Hey All!

 

Wow, what a whirlwind of activity since about the middle of September! First, thanks to all who managed to attend the Winter Meetings. I think we had the largest turnout ever… Ryan and the folks from Tri-County Little League hosted and provided the food and beverages… Thanks Ryan!

 

Second, we sent out the Powerpoint presentation a couple days ago with some of the details regarding the new Regulation II details.. that’s where Little League has adjusted it’s boundary rule. This is exciting stuff, and if properly used can really benefit leagues that are focused on growth.

 

Third, PLEASE (PLEASE!) send me info to your league’s websites… and your next board meeting dates … Also we need to get info on when you will open registrations and how you will be conducting registrations… District 13 will market that in your league’s boundary to help you get more players. BUT WE NEED THE INFO…. 😊

 

Also at the Winter Meeting we got to meet the new President, VP, and UIC for the new North Spokane Little League. With this addition we now officially have all of the Spokane Metro area covered with Leagues… it’s been a long time but thanks to John, Peter, and Scott showing up and working to bring Little League baseball back to Spokane.

 

Finally we have been marketing Little League to new Leagues… we need YOUR HELP in finding others who may be interested in joining Little League. Right now, there are interested parties from Omak, Chewelah, Kettle Falls, Colville, Wenatchee, Oroville, Okanogan, Moses Lake, Ephrata, and Selkirk either D13 has approached or they have approached 13…  some are working to try and get affiliated by the start of the 2025 season. We don’t know how many will actually be able to join, BUT, there is A LOT of buzz and I have been on the phone, Facebook, and email conversing with these folks. Right now, Kettle Falls and Colville and Wenatchee seem to have the biggest interest and may possibly form something up for 2025.

 

I’d really like to see South Hill or Liberty lake expand down into Fairfield, Rockford, Spangle East, Waverly and that area, or have those communities form their own league from the Rec league that operates there… there are about 300 kids total in that area that are playing in a small rec league (or leagues)… D13 goes down to just about Colfax and over to Tekoa… Garfield, Oakesdale, Tekoa and others are playing either City sponsored leagues or in loosely formed Rec leagues.

 

Dates to remember:

 

Fiscal Year for LL started Oct 1

 

Mar 1 2025 – Umpire Training Sponsored by D13 in Moses Lake – rain or shine! Training cost is $10 and there will be a carpool going over. We will have leagues from D12 (Tri-Cities) and D5 (Southeast Washington) joining for sure, and possibly others from other Districts. Our District UIC Mark Dixon is organizing this effort. This is a GREAT opportunity for ANYONE OF ANY SKILL LEVEL that is interested in becoming a Little League umpire to get some great training and meet with other umpires in the area.

 

March 29 – 2025 – Coaches Training for ALL Levels – To be held in Pend Orielle LL (Newport). We will be training coaches on that day for all levels.

8:00 AM -10:00 AM – T-Ball

10:30 – 12:30 – Coach Pitch/Minors

1:00 – 3:30 – Majors /Intermediate

3:30 – 5:30 – Juniors

All coaches of any skill level are invited to attend. Topics to be covered:

 

  1. Rules specific to the level
  2. Motivation, character building,  and training resources for the appropriate age level
  3. Basic Skills and Drills  routines for each level
  4. Hitting, base running, fielding
  5. Managing an effective practice
  6. Tips and Tricks for getting your team to perform it’s best

 

1st Week April – Lord willing and the snow don’t rise, Opening Day “Week”

 

2nd Weekend April – Spring Classic baseball tournament – Clarkston WA. (Tentative – have not confirmed they are doing it again this year).

 

June 1 – District Teams announcements (or when 60% of the divisions games have been played for all teams in that Division).

 

Jun 28 – First State tournaments begin.

 

Things the DA and ADA staff would like to see as focus for all leagues:

 

  1. Adding Softball for those that haven’t normally done softball
  2. Adding a Challenger Division
  3. Adding either or both Intermediate Division play or Juniors
  4. Getting with Mark Dixon (UIC) about getting more umpires for your league. He has some good ideas!

 

And FINALLY – PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE when a league calls looking for games, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE work to play games with them. AND if they travel to you, be good humans and send some teams to them. A rising tide floats all boats… and seeing other teams/leagues fields is good for player development. They get to see and do more as kids and the PLAYERS LOVE travelling to other fields to play. I’d like every one to especially reach out to John at North Spokane LL and help them get games… they will have a tough first year if everyone around them doesn’t pitch in and help. Pend Orielle is another one that could use some games… be sure and interleague,interleague, interleague. It actually helps your chances at Districts an State if you go that far!

 

Cruise by our new website at http://www.wadist13ll.org  and our Facebook page at Wadist13LL… Or District 13 LL. If we can get an Information officer for the District we’ll probably add Instagram, X, Telegraph, Tik-Tok and more… but right now it’s all we can do to keep up with Facebook an the website. Join the friends at the Facebook site and you will stay in the loop more about the going’s on in Little League around the area…

 

Keep  up the good work! – D13 is moving up… I am excited about the North Spokane League and am greatly appreciative of ALL who attended the Winter Meetings.

 

Best Regards,

 

JP

District 13 Administrator

PH 509-995-4200

http://www.wadist13ll.org

EMAIL dadist13@wadist13ll.org