Frequently Asked Questions are listed below. This section will be updated based on the time of the year and any "hot topics" that may need to be addressed for our baseball community. Please check back often as this page will change as needed. If you have specific questions please request an answer through the contact us page and we will respond to your question within 48 hours or will add it to the FAQ's in the future.
| Q. Who is the Blaine Area Little League (BALL) Leadership Board? |
| A. The 2011 BALL Board and positions are:
Paul Labelle, President
Kevin Johnston, Vice President
Lori Clark, Treasurer
Lisa Kauppi, Information Coordinator/Secretary
Chris Bentrott, Equipment/Uniforms
Curt Muske, Player Agent
Chris Otten, Safety/Umpires
Jessica Villa, Volunteers/Concessions |
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| Q. When are board meetings held and are they open to the public? |
| A. Board meetings are held the 1st Sunday of each month at the Blaine Baseball Complex (BBC) Building starting at 7:00 PM. All meetings are open to the public. If you plan to attend an upcoming board meeting please vist the Board Page on the website as times or dates may be adjusted on occasion. |
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| Q. I am interested in volunteering, but not sure what I want to do, where can I find out more information? |
| A. Please visit the contact us page and send us a note of interest and we will respond to you and find something that might interest you. |
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| Q. What do I do if I am interested in coaching this season? |
| A. Please complete the coaching application provided on the website and return by February 29th to receive full consideration. You will be contacted by March 15th regarding your interest. All positions are volunteer and require submitting to a background check with the City of Blaine and completing coach training for the level you plan to coach. |
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| Q. How many coaches are there on a team? |
| A. Our goal is to have a minimum of three coaches per team at all levels with most levels requiring four coaches. However, this is all dependent on the interest level of our parents and families that are interested in coaching each season. With more than 75 teams offered each year this is the largest group of volunteers that are needed and we will do our best to train them properly for success in developing each player. |
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| Q. How do we get registration materials for the 2012 Season? |
| A. All 2012 registration materials information is available on the front page of the website. Please contact us if you have questions. |
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| Q. How do we make a special request? |
| A. Special player requests are allowed for ages 4 - 8 during the online registration in the player request section. Please make sure that both requestors list the same person so that there is a match. Requests are not guaranteed, but are accepted for consideration. Coach requests are not allowed this season, but in the 5&6 and 7&8 divisions second year players in those levels will be kept together when possible. |
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| Q. What levels of play do you offer? |
| A. We offer baseball for ages 4 - 19 with ages 4-12 being affiliated with Little League International and are a part of MN District 1.
Ages 13-19 are associated with the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services (MYAS) for League and Tournament Play. |
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| Q. What divisions of play will be offered in 2012? |
| A. We are offering the following levels of play this season. All levels are based on a players age as of April 30, 2012 per Little League rules.
4 yr old (T-Ball)
5&6 yr old (coach pitch)
7&8 yr old (coach pitch)
9&10 yr old (player pitch) *8 yr olds can tryout for this league
10-12 yr old (minors)
10-12 yr old (majors)
13-15 yr old (Junior League)
16-19 yr old (Senior League) |
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| Q. How many players are placed on a team? |
| A. Our goal for this year is to have no more than 12 players on a team so that we can maximize participation and development opportunities. However all teams are based on the availability of coaches and the appropriate interest levels of players. Some teams may have more or less than 12 players, but our goal is 12. |
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| Q. What is the length of the seasons? |
| A. The overall season for little league ages 4-12 begins with team practices in mid to late April. Games for some levels begin the end of April for the minors and majors, but most other levels begin the second week of May. The regular season for most, but not all concludes in mid to late July depending on post-season play.
Specific divsion schedules are dependent on amount of teams each year also. |
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| Q. How are teams formed at the 4-8 yr old level? |
| A. 4-8 yr old players are placed on teams by the age group commissioners. Teams are based on neighborhoods and school locations. Special player requests can be made through the online player request system, but are not guaranteed. |
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| Q. How are teams formed at the 9-12 year old levels? |
| A. 9-12 year old players must tryout and be evaluated and are placed on teams by a draft process. 10-12 yr olds trying out for majors or minors are ranked based on tryouts and then drafted to majors or minors teams based on these results. 9-10 yr olds must tryout and will be placed on teams using a casual draft process as this is a developmental player pitch program. Additionally, 8 yr olds that have an interest in playing in the 9-10 yr old league musrt tryout and may be placed on a team on a space available basis.
All players that register for our programs are placed on teams regardless of ability as we are open to all interested players and place all players on teams. |
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| Q. When are practices held? |
| A. All practices are scheduled through the city of Blaine Parks & recreation department.
Practices are scheduled and conducted at the discretion of the coaches. At the younger levels, ages 5-8, there is normally 1 practice and 2 games per week at most. At the majors level and higher you may have more games and more practices per week on occasion. |
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| Q. What is expected of players at tryouts? |
| A. Players will be evaluated on their baseball skills during player evaluations and tryouts Please visit the website after March 1st for specific tryout times and skills that will be assessed. In general players will be evaluated on their hitting, throwing/catching, fielding, and running ability. |
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| Q. What time are the games held? |
| A. During the regular season on weeknights for ages 4 - 8 all games start at 6:30 PM and last no more than 1 hour 30 minutes. For all other ages games could start as early as 5:45 PM on occasion and may end as late as 9:30 PM.
All games are played in the City of Blaine.
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