All - this is a message I sent last Fall to District 5 Board Members. Softball dates have changed. This is what we are doing down in District 5. Some of this doesn't apply this year for District 13, but this gives you an idea of once we are up and running a little better, the direction we may go. JP Greetings All You all have been added to the 2020 Listserve for all OFFICERS and BOARD members in District 5. I have a few things to report to you and some schedules that have been established. Hopefully we can get a good jump on this next year, and make 2020 even better than 2019! Fall DA meeting notes: Last weekend, the DAs for Washington State met in Redmond for the annual fall kickoff/planning meeting to start the ball rolling for 2020. It was a productive meeting . The Western Region Director (April Mehleeder) was there along with other staff from Western Region. Reports about state and regional tournaments were provided, as well as the state umpire report, and information from the World Series. State Tournament: We set the schedule for the State Tournaments and did the "draws" for the boys baseball tournaments from age 8-13. Those are attached as scanned documents. The "D" by the number indicates "District" and the number is the district number. So "D5" on the bracket means "District 5". The Dates are as follows: Baseball: Age Location Date 8-10 Dist 3 July 6 9-11 Dist 9 July 11 11-12 Dist 13 (spokane) July 18th 11-13 Dist 7 June 27th 12-14 Dist 11 July 11 Softball: 8-10 Dist 2 July 6th 9-11 Dist 10 July 11th 11-12 Dist 6 June 27th 12-14 Dist 4 June 27th Western Region: Western Region gave the report about the regional tournament, and that there will be a new region forming for the western tournaments. This new region will be made up of Wyoming, Montanna, Idaho, and Utah. Two more teams will be added to the World Series from the US, one from this new region, and a new region forming on the eastern half of the US. There will also be new teams added for the International bracket as well, with Cuba being included before 2022. District Tournament Dates: Given the state schedule is already known we will can now set the District Tournament dates. I will ask the presidents to chime in on the dates - here are the two choices for a start date - June 13 (Saturday) or June 20th (Saturday). I would suggest the earlier date so teams have the opportunity to fund raise and get things sorted early. A later date than the one suggested above may cut into two divisions of play that start on June 27th at the State tournament level. Since All-Star teams can be named earlier now by rule (Jun 1), then the earlier date of the 13th as a start date is possible. New procedure for selecting Tournament site for District Play: This year we are going to "change up" the way the district tournament site is selected, and I'd like to get it out of the way prior to the start of 2020 by the end of December. The method is as follows: 1. Each league that would like to hold the tournament at their city/location needs to submit a proposal 2. The proposal needs to be received by Dec 15th 2020. 3. The proposal needs to be in writing. 4. The proposal should come from a league that can meet the following: a. Be able to host baseball and softball games (either on their own fields, or fields that they can gain access to such as a school, city, or private complex or a combination of all of the above) b. Have a PA system for announcing players c. A concession stand able to serve a crowd of 200-500 attendees d. Has a relationship with local media to promote the tournament/provide reporting e. Have the ability to produce a printed program about the players/teams (It can be a sponsored program with ads) f. Have sufficient umpires, or a relationship with other leagues that can help provide Little League qualified umpires g. A tournament group of volunteers that can: i. Keep "book" ii. Scorekeepeers iii. Groundskeepers iv. Announcers v. Volunteers to assist in crowd management vi. Promote the tournament h. Hold a ceremony for opening day of the games i. Provide the 2nd, 3rd place awards, and purchase the official Little League banners for the winners j. MUST HAVE AT LEAST 2 OF THEIR OWN TEAMS IN THE TOURNAMENT k. Be able to host all divisions wishing to participate in district level play from age 8-14 as needed (there may be some divisions not present such as "seniors" - age 15-16 or Juniors age 13-14 as examples). l. The tournament may last as long as a week m. Have the ability to direct people to lodging such as hotels and motels. (your town needs to have a place for people to stay within 40 miles). n. First 2-4 days of the tournament you may have as many as 25 teams playing if all leagues elect to participate in most divisions. o. Be able to supply safety equipment (AED, First Aid Kit, Ice, EMS services nearby etc) p. Be able to supply baseball and softballs for the tournament. q. Sufficient parking for up to 100 cars at a time. If you can please include this information in your proposal it will help the District to determine the best place for the 2020 tournament. Hosting a District, or State tournament is good for your league, your players, families, and good for your local economy. Data Center and Registrations: You all will see the opening of the new registration period and the LL Datacenter reset on or about Oct 1. Be looking for that. You can start registrations at any time after that for the 2020 season. Things we need to accomplish: For those of you holding elections for new board members, I would like to be there on election day to meet the new officers, so please let me know when that is. If you have already elected new officers, I'd like to meet the board at the next board meeting. Also for those of you working on the "50/70" expansion funding, I am still waiting on a couple of you to get the forms I sent out to get that done. The ones working on general field improvement grants, I'd like to get that paperwork back No Later Than Oct 15. My big push this year is three-fold 1. Get the 50/70 program better established, and get those working on field improvements ready to go for the spring season 2. Get more teams/leagues to the District Tournament - we should have 9-10 teams in each division in District play this season if everyone starts thinking about that now. The more teams that participate, the better it is for your program- more participation by all leagues usually leads to better registrations the following year. 3. Get a broader DA staff (Assistant District Administrators) in the roles of: a. ADA - Baseball East Side of the District b. ADA - Baseball West Side of the District c. ADA - Secretary d. ADA - Treasurer e. ADA - District Chief Umpire f. ADA - District Safety Officer g. ADA - District Player Agent If you are interested in any of these positions - CONTACT ME ASAP at jarel@jpiworldwide.com <mailto:jarel@jpiworldwide.com> - I'd like to have a full staff to start 2020. Finally, I'd like to say thanks to all of you that made 2019 a success. I hope to add a couple more leagues to the District 5 family. I appreciate all your hard work - you all ROCK! I'd like to meet with as many boards as possible in the near future, and certainly by the end of October. I have a gift for all you presidents that I picked up in Williamsport this year! Regards JP 509-288-0141 DA WA 5
