Good Afternoon All!
I wanted to touch base with the group and see if there were anyone out there with questions/issues at this time? I have spoken with many of you either at our last meeting or via phone call over the last few weeks. Those that I have spoken with seem to be oriented and moving towards the season. If you have not contacted me, you should. I do not want you to miss out on key information or be shocked by developments as they occur. I look forward to speaking with many of you soon!
Next Online Meeting will be March 9 2024. I will send a link.
The tournament director for the “Battle for the Belt” baseball tournament contacted me. There are a couple spots still open at each level. If you have any interest or any questions please let me know! I have attached the flyer he provided.
Here are the new rates for the 2025 Legion Baseball season:
Junior Liability $102.00
Senior Liability $149.00
Junior Med Seasonal $109.00
Junior Med Annual $159.00
Senior Med Seasonal $129.00
Senior Med Annual $200.00
Online Registration is open, Background checks can be submitted. Insurance can be purchased. Any issues please let me know ASAP so I can follow up.
Solicitation of players – Recruiting Rule 4B- I have been over this a bunch of times. You can read the rule, it is on our website and the national website. Each team should be soliciting every school/player that is closer to their base school than the next closest team’s base school. If there are conflicts we talk and I will let you know how it breaks down. If the player attends a high School that (or the Parent’s residence) is closer to your base school than the next closest team’s base school, you get first shot at the player. That simple. If you are full or don’t want the player you contact me, issue a release and send the player to the next closest team for tryout. I understand that some teams ONLY want players from their local high school. Thats fine. you must release all players you do not want and direct them to the next closest team. Now some teams have said that they may have difficulty finding players. Those teams MUST be looking to add players from nearby communities and/or change base schools in order to have a large enough population to draw from. That is fine also-Talk to me ASAP. Know that the teams that release players will also send them your way…
Most Legion programs around the country have already formed. Many held tryouts in the fall of 2024. Some will practice over the winter. Some will participate in showcase/tournaments/other recruiting events. They will then set their 18 man Legion tournament roster at the June deadline and those 18 are the players that will be eligible to participate in the state and regional tournaments. Maine, by and large, continues to wait until April or May to try to find players and fill out rosters. This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to get players…its too late. In Maine most travel ball teams held tryouts in Fall of 2024 for their summer of 2025 teams. You are recruiting too late.
Only a handful of teams that stated they will have a team have actually signed up at this time. Please get in there and sign up! I NEED to know the committed teams so I can circulate a draft schedule. I have a couple mocked up. Mon-Friday with focus on tues-thurs. Everything depends on number of teams and if your field has a blackout day. Also if you know that a certain number of kids will be playing say soccer on certain days, you need to make that known to me immediately so I can attempt to schedule around your conflicts. If i do not know of conflicts I cannot avoid them.
We will be making All-star selections this year. TJ True will handle the North selection process and Ray Bernier will handle the South.
Forfeits – again we discussed a penalty for forfeiting games. Leaning towards 1st forfeit – team is fined and has a hearing; 2nd forfeit – fine and miss tournament, hearing; 3rd forfeit 1 year suspension, another hearing and it may be decided that the team leadership is not allowed to form a team. Know that if a team is suspended, on a case by case basis I may reinstate players to make the eligible to participate on other teams or under a different team management – the purpose of this is that I do not want to unfairly punish players for the bad planning or coaching of the team administrators. – Looking for more discussion here…
If we have enough teams, I am not opposed to allowing the Zone tournaments to take place as they have in the past. But if it is determined that we do not have enough teams to make a zone tournament make sense we will expand the state tournament field to include more, if not all teams, seeded by regular season standings into the state tournament. More discussion to follow on this…
Get in touch with your local Post!! If you need contact info, let me know! If you are not getting a response tell me, I will get in touch with them on your behalf.
This is where we currently are. I hope to hear from many of you via email/phone very soon! I will be updating the website and posting information on facebook/twitter as well. If any of you would like to talk, please get in touch. If you would like a group call I can schedule one very quickly! If there are new teams that need information, please let me know so I can discuss with them or even hold a new team orientation call. I am happy to help, just ask!