STMA Baseball Newsletter

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Page 1 STMA Baseball 2015 Baseball Board President John Olson 612.396.7003 VP / Travel Baseball Harry Hoselton 763.515.7665 EXT. 16 VP / In-House Baseball Mike Barthel 612.275.

1 Page 1 STMA Baseball 2015 Baseball Board President John Olson VP / Travel Baseball Harry Hoselton EXT. 16 VP / In-House Baseball Mike Barthel Sponsorship Larry Brown EXT. 12 Treasury Kevin Youngberg EXT. 17 Tournaments Mike Harken Secretary Lance Krupke Equipment Joe Benne EXT. 15 Registra on/web Stef anie Gartner 2015 Coordinators Minors Laurie Kelly EXT. 19 Majors Kristen Huber EXT. 20 Willie Mays Natalie Verness EXT. 22 Pee Wee Reese Jason Neros Sandy Koufax Craig Hoffman Mickey/Connie Mack Doug Sander STMA Baseball Newsletter Special points of interest: Registration Tryouts Evaluations Board Update A new year and an ac ve offseason great opportuni es for our for the third consecu ve year to for the Associa on. We con nually look for areas of improvement for our athletes and coaches. Two areas where we are focusing our energy include off-season training for our associa on is younger ages to get geared up for the upcoming season. We are commi ed to con nuing to offer our Buzz Hannahan Baseball Clinic over President s Day Weekend. This will be our 11th consecu ve season with Buzz provide a day with our coaches and demonstrate how to put together an effec ve prac ce plan. For any coaches we will treat this as required training this year. We are also excited to expand improved communica on and and he ll be assisted once again our coaches mee ngs and make consistent experiences for our teams. Our goal of opening a baseball facility has been realized. While we have some growing pains that are associated with anything new we are excited to see how the facility is being used and future refinement of its use in the future. As a result of the new facility we have seen enrollment in our regular training programs dip. The Buzz and Winter Clinic are by Jake Mauer (Twins Minor League Coach and former player). Register on-line now! The second area of improvement is consistent and effec ve coaching. We want to make sure our coaches are comfortable when they hit the fields and that requires be er communica on. It also requires us to provide the appropriate tools and training to match their level of play. To help with this we are bringing back Pete Caliendo with USA baseball it much more informa ve for all of our volunteers. The Board discusses this topic a great deal and are excited to kick the year off right. We do have several other areas where we are working to add improvements. I am extremely excited to launch into another baseball season. Inside this issue: Board Update 1 Registra on Update 2 Dates to Remember 3 Evalua ons/travel Time Commitment 4 Evalua on Schedule 5 Volunteers 6 Sponsorship and Umpires 6

STMA Baseball Registra on me is here: All registra on takes place on the website at www.stmayouthbaseball.org under the Registra on tab.

2 STMA Baseball Registra on me is here: All registra on takes place on the website at under the Registra on tab. If you registered through our website last year or already have an NGIN login from another sport, your login ID and password will speed up the process a great deal. New registrants will have to set up a family user ID. Each player receives a game jersey and a STMA youth baseball hat. Players 9 years and older also receive a pair of baseball pants to go with their uniform. Each team is also provided with an equipment bag and other necessi es for the season including baseballs, bats, helmets, in-house playoffs, traveling league fees, and umpire fees for relevant ages. It does NOT cover the cost for weekend tournaments that the teams may par cipate in. Tournament costs and travel uniform fees are collected during the season from the parents by the coaches of the teams that par cipate. Informa on regarding the different programs for each age group can also be found Registra on Update on the Registra on tab on our website. Early registra on allows us to properly prepare for the season. We need to prepare for evalua- ons, order uniforms and equipment, determine the number of teams to begin scheduling for the season. Because of the complexity of planning for the season, we encourage everyone to register during the early registra on dates. Addi onal NOTES: Baseball AGE is determined by players age on May 1st of the year. Mul ple player discounts provided (3rd player half price - 4th plus players are free). Non-refundable Traveling Tryout Fee of $20 for players trying out for a traveling team. Late fees of $25 will be assessed beginning March 1st. Players are allowed to Play Up one age level but must score in the top 50% of the players during the evalua ons. (usually Page 2 when younger students want to play with their classmates, and are required to stay up a level for all future seasons as well - policy effec ve when player turns 10 years of age). Evalua ons are required for ALL players 9 thru 16 years old. Evalua on dates can be found on page 3 (Dates to Remember) and evalua on mes will be posted on our website by age and last name in late February. Evalua ons are used for two purposes: 1.) To help the Board select which players will par cipate in our travel program, and 2.) To balance out the teams in our inhouse / recrea onal programs for a be er player experience for all players. Registering on-line becomes much easier the second me through the process as your account informa on is maintained from the previous season.. Login to your account on our website go to the registra on tab and follow the on-line instruc ons. Finalize the process by making payment and you ll be ready for the season. We do provide mul ple payment op ons. Don t forget to also register for our Annual Buzz Clinic as well as the Winter Clinic while registering for the season. Online Registra on Process If you do not remember your account informa on, there is on-line assistance to walk you through it as well. For new members, you are required to set up a new account. Just select Create an Account at the top of the home page and follow the on-line instruc ons. If you have ques ons, please contact our Registra on Director, Stefanie Gartner. **SEE DATES/TIMES IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES** 2015 Player Fees: Level of Play Ages Fee * Minors 5 & 6 $ 95 Majors 7 & 8 $ 95 Willie Mays 9 & 10 $ 120 Pee Wee Reese 11 & 12 $ 135 Sandy Koufax 13 & 14 $ 145 Mickey Mantle 15 & 16 $ 155 Connie Mack $ 165

3 STMA Baseball 2015 Dates to Remember **SEE PAGE 5 FOR SPECIFIC TIMES** Page 3 Buzz Hannahan Camp: Feb Reg. Info on website Middle School EAST Gyms Winter Camp: 8 thru 9 Year Old Camp March 7 9:30 am - 12:00 noon Middle School WEST Gyms Pitching Camp - All Ages March 7 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 10 thru 12 Year Old Camp March 7 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm Middle School WEST Gyms Coaches Clinic: Travel & In-house Coaches May 3 TBD Middle School WEST Gyms Open Gym - Travel: 11 & 12 years old March 3, 5, 10, 12, 19 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 13 & 14 years old March 3, 5, 10, 12, 19 7:45 pm - 9:00 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 15 & 16 years old April 21, 23, 24 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Rec Center Ba ng Cages Open Gym - In-house: 9 & 10 years old March 17, 24, 26, April 2 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 11 & 12 years old March 31 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 11 & 12 years old March 12, April 2 7:45 pm - 9:00 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 13 & 14 years old March 24, 26, 31 7:45 pm - 9:00 pm Middle School WEST Gyms 15 & 16 years old April 20, 22, 23 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Rec Center Ba ng Cages Player Evalua ons: 9 and 10 All Players Saturday, March 28 Middle School WEST Gyms 11 In-house Saturday, March 28 Middle School WEST Gyms 11 thru 12 Traveling Saturday, March 21 Ac vity Center 12 thru 14 In-house Sunday, March 29 Middle School WEST Gyms 13 thru 14 Traveling Sunday, March 22 Ac vity Center 15 thru 16 In-house Saturday, April 25 (Weather backup April 26) St. Michael Rec Center 15 thru 16 Traveling Saturday, April 25 (Weather backup April 26) St. Michael Rec Center Picture Day: TBD Picture mes communicated by coaches Middle School West Hi ng Speeds Evalua on Hi ng Speeds Shown in the box to the right are the pitching speeds planned for the evalua ons for The speeds are set at a compe ve but s ll age appropriate level. The pitching machines will be set at these speeds in the open gyms. If the pitching distance varies, we will make sure it is adjusted so the reac on mes are the same for the hi ers. Ages Pitching Distance Speed (mph) 9-10 year olds 46 feet years old 46 feet years old 46 feet years old 52 feet years old 52 feet years old 60 feet 65

Page 4 STMA Baseball The most difficult thing we do as an organiza on is to develop a method of evalua ng our players that is fair, accurate and credible.

4 Page 4 STMA Baseball The most difficult thing we do as an organiza on is to develop a method of evalua ng our players that is fair, accurate and credible. We have done a great deal of research and had discussions with people who study the sport to get ideas on how we can improve our process. People from other organiza ons, from other sports, and even from baseball professionals who spend their me training ball players today. One thing that is consistent between anyone who has spent me on this issue is it s not easy and will never be a perfect process. This year we have our usual evaluators coming back for our in-house evalua ons,. We have eliminated the callback process and extending the one day evalua ons for our travel teams. This allows us to reduce the amount of me needed by the players (one day event) while upgrading the evaluators to the more professional group we have been u lizing for our callback process over the last two seasons. It will increase our evalua on cost, but we feel strongly that the results and feedback this 2015 Player Evalua ons group provides is worth the addi onal cost. We ve had other organiza ons offer their services but with the track record of our current evaluators we will con nue our successful process. Recrea onal / In-house: We will con nue to provide all players with an independent evalua on process but will keep the recrea onal evalua ons the same as we have done in the past. The reason we con nue to evaluate the inhouse players is to ensure that we have balance in our teams which provides all players with a be er overall experience. The evalua on will give each player 5 ground balls, 5 fly balls, and 5 swings off of the pitching machine. Using our standard evalua on sheets (example to the right) we will accumulate the scores and use them to divide the teams evenly. Traveling Tryouts: We will give the traveling players addi onal swings and grounders and will run addi onal drills so each player will have a much more extensive review by the evalua on group before finalizing the teams. We added a running element last year but the weigh ng of the addi on had a small impact. Though there was a small impact we are planning on con nuing this process in the coming year. Players not making the traveling teams will be added to the rosters for our in-house program. We will use their standard scores from the evalua on sheets to help determine where they will slot on one of our inhouse teams. You do not have to try out a second me if you do not make a traveling team. We do understand that an evalua on process can be stressful on the players. Although we expect the players to demonstrate their skills and abili es in front of strangers, we will con nue to do our best to provide a proper atmosphere for the evalua on. We also con nue to expand our traveling program as we have added addi onal traveling teams over the last few years to give more opportuni es to the ball players interested in raising their game to the next level. If you have any addi onal ques ons regarding the evalua on process you can contact the Vice-President Travel Director, Harry Hoselton or John Olson. Traveling Team Commitment Some people are surprised by the level of commitment required when they first get involved with a traveling sports team. Our recrea onal teams may only have 2 scheduled events per week while our traveling teams can average 3 to 5 days a week. A list of what you can expect would include: 16 league games 3 to 4 weekend tournaments League playoffs and a year-end tournament Addi onal prac ces Addi onal expenses (players are responsible for tournament fees) There is a much larger commitment for the traveling players and their parents and we expect them to treat STMA baseball as their top priority over other spor ng ac vi es. We expect to have playing penal es if coaches fail to see this commitment. We hope it provides your child with an exci ng and ac ve summer ac vity.

5 Page 5 STMA Baseball Player Age (as of May 1st) STMA Youth Baseball Evaluation Schedule Level of Play Date Groups (Last Names) Start Time Location 5-8 years old (Minors/Majors) No evaluations for this level of play A - B 8:00 AM Middle School West C - E 8:30 AM Middle School West 9 years old (Willie Mays) All Players Saturday, March 28th F - H 9:00 AM Middle School West I - M 9:30 AM Middle School West N - R 10:00 AM Middle School West S - U 10:30 AM Middle School West V - Z 11:00 AM Middle School West A - Bo 12:30 PM Middle School West Bp - E 1:00 PM Middle School West F - He 1:30 PM Middle School West 10 years old (Willie Mays) All Players Saturday, March 28th Hf - K 2:00 PM Middle School West L - N 2:30 PM Middle School West O - R 3:00 PM Middle School West S - U 3:30 PM Middle School West V - Z 4:00 PM Middle School West Travel Saturday, March 21st All Travel 4:00-6:00 PM High School Activity Center 11 years old (PeeWee Reese) In-House Saturday, March 28th A - G 5:00 PM Middle School West H - N 5:30 PM Middle School West O - Z 6:00 PM Middle School West 12 years old (PeeWee Reese) 13 years old (Sandy Koufax) 14 years old (Sandy Koufax) 15 years old (Mickey Mantle) 16 years old (Mickey Mantle) 17-19U (Connie Mack) Travel Saturday, March 21st All Travel 6:00-8:00 PM High School Activity Center In-House Sunday, March 29th A - L 2:00 PM Middle School West M - Z 2:30 PM Middle School West Travel Sunday, March 22nd All Travel 4:00-6:00 PM High School Activity Center In-House Sunday, March 29th All In-House 3:00 PM Middle School West Travel Sunday, March 22nd All Travel 6:00-8:00 PM High School Activity Center In-House Sunday, March 29th All In-House 3:30 PM Middle School West All Players Saturday, April 25th All Players 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM St. Michael Recreation Center All Players Saturday, April 25th All Players 2:00-4:00 PM St. Michael Recreation Center No evaluations for this level of play

Page 6 STMA Baseball Volunteers Due to changes in the programs and tournaments we will have a great deal of volunteer opportunities available over the summer.

6 Page 6 STMA Baseball Volunteers Due to changes in the programs and tournaments we will have a great deal of volunteer opportunities available over the summer. We will work on getting a process together for opportunities that are available. To mention a few: Tournament Volunteers Open Gym Volunteers State Tournament Volunteers (We will host the Tournament of Champions for one age group this year) If you would like to volunteer please fill out the form at: Thank you in advance! Umpires Wanted Looking for good opportunity to earn some cash on the ball field. Complete our on-line registration form at: Sign up today for a job where you can learn a new skill while earning some money in the great outdoors. We have a need for both in-house and travel umpires. Umpires can get a start when they are just 13 years old working our younger in-house games. PLEASE SIGN UP TODAY. Sponsorship Money from our business partners in the community help to keep our player costs down. As our communities grow, so does our Association and our needs. Last year alone, we had more than 80 teams and expect to see those numbers once again this season. This brings an increasing demand for new as well as returning sponsors. Team sponsorships are currently being accepted. There is also an option to advertise on our website which is a main source of information for the association and will consequently see a lot of traffic. If you would like more information please contact the Sponsorship Director, Larry Brown. Thank You for the continued support!

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STMA Baseball News. Board Update by Scott Morris. President. Vice-President / Travel Baseball. On-Line. Registration

STMA Baseball News. Board Update by Scott Morris. President. Vice-President / Travel Baseball. On-Line. Registration STMA Baseball News V O L U M E 1 6, I S S U E I J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 3 2012-2013 BOARD MEMBERS President Scott Morris Ext. 10 Vice-President / Travel Baseball John Kelly Ext. 13 Vice-President / In-House