Holden Baseball Program, Inc.: Welcome
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------> Registration for the 2009 Spring season is now open! <------- |
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REGISTRATION, TRYOUT INFORMATION FOR 2009 SPRING SEASON
Registration for the 2009 Spring season is now open. Tryouts were held on Saturday, October 4, and no additional date is scheduled. There is a substantial discount offered for early registration. See the table below to see how much you will save by early registration.
| Age as of 4/30/09 | Paid before 11/1/08 | Paid by 1/31/09 | Paid after 1/31/09 |
| 5-6 | $55 | $70 | $80 |
| 7-8 | $70 | $95 | $105 |
| 9-12 | $90 | $115 | $125 |
| 13-15 | $105 | $130 | $140 |
| Family Maximum | $215 | $265 | $285 |
COACHING AND VOLUNTEER APPLICATIONS FOR 2009 ARE DUE!
Coaching and Volunteer applications for 2009 are available under Forms (to the left). All new and returning coaches must submit a Coaching application, a Volunteer application and a copy of a valid Driver's License or other photo ID.
2009 SPONSORS NEEDED
Although we charge registration fees for our programs, Holden Baseball heavily depends on community support to defray our operating expenses and allow us to make capital improvements on our facilities. Sponsors may choose to sponsor one of our 50+ teams and have their company name appear on the hats or shirts of their sponsored team or have a 4'x8' sign bearing their company name and logo on the outfield fence at Swenson Memorial Field (home of Holden Baseball) for the entire 2009 season. Sponsorship forms are available under Forms on the left side of this page.
INFORMATION FOR PARENTS NEW TO THE PROGRAM
If this is your first year as a Holden Baseball parent, let us first welcome you to our program and wish you many years of enjoyment. For many of us, the days and nights spent at the baseball fields are among our best memories and launched lasting friendships for us and our children. As we place your child on a team, you will receive a call from your child's manager with information about the first practices, which begin as soon as fields are open. The regular season continues through mid-June. There are no playoffs for our primary leagues (Instructional, Rookie, A and AA) which include players age 5, 6, 7 and most 8's. Playoffs in the upper leagues (AAA, Junior Little League and LL Majors) last until the third week in June. Players in the 5 and 6 year old leagues play 10 games, which means two on some weekends and one on others. There are no games in those leagues on Mothers Day. There are no games in our lower minor leagues on Memorial Day weekend. All our teams are assigned a practice time on one weeknight. Much of our curriculum in the primary leagues is geared toward the team experience, so attendance and punctuality is a lesson parents can instill in their children to assist us in that teaching. Please be aware that no parent may manage, coach or even go on the field with the children without first having submitted the two coaching applications and a photo ID (see Forms section at left for applications) and having been cleared by the league after a background check. Please do not put us in the position of telling you that you may not coach because you have not submitted your applications. As parents, you should take some comfort in our insistence on this issue. If you have questions about what to expect this season and cannot find your answer here, please email us at holdenbaseball@gmail.com and we will be happy to help you. Enjoy your season!
REMINDER ABOUT COACHES
No one may be involved in any way with a team unless he or she has filed the applications and been cleared through a background check. This applies to all coaches, even those who coached last season. League directors will circulate a list of approved coaches to eah manager, and the manager is responsible for making sure that only approved coaches participate.
THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, BUT...
Everything that happens on our baseball fields should be about the children and not about the adults. For that reason, we have no tolerance for adults making derogatory remarks about players, coaches or umpires. With respect to umpires, no manager or coach may question an umpire's judgment in making a ball/strike, fair/foul or out/safe call. To do so is grounds for immediate ejection and suspension. In the rare case in which a manager wishes to question an umpire's interpretation of a rule, he or she should ask to approch the umpire and quietly ask for him or her to reconsider the interpretation. In the very unlikely event that the manager and umpire cannot reach an agreement after a very brief discussion, the manager may play the remainder of the game under protest in accordance with Little League rules. Remember, these are games between children, and no one's life will be changed by their outcome.
BAD WEATHER POLICY
So what do you do when you wake up on a game day and it is raining? Before you call anyone, come to this site and see if there is a weather alert posted. We generally will put information about Saturday postponements on the site by 8 am if morning games are affected by weather. On Sundays, we wait until 11 am to make a call. We usually do not postpone an entire day of games early in the morning unless it is absolutely clear that the rain will continue for the entire day. If you have a game at 4 pm, you will likely have to check back during the day as we monitor the weather and field conditions. Of course, the managers involved in the game are the ultimate decision makers, and will not play a game if they decide that either the field or weather conditions are not acceptable. Some fields, such as the Swenson Fields are better maintained and drain better than others, so they are quicker to recover from a heavy rain. We do not have field maintenance equipment at the Town-owned fields. In addition, we have a lightning policy that is set forth below. Our primary concern in deciding on postponements is the safety of the children.
LIGHTNING REMINDER
Our policy is to suspend play when lightning is imminent, present or just passed. Obviously, making that determination requires some experience and judgment, but we recommend erring on the side of caution if it is not a clear cut situation. No rule says that anyone has to observe a flash of lightning twice or even once to make the call that it is imminent, present or just passed. For games in progress in AAA, JLL and LL, we rely on our umpires to decide when to suspend play, but we ask our managers to work cooperatively with the umpires to make a decision in the best interests of everyone's safety. In other leagues, the managers decide when conditions are safe. Once play is suspended, players should leave the field and seek shelter in cars. The dugout, a metal cage attached to the highest structure on the field (the backstop) is not a safe alternative. Managers should make sure they know where a child is headed when a suspension occurs, and communicate if and when it is likely that play will be resumed. Parents are responsible for the safety of their children during a suspension of play.
A WORD ABOUT OUR FUNDRAISING POLICY
Have you heard about Holden Baseball's latest fundraiser? Probably not, because we don't have one. For the past several years, we have avoided fundraisers that require our children to sell candy bars, gift wrap, cookies, coupon books or any of the many other items you probably don't want to buy and don't want your children to sell. The truth about many fundraisers is that a large portion of the money you contribute goes to the cost of the product you don't want to buy or to the cost of a professional fundraising organization. We raise our revenue through our registration fees, the contributions of our many generous sponsors, our snack bar, photo sales and the operation of a very popular summer tournament. That way, you pay one fee and sit back and enjoy the season. That doesn't mean we don't need contributions. Each year, we raise funds through voluntary contributions to Friends of Holden Baseball, and we spend 100% of those funds on improvements to our fields and facilties, making them safer and more useful for our players and more comfortable for our spectators. If you haven't done so already, please consider making a contribution to our Friends account. Your check payable to Holden Baseball Program, Inc. may be sent to P.O. Box 117, Holden, MA 01520 together with the Sponsor Application which you can download from the Forms section, or you may make your contribution on-line right now by clicking on the "Donate Now" icon on the left side of this page. Thank you for your generous support.