Invitation to Try Out for SJB’s 9U Local Travel Baseball Team

TO:  Parents of Streetsboro Junior Baseball Youth Baseball players

REGARDING:  9U SJB Local travel Team for summer of 2018

ELIGIBILITY:  Player must be 9 years old or younger on May 1st, 2018.

Dear Parents,

The SJB Youth Baseball league is excited to be organizing a pilot 9U local travel / tournament baseball team for next spring. The Streetsboro Local Travel Baseball pilot program strives to provide players seeking a higher level of competition an opportunity to compete against some of the top community and select travel teams in Northeast Ohio, while focusing on developing strong fundamentals, teamwork, and a sense of community at a reasonable cost.  Our view is that Streetsboro players should not have to leave the community to join a private club and spend thousands of dollars to get a top tier baseball experience and reach their maximum potential. Tryouts for the 9U team will be held in August so that the selected team can start practicing in Jan, 2018 and for fundraising efforts to occur over the winter. This team is for those interested in a competitive atmosphere that will remain focused on fun and baseball fundamentals. Players selected for the team will travel to other communities for games as part of the Buckeye League as well as 4-5 tournaments (1 out of town). Below is the information that we have at this time. We are presenting this to you so that you can determine if this is something your child and you as a parent would like to pursue. If you are interested, you must contact the 9U Tryout Coordinator, Tom Sanford, at thomasmsanford@yahoo.com to register and be placed on the tryout list. You will then be placed on the e-mail list and be kept up to date leading up to tryouts. Tryout dates are listed below further in this letter.

COMMITMENT:  Being on a youth local travel / tournament team requires a commitment of both athlete and parent/family. This will include a commitment of both time and money. The commitment to this team is more than to a recreational team and carries higher expectations. Players selected for this tournament team will likely start practice in early Jan. Players must also be committed to attending four to five weekend tournaments in which the team will be playing. Players and parents must also be committed to skill development as the team will be competing against teams selected from other communities.

COST:  The cost is not yet finalized and will not be until the spring. Fees will be needed to cover costs related to entry fees of the tournaments, uniforms and league fees. The coaches will be volunteering all of their time to this team. We hope to reduce the fees as much as possible by way of fundraising. We will approximate the cost to be $400 to $500 with the expectation that will go down with fundraising. This includes the cost of tournament fees, the player uniform home and away (hat, jersey, pants, belt, socks, helmet) which you keep at the end of the season.

DATES:  Tournament dates and game schedules are yet to be determined. Tournament dates will be announced after the team is set which allows us to meet as a group to determine what works best for all families. Indoor practices will likely begin in January and outdoor practices will begin April1st.  In addition this is a good opportunity to start teaching baseball concepts that the players will need to understand as we approach tournament play. As summer approaches, practice days may increase.

TRYOUTS:  There will be two tryout dates and players are encouraged to attend both. Those dates are Aug 19th and Aug 26th at 10am on field#5 or #7 at City Park.  Players will be evaluated on all baseball skills such as hitting, throwing, fielding, base running, as well as behavior and coach-ability. Players are encouraged to registered one week before the first tryout date to allow the Tryout Coordinators an opportunity to plan and organize the tryouts.

COMPETITIVENESS:  This team will be competitive in nature and thus will be playing to win games. However, at this age there will be a significant emphasis placed on fun and skill development but there are no guarantees on playing time or positions played. Tournament playing time, batting order, fielding positions, etc will be at the sole discretion of coaches.

EXPECTATIONS:  Those players selected for the team will be expected to make practices and attend the tournaments. Please consider these expectations before attending the tryout. It is reasonable to expect that players might miss a couple of practices due to other family events/obligations but they will need to inform the coaching staff. If a player is unable to attend a tournament they must notify the coaches well in advance so coaches can ensure they can field a team.

FUTURE: This team will likely move forward each year with a similar format. Those that cannot make the commitment this year or do not make the team are welcome to try-out in subsequent years.

WHAT NEXT AND HOW TO SIGN-UP:  Those interested in having their child tryout for the team must e-mail or call the 9U Tryout Coordinator to reserve a spot at the try-outs. The information asked below must be sent to the tryout coordinator to reserve a spot at tryouts. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Tryout Coordinator.

We look forward to working with the kids and having lots of fun.

Sincerely,

Tom Sanford - 9U Tryout Coordinator

thomasmsanford@yahoo.com

440-476-1355

Please email the following information to the Tryout Coordinator.

DEADLINE FOR TRYOUT REGISTRATION IS Aug 18th.

Player's Name:

Player's Birth Date:

Player's elementary school name:

Player's grade entering this fall:

Team player played on this summer:

Coach's name from this summer:

Parents Names and cell phone numbers:

Throws with right or left arm?

Bats right or left?