Junior Rams Baseball Age Policy

Dear Parents and Players,

The Board of Directors has received inquiries from some parents pertaining to the organization’s rules about age cutoffs for the different divisions (i.e. U10, U12 and U14) and whether or not players who do not meet the April 30th deadline for U12 or U14 should be permitted to move up to the next age division.

The Holt Jr. Rams Baseball program is divided into 3 age divisions. U10 is for the players who are 8 – 10 years old on April 30th of each respective season. The U12 division encompasses players that are 11 or 12 years old on April 30th of the season and U14 players must be 13 or 14 years old on April 30th of each season. The Board recently met to consider these age cutoffs as well as whether or not waivers would be granted to allow certain players to advance to the next division even though they do not meet the age requirement for that division. (i.e. Whether a 10 year old born in September, thereby missing the April 30th deadline, can be permitted to play in the U12 division?) After consideration of this issue, the Board of Directors voted to strictly enforce the age requirements for each respective age division. Accordingly, players who do not meet the age requirement for advancement to the next division will not be permitted to advance and play in the next age division.

While the Board understands the concern that these age cut-offs will in some cases cause players from the same grade level to play in different divisions, it is the Board’s belief that several reasons exist for a strict enforcement of these age requirements. A few of these concerns are as follows:

1. All Holt Jr. Rams players should be treated equally and preference should not be given to one player over another.
2. The Board wishes to avoid any potential liability and/or insurance issues with regards to injuries sustained by or caused by players playing out of their age designation.
3. Allowing players to advance out of their age specified division will result in a dilution of talent and competitiveness at the lower divisions.
4. Players who seek to advance out of their age specified division will in many cases be playing against players who are 3 years older than they are. For example, there is little doubt that the size, strength and coordination of a young 10 year old is significantly less than that of a 13 year old.
5. Many tournaments require strict adherence to these age cutoffs and require proof of age by presentation of birth certificate.

It is the Board’s belief that enforcement of the age requirements will lead to a safer and more competitive Junior Rams Baseball Program. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this regard.

Holt Junior Rams Baseball

Board of Directors

Exciting Announcements for the HJRB 2010 season

Dear Parents,


The Holt Jr. Rams Baseball Board of Directors is pleased to announce the following changes and enhancements for the 2010 season.

Two new levels of competitive play
In an effort to give our kids an opportunity to have a longer season, and to be more competitive, we are introducing a three tier program. Our Tier-1 teams will be the same as last year and have the same cost; however we will now be offering Tier-2 and Tier-3 teams. These teams will play more tournament games and have indoor practice time in March. We will make as many Tier-2 and Tier-3 teams as we can based on player interest and coach availability. You will be asked on the registration form which tier you would like your child to be considered for. This is your opportunity to let us know at what level we should take the HJRB program. If you are comfortable with the number of games we offered the last few years then stick with Tier-1, but if you want more from the program let us know by selecting Tier-2 or Tier-3. Our website has much more information.

Earlier player evaluations
Player evaluations will take place towards the end of January for the coming season. This will allow us to form teams and select coaches in February. This is important, especially to our Tier-2 and Tier-3 teams, as they will start practicing in March.


Online registration and payment
This year we will be offering online registration on our new website. This will make it faster and easier for you to register and also reduce the amount of information that our volunteers need to manually key in (and also reducing data entry errors). We will also be offering online payments by credit cards or debit cards. This will be via a Google checkout; HJRB will not collect any card numbers. Online registration should be available starting in December.


Registration Reduction Program
Another exciting program that I hope everyone takes full advantage of is our Registration Reduction Program. This is simply asking you guys to try to secure a corporate sponsor or two. This could be your employer or any businesses you wish to solicit. Then 15% of any sponsor donations you secure will be used to reduce your child’s player registration fee. This could be a huge savings opportunity for you! You can start this program today. Don’t wait or someone else may contact any businesses you have in mind before you!!

Sponsorship Recognition Program / Sponsorship Drive
In order to help you entice sponsors to donate money to HJRB, we have put together a very comprehensive sponsorship recognition program. We want to do all we can to give our sponsors the recognition they deserve for any generous donations. This includes website recognition and advertising, ball field signage, team and ball field sponsorships, and a lot more.

This email is just a “teaser”. To find out more information about all these topics, and to get a sneak peak at the Parent Information Sheet that will go out to the schools soon, you must visit our website at www.hjrb.org .

Thanks,
Brian Kayser, President
Holt Jr. Rams Baseball
http://www.hjrb.org/