Update 12/15/2020: New Recreational Youth Sports Guidance Issued by State of California
Great news! Last night the State of California released updated Recreational Youth Sports Guidance and we finally have a roadmap leading to our spring Little League season. Under the new guidance, youth sports have been categorized into risk profiles based on two criteria: indoor vs outdoor sports and the level of contact (low contact, medium contact and high contact.) You can view the detailed guidance and tiers at CALIFORNIA YOUTH SPORTS GUIDELINES.
We’ve learned 2 things based on the new sports guidelines:
- SMLL is authorized, regardless of county tier status, to begin holding team practices.
- SMLL can hold competitive baseball games as soon as Orange County returns to the Red Tier status.
WHAT DOES THE SPORTS GUIDANCE MEAN FOR SMLL’s SPRING SEASON?
Bottom line, we can play baseball! We spoke with SAMLARC this morning and SMLL is approved to hold both evaluations and team practices on the fields. As I shared in my previous email, if we have the fields, we will play baseball.
Given the new guidelines, we are planning to begin our spring season as originally scheduled. Player evaluations for league age 7 and up are on Saturday, January 9th and will be conducted safely, following all social distancing rules. Stay tuned for more information on timing for specific divisions and age groups. Teams should be drafted by mid-late January and practices are still scheduled to begin in early February.
WHEN CAN WE PLAY GAMES?
The new guidelines currently restrict inter-team competition for all sports until at least January 25th. We remain hopeful that Orange County will be in the red tier, and allowed to play games, before our official “Opening Day” on February 27th. While we plan for competition to start as scheduled, there are contingency plans in place to play our season in time for TOC/All-stars even if there is a delay in state allowance for games.
LET’S PLAY BALL!
Get registered for Spring Season now by going to our website at http://smllbaseball.org. Early bird pricing has been extended along with our refund window (view full refund policy here). Anyone who registers after evaluations on January 9th will be placed on a waiting list.
Thank you for your patience as we awaited this guidance from the state. SMLL will continue to keep you informed as we receive additional information and move forward planning into 2021. We can’t wait to welcome you all back for our Spring 2021 season!
We are SM!
Ryan Chessman, SMLL Board President