Capitol Little League Baseball WA

26

Jan, 2023

Spring 23 Registration UPDATE

Fair warning this is another LONG article

Baseball 2023
Registration for T-Ball to Intermediate Division and Challenger Division will be closing on January 31, 2023.

Wait list will be kept until February 10, 2023 on these division based on whether there are still open potential player slots on teams with designated team managers (head coaches).

Registration for JR and SR divisions will be closed on March 8, 2023 to allow high school players to determine if they have made high school teams and whether they want to pick up additional playing time with Little League. Note that JR and SR players only have to play 6 regular season Little League games to qualify for post season play. All other kid pitch players must play 8 regular season to qualify for post season play.

IF you, your friends or relatives have NOT yet signed up for Spring 2023 baseball, please do so ASAP.

Team managers, coaches and parent volunteers can sign up at any time from now until end of the season.

Financial assistance
We did not raise our fees for Spring 2023. We recognize paying for sports can be difficult for families.

The payment plan is in place but would require a $50 down payment and the payment of the Jan 10th installment at sign up. There would be one more payment due on Feb 10th.

The T-Mobile Grant link is finally working and they are accepting applications and I have heard from a few folks who received grants. The link for the application is https://everykidsports.org/programs/tmobile-little-league-call-up-grant-application/
To qualify for T-Mobile grant you have to be on WIC, SNAP or Medicaid. IF you receive a T-Mobile grant that doesn't cover the full cost of the Spring 2023-please send an email to [email protected]so we can send you a coupon code for the difference BEFORE you try to process the chek card for the grant.

Dick's Sporting Goods has reopened their grant program as well (not sure for how long)  https://everykidsports.org/every-kid-sports-pass/ this program requires WIC, SNAP or Medicaid as well but also has program for Foster Parents.

IF you don't qualify for these grants, our league will provide a full or partial scholarship if needed. You will need to send an email to [email protected] with information about your player/s age and divisions you want to enroll in as well as whether you can pay $50 per player for uniform costs.

Equipment and Equipment Bank
Players will need bat, batting helmet, cleats (not metal) and baseball glove. Many also like to use batting gloves.
The league supplies hat, jersey, pants for all players. Kid pitch players get belts; Challenger, T-Ball and AA machine pitch players get sox.

The league also has an equipment bank with cleats, gloves and batting gloves for players to use/keep IF they can find something that fits. The Equipment bank will be open at Peter G Schmidt Elementary from 9 AM to 3 PM on FEB 11 and FEB 25 during the player evaluations and uniform fitting event.

While the league has bats, batting helmets and catcher's gear available for team shared use, many parents may chose to purchase equipment for their player/s.

We will be sending Dick's Sporting Goods 20% off coupons for the March 7 to 10 weekend and the April 7 to 10 weekend so you can save some money by waiting until those weekends.

Bats--
Challenger, T-ball and AA machine pitch must be USA logo TEE Ball bats
Minor and Major must be USA logo bats or wood bats under 33" in length.
Intermediate can be either USA logo or BBCOR
JR and SR must be BBCOR

Batting helmets
Must be NOCSAE labeled with no writing on plastic shell (inside or out)--names etc. can be written on foam liner.
Stickers must not cover more that 20% of the surface.
Attachments such as C flaps must be from the same manufacturer as the helmet and/or you must have letter from the helmet manufacturer indicating the attachment is "legal" to use with their helmet. See https://www.littleleague.org/playing-rules/modifying-helmets-with-additional-attachments/ for full information.

Cleats
NO metal cleats are allowed on our fields.
Some fields will allow JR and SR players to wear metal cleats IF there is no artificial mound or turf.

Baseball Glove
Should fit the player and be flexible enough for the player to catch and release a baseball.

Catcher Equipment
Catcher helmets must also be NOCSAE labeled and must have a throat latch (guard) for ALL divisions of Little League.
Catchers MUST wear a cup.
Catchers must have leg guards and chest protectors.
Knee Savers are optional (the league has a supply if needed).
Catcher mitt.

Our complex
Our complex is located at 7700 New Market SW Tumwater WA.
We have one "big" 90 ft. base path field Field 6 on south corner
We have one adjustable field 5 also located on south corner of the complex
We have four 60 ft. base path fields on north end of the complex fields 1, 2, 3, & 4.
We have one Field 7 which is primarily Tee Ball game/practice field which is between field 1 and field 5.
We have one small T-ball practice field Field 8.

Practices
We anticipate starting practices about March 10. In addition to our own complex we have reserved space at several Olympia and North Thurston elementary school fields for week night practices. Scott Lake Community field will also be available this spring.
We do not use the Tumwater school fields due the high hourly fee charged by the school district.

Team managers will be meeting and picking practice field days and locations on March 4 and March 5. We will finalize team names and colors during that meeting. We will post a practice schedule to the website as quickly as possible after the meeting/s.

Practices will be held on weeknights and weekend days.
Unless coach decides otherwise, weeknight practices will start at 5:30 PM and should go about 2 hrs. depending on the division.  Weekend practices will be in 2 hr. slots starting at 9 AM each day--we have 8 fields available in our complex for weekend practices so most teams are able to get a weekend practice at our complex.

Expect 2 practices per week before games start and one practice per week after games start.

Games
Spring Games will start on April 10 and end on June 10. We will not play over Memorial Day weekend.
Challenger games will start about May 1 and end about mid-September as the Challenger season runs in BOTH Spring and Fall.

T-ball and AA games will be at our complex on Saturdays and about 3 weeknight games during the season.
Minor and Major home games will be at our complex on Fields 3, 4 or 5. These divisions may play a few away games at Tenino, Rochester, Centralia, Chehalis, and Elma.
Intermediate, JR and SR--home games will be at our complex. These divisions may play some games at Elma, Chehalis, Montesano, DuPont. We do plan to play some local Babe Ruth teams as well at their fields.

Game schedules will NOT be released until at least March 15 to allow for coordination with other baseball organizations.

Player evaluations
ONLY kid pitch players have player evaluations.
We are essentially a "no cut" league--we use player evaluations to find the best fit for players based on age and ability.

Players should wear tennis shoes, bring a glove and bat and if they have one a batting helmet. We will have ALL of these equipment pieces at the player evaluation IF your player does not have their own.

Players will be expected to catch, hit, throw, and run. Pitchers should expect to throw 5 or so pitches. While brief, watching players demonstrate these skills helps coaches and player agents evaluate players in respect to others in their division.

We will be holding player evaluations for Major and Intermediate players on FEB 11 and Minor players FEB 25 at Peter G Schmidt Elementary 235 Dennis St Tumwater. Players must attend ONE player evaluation to be eligible for post season play.

Evaluations will begin at 9 AM and be done by division--for example on FEB 11-- Intermediate players last name A to M at 9 AM; last name N to Z at 9:30 AM. Major players last name A to J 10:30 AM; last name K to M 11:30 AM; last name N to S 1 PM and last name T to Z 2 PM. Players who need alternate time 3 PM. Players double rostered in Intermediate and Majors will only have ONE evaluation.

On FEB 25 Minor players last name A to J 9 AM; last name K to M 11:00 AM; last name N to S 1 PM; last name T to Z 2 PM. Players who need alternate time 3 PM.

The above schedule is approximate guide line and we may modify it a bit depending on the number of players falling in the last name groups--we will send final schedule about FEB 2.

Players needing to attend a different date than above or not available for either of these dates should advise me at [email protected] so alternate evaluation can be arranged.

Player evaluation for JR/SR players will be held at our field 6 on March 11 in the AM--the schedule will be based on the number of players needing evaluations.

Uniform Fitting
ALL players should plan on having a uniform fitting on either FEB 11 or FEB 25 at Peter G Schmidt commons area. Uniform fitting will be available from 9:30 AM to 3 PM both days.

IF you can't attend a uniform fitting you can go to Spin Tees 1025 Black Lake Blvd Suite D Olympia 98502 phone 360-515-5043--call in advance.

DRAFT and Placement meetings
The Player draft for Intermediate, Majors and Minors will be held on March 4 at the Tumwater Valley Athletic Club in Studio 2.
1 PM to Finish.

The placement meeting for T-Ball and AA machine pitch will be held on March 5 at Tumwater Valley Athletic Club in Studio 2
1 PM to Finish.

Team managers and assistant coaches attend these meetings NO players or parents (unless team manager/coach).

Both meetings will start with a rules review, safety meeting and question/answer session.
At least one team representative must be present for the meeting and draft/placement.
Team managers will select practice days/locations and team name/colors during the meetings.

Team notification and activation
Once teams have been finalized we will begin the notification process to parents. This will be an automated notification via the system with an invite to the team.

ALL team members must accept placement to the team, before the team can be activated to the website TEAM Central.

Once ALL team players have accepted invites to the team, the roster will be activated and posted to TEAM Central on our website and parents will also get notice of the Game Changer activation of your team and an invite to the team.

NOTE--Game Changer is a free app which is available for ALL teams.

Once the Game Changer app is activated for the team, the team manager and other coaches can send text and emails to parents about practices and other events.

When posted, the Game schedule will also populate to both the website TEAM Central and Game Changer.

Team managers/players
At this point, we have enough team managers for:
13 T Ball teams
14 AA Machine Pitch teams--potentially need 2 more team managers
13 Minor Teams potentially need 2 to 3 more team managers
6 Major Teams potentially need 2 more team managers
2 Intermediate Teams--potentially need one more Intermediate team manager.
2 JR Teams
1 SR team needs a team manager.

WE anticipate a few more player and team manager sign ups before January 31.

Team names preliminary
As team managers and assistant coaches complete background checks I intend to start assigning team names for preliminary draft and placement.

Those team names will be configured "CLL Spring 23 Division Team Manager last name"--the team mascot name will be added after we complete the draft and placement process. For example "CLL Spring 23 T-Ball Smith" if the team picks the Orioles for the mascot it will be added later before the team in activated on the website and Game Changer.

Team manager's and assistant coaches child/ren will be automatically assigned to the manager's/coaches team.  EXCEPT in Minors and above only 2 assistant coaches and their children will be assigned ahead of the draft on March 4.

If you look on your account page you may see these preliminary assignments.

Often in AA and T-Ball, we start the assignment process and find that we missed a teammate or coach request and team players move around--this can happen quite a bit until we finalize after the March 5 team manager meeting.

Please understand that between now and March 10, we may be moving players/coaches around on the website and a team listing showing one day on your account page may change the next as we work thru the placement/draft process.

Nothing is final until we activate the teams after March 5.

Property Players
Spring 2022 Players returning to the same team/same team manager have property rights to remain on that team for Spring 2023.

During the draft/placement process we will identify each team's Spring 2023 property players.

Players who have requested a release from their Spring 2023 team are "free agents" and can be drafted or placed on any team in the division in which they registered.

Any player who did not play at Capitol Little League in Spring 2023 is "free agent."

Fall Ball team assignments do not grant property rights.

Player requests for team mate/coach assignment will be considered in the draft/placement process.

Out of boundary
As we start to run reports, we will find PO Box addresses or addresses outside our boundary (essentially the Olympia, North Thurston, Tumwater and Griffin school districts).

Sometimes we have a waiver or school enrollment form on file and won't need to contact a parent to determine IF we need to pursue a waiver or school enrollment form.

IF a waiver is needed, we need to have it completed BEFORE the player is drafted or placed on a Spring team, so we will be reaching out to a few folks to get needed information or paperwork in the next 10 days or so.

Waiver requirements vary based on individual circumstances, so that is why we will be reaching out to verify those and determine what steps we need to take.

Sorry this is so long but lots of questions come our way and its sometimes easier to get them answered this way.

Capitol Little League serving Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater & Thurston County

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26

Jan, 2023

Spring 23 Registration UPDATE

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