete the Respect In Sport program and provide satisfactory Criminal Record/Child Abuse Registry checks.
Buddies continue to be of concern with the huge jump in anticipated player numbers, but with bringing on a team of coordinators, we hope to alleviate the disorganization for this season. Our plan includes active advertising to all high schools and college/university students, inviting all Baseball MB teams (U13 and up, AA/AAA preferred) as well as some corporate volunteers. We are asking for everyone’s help to get the word out there! We have started a “Buddy Bank” which is a database of contacts interested in volunteering as buddies. We will be sending out schedule updates and requests for commitment as soon as our teams are formed in April. To be added to this list, please contact myself or Dean/Nicole at .
Finally, our fundraising team has identified several ways to work towards being financially self-sufficient while still keeping the program affordable for all families. In lieu of fees, we are instituting a Volunteer/Fundraising Bond for 2017 where parents can volunteer at one of our many events and/or help fundraise a quota. This helps keep our Sponsorship/Grant goal lower and encourages parents to get involved. Parents CAN opt out and pay a registration fee of $50.00 but we still encourage some form of participation in fundraising. On top of ventures like 50/50, we will be hosting a Bud Spud & Chicken and Pasta event on June 9 at TYC Event Centre (Canad Inns Polo Park). Tickets are $20.00 and will be available through myself, Jason or any one of Challenger’s committee or players. They can also be ordered online. For direct sales fundraising, we have already launched Action Packs – these are books of vouchers for businesses within the Winnipeg area. Books are $25. In June, our players will also be selling New Bothwell Cheese. A plan is also being discussed concerning “Challenger Gear” again and will be launched once our season starts. For more information, please contact Ross, our Sponsorship/Fundraising Coordinator at .