What Is JBO? 
Here are some quick facts and comparisons between JBO and other baseball options.

• JBO consists of more than 80 local associations broken into 3 districts. 
  
• JBO has three age divisions: Midget (3rd/4th graders) | Junior (5th/6th graders) | Senior (7th/8th graders)
  
• JBO has three skill levels at each of the divisions: National (beginner skills), American (intermediate skills), Federal (highest skills)
  
• JBO fields grow as the boys grow: Midget (46’ mound/60’ bases) | Junior (50’ mound/70’ bases) | Senior (60’ mound/90’ bases)
  
• JBO is a direct high school feeder program
  
• JBO league boundaries are the same as the High School your son will be attending
  
• Aligning with your fellow future High School teammates at an early age will help build a stronger program at your respective HS.  This is a key element little leagues or clubs can’t provide.
  
• JBO plays by High School rules starting at the Midget age division
  

Why Choose JBO?

• JBO is a non-profit organization. It is not about creating revenue.
• JBO does not have parent selected All-Star teams
• All teams at all age divisions and all skill levels have the same chance to play in their end of the season JBO district tournament and JBO state championship 
• JBO’s sole focus is on developing your son to play High School baseball at his respective school, so why not start building towards that goal today with his fellow future High School teammates?

Comparing JBO to Other Options

TEAM FORMATION:

Some area clubs and leagues are only interested in selecting the best 11 or 12 players for their teams. Miss the cut and you’re out. Worst case, they accept everyone who pays the fees to join, your son practices with the team, but sees little or no game experience. Most club teams do not have a “minimum play rule” so your son could see minimal playing time.

Other leagues, like Little League, form teams with a wide range of skill levels – where a player with below-average skills has to play with, and against, the best players. While there is a “minimum play rule” guess who receives the least amount of playing time, less instruction, and rarely gets the chance to pitch, catch, or play a position in the infield? 

In the “combined-skill” model, very few of the players are getting the most out of the experience!

-- The best players are NOT playing against significant competition

-- The average players rarely get the opportunity to play ‘key’ positions

-- The developing players struggle to compete at all and build no confidence

THE JBO DIFFERENCE…

JBO forms teams of players with SIMILAR SKILL LEVELS and places them in a division where they play against teams with SIMILAR SKILL LEVELS. This approach gives each team and player the chance to compete on a level playing field, allowing more opportunity for experience, instruction, growth, success, and increased confidence.

COMPETITION:

Club teams are generally NOT part of a league. A large majority of their games are played in weekend tournaments throughout Oregon and states in the Pacific Northwest. The competition is generally very good and sometimes elite. If a club does not include solid players up and down the roster they will struggle to compete and win games, leading to early exits in tournaments, which reduces the potential number of games played over the season. Additionally, constant weekend travel, time away from home, and additional travel expenses add up.

Little League’s Juniors program (13-14 year olds) has only limited participation in NW Oregon, with only four leagues fielding teams in District 4.  Some parents and/or coaches with players on Little League teams will choose to play weekend tournaments with a roster of hand selected players, almost exclusively from their Little League teams. They are ‘allowed’ to do this as long as they are not associating the team/team name with Little League in any way. Because these tournaments are not Little League sanctioned events, the organizers of the teams are not required to include all players from their Little League rosters. Teams may even be formed without asking you if you’d like to participate. Be sure to ask your league’s leaders about participating in these types of tournaments. Know the details going in so your son is not left out of opportunities for extra competition.

THE JBO DIFFERENCE…

The Westside Youth Baseball (JBO) district includes 23 local JBO associations that are affiliated with their respective high schools. This provides for a variety of competition against players from other schools in the area - not the same few teams over and over.

Rarely do JBO teams play against teams made up of their friends and classmates. In some leagues, playing against friends and classmates can create animosity and division between players who may eventually play together in high school.

JBO teams play an 18-20 game regular season with games during the week. JBO teams will often use a few of those free weekends to play in area tournaments AS A TEAM for those who are interested. Only when a team does not have enough participation from its own team does it bring in other players to fill the roster.

POST SEASON OPPORTUNITIES:

Club teams don’t participate in traditional post-season events. As stated before, club baseball form teams that play together for the entire season in weekend tournaments. Depending on the club, they may decide to play in a regional tournament that can lead to a national championship tournament. Unless the club has elite players, competing in a regional tournament is probably not an option. 

If a Little League Juniors program has more than one regular season/league team, they select a post-season All-Star team from those teams. If a player doesn’t make the All-Star team, his season is over. In 2018, only four teams competed in Oregon’s District 4 Juniors tournament. 

THE JBO DIFFERENCE…

There is NO ALL-STAR SELECTION PROCESS. Every JBO team has the opportunity to compete in JBO’s post-season district and state tournaments against the best teams throughout the state – at their skill level. The team you play with throughout the season is the same team you play with in the post season. Participation in the post season is determined by your team’s success, not if you are lucky enough to be selected for an All-Star team.

In JBO, kids (and parents) don’t have to worry all season about making a post season team or feel terrible if they don’t make the team. In some leagues, All-Star teams are often pre-selected long before the season plays out. Too often, deserving players are not selected due to politics and relationships, not performance and skill.

COST:

Club teams are generally the most expensive, by far, running as much as $3,000 per player. The rationale is that you are paying for more qualified coaches and instruction, typically have a private facility at their disposal, and participation in all games/tournaments is normally covered in that cost. However, those fees DO NOT include expenses for the family to drive to tournaments, hotel rooms, dining out, and other travel expenses associated to weekend tournaments.

Clubs are also for-profit organizations and their coaches and organizers are typically paid positions, not volunteers. As stated earlier, club teams don’t have a minimum-play requirement, so you could end up paying a lot of money for practice and instruction and minimal game experience.

Little League’s Juniors registration cost is in the $300 range.  Little Leagues will generally have a substantial cash surplus, allowing them to keep the costs down at the Juniors level. The surplus cash is fueled by a large volume of participation at the lower level divisions (T-ball, coast, minors). However, in District 4, you are likely to play the same 3 to 4 teams all season.

THE JBO DIFFERENCE…

This year’s Mountainside Senior Division cost is $385. We intend to continue running a very lean budget to keep our participation costs to a minimum. Our registration cost covers our league fees, field rental costs, umpire fees, and equipment. When considering the dozens of hours of practice time, 18-20 regular season games, plus potential post season games with over 20 different teams to play, the hourly cost to participate is still well worth the value and experience.

FIELD ACCESS:

Club teams in the Beaverton area must have their own fields and facilities for practices or have an existing relationship with a school or organization with fields. Some club teams, especially those newly formed, do not have baseball fields available to them for practices. THPRD allows ONLY affiliated leagues to rent fields for practices and games. They are NOT accepting any new leagues or affiliates as there are only a handful of 60/90 fields available in the area. If you are considering a club, ask them where their practice fields are located – if they have them at all. Do you really want to pay exclusive-level fees to practice on anything but a baseball field?

Little League is a THPRD affiliate, so they are guaranteed fields to practice on as long as conditions allow.

THE JBO DIFFERENCE…

JBO is ALSO a THPRD affiliate, so we are guaranteed fields to practice on as long as conditions allow.

TEAMMATES:

Club teams have no boundaries from which they field players. Parents choose to play for a club team of their choice and will travel any distance as long as they feel it is worth it. A club team can be made up of friends, boys from the same school, the same city, nearby cities, or even distant cities.

Little League Juniors teams in the Beaverton school district are restricted to players from within ELEMENTARY school attendance boundaries. Little League’s District organizers have not adjusted their boundaries to match the newly formed Beaverton School District boundaries.

Good or bad, depending on how you look at it, players on these teams are a mix of players who already know they will attend a specific high school and will play against each other in the next year or two. While it may allow friends to play together one last time, the same players are missing an opportunity to get to know and bond with their future high school teammates.

THE JBO DIFFERENCE…

JBO associations in the Beaverton school district are restricted to players from within the NEW Beaverton School District high school boundaries. Players on these teams will have one or two years to practice with, play with, and form relationships and familiarity with the same players they will be teammates with in high school. 

In addition, Mountainside JBO and Southridge JBO are feeder programs for their respective high school baseball teams. Head baseball coaches Ryan Fobert (Mountainside) and Kyle Chamberlain (Southridge) both provide support to their respective JBO organizations because the boys we coach now become future players for their teams. It is in our best interest, as well as theirs, to prepare our players for a seamless transition to high school baseball competition. Successful high school programs have strong connections to JBO feeder teams. JBO players build loyalty and pride in their teams, having a strong affiliation with the high school and team they will play for soon.