Hello Dublin Little League Families,
I am optimistically pleased to say that registration for spring 2021 baseball is open!
While the restrictions in California were recently tightened and many counties were placed back into the purple tier, a lot of the research that the restrictions are based on is due to spikes due to some recent large-scale gatherings as well as a preventative measure to try and avoid more spikes resulting from the upcoming holidays.
The plan that Dublin Little League is working towards for the Spring 2021 Season is to have our tryouts the weekend of January 9th, the draft the following week, and then teams will practice in their respective pods until the beginning of March. By then, we are optimistic that there will be allowances from the state for youth baseball to conduct games- most likely with restrictions for fan attendance and spacing. If we are not given the green light for beginning in March, we will continue practices and internal scrimmages while the board of directors works with the city and county to evaluate the realities of when a season could begin. We may start later than usual, or we may need to apply refunds, less any monies that are spent and not recoverable such as for uniforms, some fees, etc. Rest assured that as a league, we are taking a cautious approach about spending until we know the possibilities of a real season.
In case you were not aware, we recently concluded fall ball clinics for over 120 kids from tee ball (4+ year old) through intermediates (13-year-old). We did not have any reports of COVID-19 issues or transmissions during or resulting from our practices. Each player came to their clinics prepared with masks, parents kept responsible distance both from the players and from each other, and the kids all got to get in practice time as well as social time. I want to personally thank all of the coaches and assistants that worked with the groups each week for creating such a positive and developmental environment, as well as ensuring a safe space for the kids to practice.
As mentioned above, registration is currently open for the spring season, and registration will close on new years day for AA and above. Registration will close January 10th for Tee Ball through Single-A. There is a slight increase this year in fees for the competitive divisions (AA and above). We have not raised any fees for the past few years, but with our expected inability to do some of our normal fundraising events this spring (jamboree and poker night as an example), we need to make up the gap where we can. However, keep in mind that if you look at the registration and other locked-in fees for every league in our district, I am still proud to say that Dublin Little League fees are still less or equal to every other league. This is on top of the fact that this past spring Dublin Little League refunded the highest percentage of registrations fees back to their league families.
Here are the key dates as we get ready for the Spring 2021 season:
- Spring Registration: Open now through January 1 for AA and above, or now through January 10 for Single A and below.
- Parents interested in Managing a team (all levels) must have their requests in to [email protected] by December 25th
- Tryouts: January 9th and 10th.
- Draft: Completed for AA and above by January 17th
- Players and Parents notified of team assigned by January 31st
- First games: First week of March
Go to www.dublinll.org to register.
I look forward to us all being at the fields again, and have a wonderful holiday season.
Charles Torok
Dublin Little League President