Registration Reduction Program

HJRB Parents,

Would you like to get a discount off your registration fees?  Last year some families did!!  One family got a discount of $177. We are looking for corporate sponsors and if you can secure one for HJRB you can get a discount based on the amount of donations.  Even if you can only secure a $100 donation, that gets you a $15 discount.

 

Checkout the attached documents from HJRB Vice President Tom Barger for more information!!!

 

 

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

  

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Applebees Pancake Breakfast, Saturday, February 26th

HJRB Parents,

The Holt Rams Baseball Varsity program is hosting their annual Pancake Breakfast tomorrow morning from 8am – 10am at the Cedar Street Applebee's.  If you're thinking of going out for breakfast, stop by and show them some HJRB support. The varsity players will be serving the breakfast!

See the attached flyer for more information. 

 

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

  

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Good morning to all!   Attached is the flyer for the Applebee's Pancake Breakfast fundraiser that is this coming Saturday; feel free to forward, post at work etc. or tell anyone you think may be interested in enjoying a delicious breakfast served by the baseball players.   Thank you for your continued support.   Carla   For more information, contact Anissa VanLiew 517‐712‐6193

 

Player Fees Due March 4th

Parents,

We are a little later than last year getting the teams posted so I pushed the payment due date out to March 4^th which is one week from this Friday.  You can pay via check or credit card.  If you pay via check, please print off the remittance page on the website and mail it to the address indicated (to our treasurer Ramona Butterson).  If you pay via credit card, you can do so also on the site.  You will need to create a Google account if you don’t already have one as they process our payments (HJRB does not collect any of the credit card information).  There is a 2% convenience fee we apply if you use a credit card; this helps cover part of the credit card fees that we have to pay to offer this service.

 

This year we will not be asking for the pants to be returned with the uniforms, you can keep them.  Also as a convenience (and by popular demand), we are offering the option of purchasing an additional pair of pants at our cost of $15 each.  This is great for those games on back-to-back days and for tournaments.  The site is only configured to allow one extra pair per player.  If you want additional pairs, email me.  We will order the size that you either wrote down during evaluations or that was put on the registration form. 

 

You can click the payment link from the website or jump directly to the payment form via this link:  http://hjrb.org/PaymentForm.asp

 

If you don’t know what team(s) you’re assigned to, checkout the TEAMS tab on the website. 

 

If you see initials on the roster, those are players whose parents selected the privacy option during registration.  If you selected that option and would like to turn it off for your boy so his name does show up, email me and I can change it; or if  you would like it turned on I can do that also.

 

If your boy will be playing Tier-1 in U12, we are still finalizing those teams and need coaches (you should have received an email last night).  No payment is due from these teams until we get them set.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

 

 

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Teams

Parents,

As some of you have seen, I have posted some of the teams on the website.  Some have not been posted yet though.  We are still contacting head coach candidates and won’t post some teams until we get a firm commitment from the head coach. 

 

As we sit right now, we will have four U14 teams (Two Tier-2 and Two Tier-1).

We will have six U12 teams (Four Tier-2 teams and Two Tier-1 teams). 

And we will have seven U10 teams (Two Tier-2 teams and five Tier-1 teams). 

 

This is up by three teams from last year (one per age group)! 

 

Please  note, teams that are posted may change if kids drop out.  If this happens we may need to adjust teams slightly.  If a lot drop out we may even need to eliminate a team and redistribute players. I hope this doesn’t happen but there is always dropout each year as some players change their minds or choose to play with other teams. 

 

I hope to get all the teams posted within the next day or two.

 

Thanks for your patience!!

 

 

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

 

 

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Holt High School Baseball Pop Can Drive

HJRB Parents,

The High School baseball program really stepped up their assistance for us this year with the BOOTCAMP and the much more organized player evaluations.  It was great to see the high school coaches and players working with the “junior” kids!  Thanks to all of them!!

 

They get very little financial assistance from the school and like us, need to raise funds.  This Saturday (Feb 12) they are having a pop can drive.  You may have received a flyer indicating they will be in your neighborhood, if so, please help them out with your can donation.  If you didn’t get a flyer and would still  like to help them out (and get rid of your can clutter), you can drop your bags of cans/bottles off at the Holt Kroger between 11am and 3pm. 

 

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

 

 

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Lost Bat Bag!

Parents,

If your boy was at evaluations for the Saturday 1pm or 3pm session, please check his bat bag.  One of the boys is missing his black Nike bag.  His initials are on the inside of the bag as well as on the white Nike swoosh on the outside of the bag.  There are also batting gloves inside the bag.   An almost identical bag was left behind so I’m sure it was just an honest mix-up. 

 

Please check and let me know.  I have the bag that was left behind and the other boy would really like his personalized one back.

 

Thanks!!

 

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

Welcome to HJRB Baseball - 2011 Season!

To the parents of the 125 kids that participated in the Holt Jr. Rams Baseball program last year, welcome back!! 

 

We also had 86 new kids register that did not play with us last year (66 from Delhi Parks and Rec).  Some of them I am sure are siblings of kids that have already played, but many are new and consequently there are many new families that are new to all this!  A big welcome to all of you also!!

 

So player evaluations are done, now what??

 

First off, if your boy missed evaluations for whatever reason, there is a makeup session tomorrow (2-9-11).  If he attended at least one of the weekend sessions, he does not have to attend this makeup.  It is only for people that missed both days this weekend.  Contact me for details.

 

Now the HJRB Board of Directors will meet to assemble the teams and will hopefully have them set by next week.  The evaluation scores are used to group the boys by skill level.  We play in the Mid-Michigan PONY League and there are various skill levels/divisions from A – G with Division A being the toughest.  In order to compete in these various divisions we need to assemble teams the same way.  We cannot group kids based on friend requests, the school they attend, or randomly.  We can’t do a draft as that would result in all our teams having some kids that are exceptional, some that are middle of the road, and some that are still learning the basics.   We need to build our “A” teams, then “B” teams, etc., in order to compete in the respective divisions.  This also matches the kids up with other kids of similar skill level so there isn’t a wide disparity of ability.  We want all the boys to have a chance to win some games, improve their skills, and have fun.  We try our best to assemble the teams for this purpose and try to get them in the appropriate division so they play against kids of equivalent skills.   We don’t want teams that get squashed every game, and on the flip side, we don’t want our teams to be in a division where they blowout all the other teams.  We want good quality match-ups and that is what we will try to accomplish.  So whether your boy gets put on the A team or a lower team, rest assured that all our teams are competitive and the goal is to have fun and continuously improve. 

 

There will most likely be six teams in U10, five or six teams in U12, and three teams in U14.  The number of Tier-2 teams will depend on evaluation scores and how many people signed up for that level.  If you signed up for Tier-2, you will know that when the teams are assigned.   Coaches will be selected after the boys are placed on teams.  We look at all the parents that have volunteered, we look at their credentials, and we make the best choice we can.  Selected head and assistant coaches will need to attend some coaches clinics, the PONY scheduling meeting in Mason,  and will need to agree to a criminal history background check. 

 

Tier-2 teams will start indoor practices at Lansing Indoor Sports Arena the week of March 6^th.  Tier-1 teams can start outdoor practices as soon as the weather permits, usually in early April.  Games will begin in May, most likely the week of May 8^th.  PONY games are usually finished by the 4^th of July.  Some teams may still have tournaments scheduled into July and possibly even August.    

 

Once teams are selected, the player fees will be due and must be paid no later than March 1.

 

A big thank-you to the Holt High School baseball coaches: Nate Potts, Varsity Head Coach;  Scott Berman and Mark Roche, Varsity Assistant Coaches; Keith Allen, JV Head Coach; and Aaron Houser Freshman Coach.  They did an awesome job with both the BOOTCAMP and the player evaluations.  Try to get your boy(s) to one of the High School games this year! 

 

Finally, thank you to everyone that contributed to the memorial fund for Taylyr Cochran, Holly Bossenbery, and Anthony Harris.  We collected $391 which we will split between their memorials.  What a great showing of community from everyone!

 

 

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

p.s. Again this year, we have a great selection of HJRB merchandise at the HJRB online store.  Check it out on our website.  There are wicking shirts available which are great for practices, HJRB batting helmets, HJRB bat bags, window stickers, and of course adult sizes also so you parents can show your colors at the games!   

 

 

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Another loss for Holt Baseball!

HJRB Parents,

For those of you who knew Jeff Steinhaus and perhaps may not have heard, I am very saddened to say that he passed away yesterday morning.  Jeff had been battling brain cancer since September of 2009.  Jeff had been a great supporter of HJRB since the very beginning.  He had served our program as an assistant coach, a head coach, and as Vice President for many years.  He was also elected President just a month before his diagnosis, forcing him to step down to concentrate on his health.  However that didn’t keep him from staying involved.  With Tyler and Hayden playing on teams, he tried to attend all their games.  He pitched in and became an assistant coach for Hayden’s team even with decreasing mobility.  He volunteered his time to the board to help out with any tasks we could assign him.  He went to township meetings to see about trying to get funding allocated to our program for field improvements.  Basically he just wanted to be involved as long as he could and he will be sorely missed.

 

Please keep Joni, Tyler, Hayden and Carson in your prayers. 

 

Here is a note on Jeff’s Caring Bridge Journal from Joni:

“It is with a very sad heart to tell you that Jeff passed away this morning. He was very peaceful and without pain. The boys and I were able to be with him and say good bye.
Visitation is Tuesday and Wednesday from 5-8 at Palmer Bush & Jensen on Holt Road. Funeral at Holt United Methodist Church Thursday at 11 am.
Thank you for all of your support and prayers this year. Please continue to lift us up as we go through this difficult time.”

 

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

Evaluation Info

Parents,

One final message before evaluations.

 

We have 205 kids that have registered, I think that may be a record!  It will be busy this weekend but hopefully smooth.  Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help, we are fully covered now.  

 

The kids will be broken down into smaller groups and rotate around to five stations (similar to the bootcamp).  The group sizes will be from  4 - 14 kids with most of the groups around 8 - 10 kids; depending on which time slot your attending.  Make sure your boy gets a bib-number and a group  assignment before leaving the checkout table. 

 

Remember:

 

• $10 is due at the door – this covers both days.  If you can only attend one day, it is still $10.
•  Session start times each day are 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm.   Attend the sessions you selected.
• PLEASE arrive 15 minutes before your session’s start time to pay and get checked in!! They will be starting on time!

• Each player will be given a bib-number and safety pins that a parent will need to pin to the shirt. 
• Do not wear cleats!  Wear gym shoes  (better yet, wear boots and change into dry gym shoes at the school)
• Wear a cup and bring your ball mitt.
• If you have them, bring your bat, batting helmet, and batting gloves. There will be an area set aside to store bat bags.
• Please no food and no sunflower seeds!!
• There will be a viewing area for parents upstairs in the balcony – standing room only.  Please don’t bring young children (there will be baseballs flying around!)

 Also - after one of your evaluations, please stop by the uniform sizing table which will be down the hall by the cafeteria.  There your boy can try on jerseys, pants, and hats to find his exact size.  This will greatly help us ensure your boy is fitted with the proper sizes.  There should be someone there to help but it will be up to you to fill-in the sizes on the provided sheets.  

*** Also remember, we will be collecting funds this weekend to contribute to the memorial funds for Anthony Harris, Taylyr Cochran, and Holly Bossenbery.   Contributions to their respective memorials will be made on behalf of “Parents of the Holt Jr. Rams Baseball Program”.  ***

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

 

 

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Evaluation Help

This was a long rough week for the High School and the Varsity Baseball kids.  Coach Potts would like to give them a break this weekend and may only have a handful to help out during evaluations.  So we are looking for any head or assistant coaches from last year to help during the evaluations. 

 

Basically for each session we need 1 person to throw pop files, 1 person to throw grounders, and 1 person to feed the pitching machine.  The five high school coaches will still do the actual evaluations. 

 

If you can help out, even for one session, please let me know which day and session(s) you can help with.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

Bat rules + other additions for 2011

I've received a few inquires about what bats are acceptable for PONY play.  I've listed below a few rules changes below in that regard and also a few other additions for 2011 from the main PONY organization.  For the bats, the revision from 2010 is a 1/8th decrease in diameter (from two and three fourths inches to two and five eights inches in diameter).  Notice also, this decrease only affects U10 this year.  It goes into affect for U12 and U14 in 2012.   

 

Just passing along for your information...

 

-Brian Kayser

 

 

2011 BASEBALL Rule Changes

Equipment, 8 (c) Wooden, metal, graphite or ceramic bats manufactured for baseball play, which are round and not more than two and five eighths inches in diameter (for U10 effective in 2011 and U12 & U14 in 2012) at the thickest part, not more than 42 inches in length, are acceptable. Bats manufactured specifically for use in tee-ball play, shall not be used when the ball is pitched by a player, coach or pitching machine. Coach pitch bats will only be used in coach pitch using a safety ball. REVISION

Equipment, 8 (e) (3) PONY recommends that all adult base coaches wear a protective helmet while performing their duties. NEW

Equipment, 8 (j) (1) Jewelry is defined as “any ornaments for personal adornment, including but not limited to, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, including those made of base metals, glass, plastic, rubber, cloth, leather or the like.” NEW

Equipment, 8 (m) PONY recommends that while a pitcher is in the pitching position or positioned in the pitching area the player should wear an athletic supporter with a cup. NEW

Equipment, 8 (n) PONY recommends the use of protective mouth guards while either in a defensive position or an offensive position. NEW

 

Penalties, 18 (e) (5) Refusal to remove jewelry will result in immediate ejection of the player. NEW

HJRB Evaluations this weekend

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball player evaluations are this weekend. 

Have you registered your boy??

 

The sessions are limited to 50 kids and they are filling up.  In fact the 9am and 11am sessions on Saturday are already full and the 11am and 1pm sessions on Sunday are full.  If you haven’t registered, do so soon!

 

If anyone would like to switch their evaluation time to the less crowded 3pm time slots on Saturday and/or Sunday, let me know. 

 

• $10 is due at the door – this covers both days.  If you can only attend one day, it is still $10.

·         Session start times each day are 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm.   Attend the sessions you selected during registration.  If you forgot and can’t find your registration email let me know.

• PLEASE arrive 15 minutes before your session’s start time to pay and get checked in!! They will be starting on time!
• Each player will be given a bib-number and safety pins that a parent will need to pin to the shirt. 
• Do not wear cleats!  Wear gym shoes (better yet, wear boots and change into dry gym shoes at the school)
• Wear a cup and bring your ball mitt.
• If you have them, bring your bat, batting helmet, and batting gloves. There will be an area set aside to store bat bags.
• Please no food and no sunflower seeds!!
• There will be a viewing area for parents upstairs in the balcony – standing room only.  Please don’t bring young children (there will be baseballs flying around!)

 

The evaluations will be at the:

Holt Ninth Grade Campus School

Gymnasium

5780 West Holt Road

Holt MI 48842

 

Thanks again, and we’ll see you this weekend.

 

**Thanks to everyone that attended the BOOTCAMP, we had 125 kids.  The High School staff and varsity players did a great job.  We were very pleased and judging from many of your comments and emails you were all pleased as well!**

 

***I’m sure everyone knows about the tragic car wreck that happened on Sunday that claimed the lives of three Holt teenagers and devastated the lives of the families and friends of all the kids involved.  All the kids had ties to the Holt varsity baseball program and it has really shaken that program, and our community, to the core.  For anyone that is interested, we will be collecting funds this weekend to contribute to the memorial funds for Anthony Harris, Taylyr Cochran, and Holly Bossenbery.   Contributions to their respective memorials will be made on behalf of “Parents of the Holt Jr. Rams Baseball Program”.  ***

 

Thanks,

Brian Kayser, President

Holt Jr. Rams Baseball

www.hjrb.org

 

 

 

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