I know–I can’t believe it’s already time to think about registration for our spring season. It has been such a joy to see so many of you out on the fields with us this fall.

Taking into account a number of successes and challenges from Spring 2022, as well as feedback from parents and coaches, we are making a few changes to our spring program. 

TEE BALL AND FARM

Tee Ball and Farm players will no longer be required to complete residency and age verification in person. All required documents--birth certificate and proof of residency–MUST be uploaded during registration. 

Every Tee Ball player will receive a trophy at the end of the spring season. Several of our parents and coaches expressed an interest in having a special souvenir for our youngest kiddos. We want their experience–for many, their first in Little League and/or the game of baseball–to stick with them for seasons to come. We hope this small gesture is a keepsake that reminds them of the memories they made with friends and the hard work they put in at practices and games.

Last spring, we introduced coach rescue in our Farm division. This allowed our oldest Farm players to try out pitching ahead of their transition to Minors. Overall, this implementation was successful. However, in attempting to honor as many friend/coach requests as possible, we ended up with some uneven age groupings that made coach rescue more difficult for some teams. So, this spring, during registration, Farm parents will be able to indicate a preference for coach pitch OR coach rescue (or, no preference).

At the close of registration, if we have enough Farm players to create two mini-divisions, we will try our best to place kiddos in either coach pitch or coach rescue while honoring as many teammate/coach requests as possible. If we don’t have enough players for two mini-divisions, all teams will implement coach rescue, but we will be much more deliberate about how we build teams in terms of LL age. It is important to note we will not be able to accommodate every teammate/coach request. And remember, you can register an LL 6 for Farm only if they have had at least one season of Tee Ball and they are ready to begin hitting off a live pitcher, whether it be a coach or teammate.

MINORS AND MAJORS

In our upper divisions, IN-PERSON residency and age verification is required. This MUST take place every spring–NO EXCEPTIONS. Ultimately, if your child becomes eligible for All-Stars at the end of the season, collecting paperwork will be much easier with a thorough process in the spring. As we did last spring, you will be able to complete residency and age verification during evaluations. This year, this will take place at Cocopah Middle School instead of Cochise/Chaparral. More information to come!

As you may know, it is imperative for the health and safety of our players that we keep an accurate pitch count at every game. In the past, managers (head coaches) have asked one of their assistants or a parent in the stands to keep the pitch count on paper. This fall, we are using the app GameChanger in lieu of paper pitch counts and will continue this implementation in Spring 2023.

I would highly recommend reading up on GC, downloading it, and playing around with some of the features. Using GC, coaches can track all kinds of data and relatives and friends near and far can keep up with the game in real time. It is so neat!

We look forward to having you join us this spring and we continue to welcome your wonderful ideas. Go Bulls!