We currently offer four different divisions: Tee Ball, Coach Pitch, Minors, and Majors. Unlike most leagues we don’t have solid age groups per division. With Little League we look at the development of a player, not so much his/her age. Many of our divisions overlap with ages and this is so that a player isn’t held back, or pushed up, just because he/she is a certain age.
Tee Ball ages are from 4 years old (league age 4, check Age Chart) to 6 years old. 6 year olds can play coach pitch if they have played one year of Little League first. Again, if you have a 6 year old who has already played two years of tee ball and is 4ft tall, playing tee ball isn’t going to help him develop anymore. On the other side, if you have a 6 year old who has never played and is just over 3ft, then tee ball is the best place for him to develop his skills.
Coach Pitch ages are league age 6 to league age 9. Some 9 year olds may play with the Minors instead of coach pitch for the same reasons why a kid may play tee ball over coach pitch. Chatham County Little League wants to develop the player and not just put him/her in a certain group because of their age. In coach pitch we begin to use umpires and the traditional baseball rules. There are two main exceptions to this. First would be that a coach would pitch from about 30ft away. We encourage the coaches to pitch overhand so the players begin to see the motion and pick up the ball coming from the coach’s hand, like they will see at the next level. Secondly, once the ball is in the infield the player can call “time” and the base runners return/advance to the nearest base. A little different, but this is to stop base runners just taking off and the infield players trying to throw, run, and tag the runner out.
Minors age range is from league age 9 to 11. This is the age at which kids begin to pitch and catch. Little League takes pitching and catching very seriously to insure that those players’ arms are protected at a young age. We have several pitch counts rules and rest days required for each position.
Majors age range is from league age 10 to 12. Pitchers are allowed to throw more pitches, but besides that the minors and majors are very similar.
Evaluations/Draft: The great thing about Chatham County Little League is that we don’t turn away any players (unless you try to register late, so please register on time). For our Minors and Majors we have evaluations each year. The goal of evaluations is to make the teams as even as possible. Our volunteer coaches will evaluate all the kids (minor and major) and rank them on a scale of 1-25. The forms are turned into the office and a master list is created. The coaches gather together again and we draft the players just like they do in the MLB, NBA, and NFL. By the end of the draft each team should be relatively equal in level of ability. It is then up to the coach to get the best out of each player. All minor and major players must attend at least one evaluation in their zone.
Zones: Chatham County Little League wants our league to be a community league. One way of doing this is to have different zones, just like the school system. We currently have 3 zones: Brooks Park (Wilmington Island area), Ambuc (Southside area), Mother Mathilda/Scott Stell (Downtown/Pooler area). Players that live in Zone A have to play in Zone A. Now if a player lives in Zone A, but goes to school in Zone B, the player may pick which zone he wants to play for his remaining Little League career.
Registration: Registration is open now and runs until February 14th. Registration is $100.00 and covers the cap and jersey. Once you get placed on a team the coach will let you know what color pants to buy. You may register here: bluesombrero.com/chathamcountyll .