FAQ's
What is the SBA?
The Southlake Baseball Association ("SBA") is an ALL VOLUNTEER, non-profit organization committed to providing our area's youth with a positive and rewarding baseball experience. As a non-profit organization, though, we are continually in need of both financial (team sponsorships) and volunteer (administrative help) assistance. Please consider assisting us in assisting your child!
When is registration for the spring season?
Spring registration is available on-line starting December 15, 2011 through January 31, 2012.
***THERE WILL NOT BE AN IN PERSON REGISTRATION IN 2012***
Players seeking to register after this will be placed on a wait list. If spot opens up, the player will be added to a team’s roster; otherwise, the player’s registration fee will be refunded. To ensure the opportunity to play, please register by midnight, August 31, 2010. The SBA will make every effort to provide registered players an opportunity to play if they register on-time.
Coach look is scheduled for Saturday, January 28, 2012 (rain date is Sunday, January 29, 2012). At coach look, players can try on uniforms and will sign-off on sizes to ensure proper fit for the Spring season. All players must register and make payment to attend the coach look.
The team drafts will be Tuesday, January 31, 2012 and Thursday, February 2, 2011.
Opening day this spring is Saturday, March 3, 2012. Spring tournaments will end on or prior to Sunday, May 20, 2012.
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What does it cost?
The registration fee is determined by the age/league and covers the cost of the uniform. The current registration fees are as follows:
- BlastBall $80
- Shetland $105
- Pinto $135
- Mustang $150
- Bronco $150
- Pony $150
- Colt $150
- Classic $100 per player regardless of age/division
City of Southlake is requiring SBA to charge a $5 non-resident fee for those not living in Southlake (76092 zip code).
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What divisions and levels of play are offered?
The Southlake Baseball Association offers multiple programs and levels of play for children ages 3 to 17. Our leagues provide opportunities for both beginners and advanced players. Classic (“Select”) Baseball provides opportunities for the highest level of competition and play.
Players participating in our Spring Leagues are qualified to participate on All-Star teams and compete in the PONY Baseball National Tournament each summer. Our summer All-Star teams are highly competitive and often compete in tournaments with Select baseball teams in North Texas.
Based on your child's age, he/she will play BlastBall (3 and 4 years old), Shetland – “T-Ball” (5 and 6 year olds), Pinto – “Coach Pitch” (7 and 8 year olds), Mustang – “Kid Pitch” (9 and 10 year olds), Bronco (11 and 12 year olds), Pony (13 and 14 year olds) or Colt (15 to 17 year olds). There is an age chart in the “Handouts” tab to assist you in selecting the appropriate division for your child. A child’s “baseball age” is determined based on his or her age at April 30, 2011. See the League Age key in the Links section on the home page. Players are not permitted to play above or below their “Baseball Age” without prior approval by the League Commissioner.
The Shetland, Pinto and Mustang divisions offer two levels of league play. Shetland teams are divided into introductory and advanced for safety concerns. Pinto and Mustang teams are divided into Texas-Cactus and Grapefruit. Bronco, Pony and Colt Divisions offer one level of play.
In Shetland, a player seeking advanced placement must attend the Shetland “Coach Look”. Any player not attending the coach look will be assigned to the Introductory Division of Shetland for that season. The Shetland Advanced Division is for experienced players not intermediates or beginners!
In Pinto and Mustang, Texas-Cactus is focused on development of beginning and intermediate players and Grapefruit offers a higher level of competition for advanced players who have more baseball experience. Any player seeking placement on a Grapefruit team must attend the appropriate Pinto or Mustang “Coach Look”.
Classic Baseball (“Select”) is for the most advanced players seeking high level of competition. Most Classic Players will have participated on summer All-Star team prior to playing on a Classic team. Classic tryouts are held in the fall with dates, places and times being posted on the SBA website.
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When and where are games played?
Games are played on weekday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays. Weekday games start at 6pm or 8pm. Saturday games start as early as 8am. Sunday games start at 1pm.
Most league games are played at Bicentennial Park. Certain divisions play interlock games with other nearby area baseball associations and, as such, may require travel on a limited basis.
During the renovation of Bicentennial Park, games maybe played in nearby parks such as Grapevine’s new baseball facilities.
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When and where are games practices held?
Practices are held both during the week and on the weekends (prior to the season starting). Currently weekday practice slots run from 5pm to 9:30pm. Practice locations are Bicentennial Park, Southlake Softball Complex “SSC” (off of Crooked Lane) or Koality Park (adjacent to Carroll Elementary School).
There is no guarantee your child will or will not practice on a specific day or time.
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What if my child has never played baseball before?
It is not necessary to have played baseball prior to joining an SBA league. We have beginners join and start playing baseball at all ages. BlastBall, Shetland Introductory, Pinto Texas-Cactus and Mustang Texas-Cactus are all leagues designed to introduce a child to the game of baseball.
All of our leagues including the Advanced and Grapefruit Divisions require coaches to rotate players in the infield and outfield and to bat the team’s entire roster. This allows each player the opportunity to play multiple positions and to have multiple at bats during each game. Therefore, a beginner is not relegated to the bench or playing “right field”.
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How are teams selected? Can I make specific requests?
Under PONY Baseball recreational leagues are required to utilize a draft process for team selection. As a result, no requests for players playing with each other or for a specific coach are accepted with the exception of BlastBall.
Please email the BlastBall commissioner with any request to combine players on one team or to register as a team.
For all Divisions, you may specifically request that siblings play on the same team, if the siblings’ ages allow them to play in the same Division. Space is provided on the registration form to note your request to have siblings play together (or not).
As described below, coaches will be selected following the Coach Look and teams will be drafted usually within two weeks of the Coach Look date. Following the draft, your coach will contact you (usually by email) shortly thereafter with team information including practice times and the game schedule.
All other concerns and/or requests should be directed to the appropriate League Commissioner through his email listed on this site.
The Southlake Baseball Association attempts to keep team rosters to ten or eleven players to maximize the playing time for each participant. Therefore, it is important that players attend scheduled games and practices. Please consider potential conflicts with other activities or religious issues that might impact your child’s ability to participate in all scheduled games.
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What is "Coach Look?"
Coach look is a successful tool used to balance teams within each division. The setting, which is both positive and informal, provides the coaches an opportunity to evaluate players and their skill level prior to team selection. Coach Look is mandatory for all divisions except BlastBall. As players will bat, field, and run at the Coach Look, he/she should dress appropriately and bring a baseball glove and batting helmet. Although most players bring a personal bat, it is not required and there will be bats available for use at the Coach Look.
If a player does not attend the coach look, he or she will be assigned to the developmental level of a Division that offers multiple levels of play.
If your child cannot attend the coach look due to a conflict or illness, please contact the appropriate commissioner in advance of the Coach Look!
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What equipment is provided and what equipment do I have to supply?
The SBA provides recreational league teams with catcher’s gear, pitcher’s helmet and chest protector in Shetland and Pinto, batting tee in Shetland, score book and practice and game balls.
The SBA provides all necessary equipment for BlastBall including Tee, Balls, Foam Bat and special Blast Base. In BlastBall players are not required to have a batting helmet or baseball glove due to the bat and ball being foam.
The SBA provides uniforms for Recreational leagues for each player. For BlastBall, the uniform includes a team tee shirt and baseball cap. For all other recreational leagues, uniforms include team jersey, baseball pants, socks, belt and baseball cap. The SBA also provides the head coach and one assistant coach a team baseball cap.
For all Recreational Leagues except BlastBall, players must provide their own Batting Helmet and Baseball Glove. It is highly recommended that all players wear a protective cup at both practices and games. Although not required, starting in Shetland, most players supply their own Baseball Bat. Additionally, most players wear rubber baseball cleats. No steel cleats are allowed except for Colt.
For the Mustang Divisions (both Grapefruit and Texas-Cactus), batting helmets are required to have a face guard.
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Do players receive trophies?
In the fall, participants receive trophies in BlastBall.
In spring, the SBA provides trophies to all BlastBall and Shetland players and to players on the winning and runner-up teams in the Pinto and Mustang season ending tournaments.
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Can I be an umpire?
The SBA uses a third party agency which employs both teenagers and adults as umpires. If you are interested in being an umpire, please contact Bill Webb at bwebb@fenwaypartners.com.
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How are grapefruit and texas|cactus coaches selected?
We encourage and need parents to participate in coaching. Coaching is a great experience for both you and your child. If interested, please sign-up on-line to volunteer to become a coach.
In selecting head coaches, the SBA’s primary objectives are to provide and sportsmanship, but a safe and secure environment and allow our children to have fun playing baseball.
As the Grapefruit divisions are more competitive and players are more accomplished, Grapefruit Coaches will generally have prior head coaching experience in the SBA or other Baseball Associations and previous baseball playing experience at the high school or higher levels. To be selected to coach a Grapefruit Team, the prospective Coach’s child must qualify to play in the Grapefruit Division. Therefore, the prospective Coach’s child must attend the League’s Coach Look and based on the rankings, be qualified to be drafted in the Grapefruit Division.
As Texas/Cactus divisions are developmental in nature, these Coaches generally have prior assistant and head coaching experience in the SBA or other Baseball Associations.
Coaches will be selected in the following manner:
- Coaching candidates must submit a written or on-line coach application to the League Commissioner.
- The Coaching candidate (or his assistant) must attend the League Coach Look in order to evaluate and be prepared to draft a team if selected to Coach a team.
- Candidates for both Head Coach and Assistant Coach for Grapefruit Divisions must have their children attend the applicable League Coach Look. Only parents of eligible Grapefruit Division players can coach a Grapefruit team. Therefore, players must be ranked prior to the selection of Coaches necessitating candidates attending the coach look prior to be selected as a coach!
- Prospective Coaches will need to be available on the draft evenings in order to draft their respective team. Please check the SBA Calendar for the draft dates to ensure your availability.
- A group of qualified coaching candidates will be identified by the Coaches Selection Committee (“CSC”). The CSC consists of the President, Vice President, and Division Commissioners.
- The CSC then evaluates each coaching candidate’s knowledge of the game, their teaching ability, the ability to create a positive, fun and winning environment for the athletes and their families. Other factors to be considered in the selection process will be:
- Satisfactory experience as a Head Coach with SBA
- Satisfactory experience as an Assistant Coach with SBA
- Experience as a Coach outside of SBA
- Level of involvement in various SBA activities
- Prior baseball playing experience and level of experience (i.e. high school, college, minor leagues, etc.)
- Recommendations by an SBA board member
- Provided that coaching candidates are equal in ability, SBA will attempt to select no more than 50% of it coaches from the SBA Board membership.
- Prior to the draft, but following the Coach Look, the CSC will present the proposed head coaching candidate slates for each league and division to the SBA Board of Directors for approval.
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How are summer tournament team coaches selected?
In order to coach a Summer Tournament Team, a prospective coach’s child must be registered and playing in a SBA Spring League. Otherwise, the child is not permitted to play on a Summer All-Star Team due to PONY Baseball Tournament participation rules.
Coaches will be selected for Summer All-Star Tournament Teams in the following manner:
- Satisfactory experience of a Tournament Team with SBA
- Satisfactory experience as a Head Coach with SBA
- Satisfactory experience as an Assistant Coach with SBA
- Experience as a Coach outside of SBA
- Level of involvement in various SBA activities
- Personal knowledge of the candidate by an SBA board member
- Knowledge of the game
- Teaching ability
- Ability to create a positive, fun and winning environment for the athletes and their families.
Those interested in coaching must submit a coaching application to the League Commissioner and attend the summer team appropriate Summer Coach Look.
The CSC will consider coaching candidates on the same criteria as the recreational league coach selection and then make a recommendation to the full SBA Board for approval.
NOTE: Prior to any discussion regarding the CSC’s recommendation of coaches or the Board voting on coaching candidates, any member(s) of the CSC or Board that is/are among those candidates being considered shall leave the premises while further discussion is held for that particular age group. The member(s) may rejoin the discussion when the CSC or Board considers another age group.
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What bats are legal for use in SBA play?
The SBA has decided USSSA rules will govern the use of bats in SBA leagues in 2012.
1. All big barrel bats 14U & Below:
- Have the NEW USSSA MARK on its taper or
- Be a Qualified BBCOR(*) bat or
- Be a wood bat.
2. All big barrel bats 15U & Above:
- Be a Qualified BBCOR bat(*) or
- Be a wood bat.
3. All small barrel bats (2 ¼” or less):
- Have the new USSSA mark on its taper or
- Have the old USSSA mark or
- Be a wood bat.
Qualified BBCOR bats are have a BBCOR mark that is recognized by the National High School Federation (“NHSF”) as a legal bat for NHSF sanctioned play. These bats are a have a minimum bat length of 29 inches and the drop cannot be more than minus 3 ounces difference from the length of the bat. Most SBA league players use bats with drops greater than 3 ounces and as-such BBCOR bats are not appropriate for these players.
Fundamentally, this means that most big barrel bats cannot be used in SBA league play in 2012. There are 2012 models that do have the new USSSA mark being sold at both area retailers and on-line.
Tournaments played under other governing bodies (PONY Baseball, Triple Crown, Super Series, AAYBA, Nations Baseball, etc.) may have different rules that may or may not result in an approved USSSA bat being deemed illegal in that tournament. For example, PONY Baseball has deemed that all big barrel bats cannot be used other than those approved by BBCOR for high school play.
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