The Scotch Plains Fanwood Youth Baseball Association invites you to register for the 2010 season. 2010 marks the 55th year for SPFYBA and the overall experience for the youth of Scotch Plains and Fanwood keeps getting better. 2009 saw registration grow in all of our younger divisions despite the continued pressures families feel from other sports competing for their children’s time. SPFYBA continues to partner with soccer, and now lacrosse, so your children can enjoy the experience of playing multiple sports. 2009 saw several changes and improvements to our league. A couple of those include:

• Rebalancing our divisions to coincide with player’s school grade
• The introduction of a 50/70 division for our 6th graders to ease the transition to the big diamond
• The introduction of our Parents Auxiliary to embrace new ideas
• Our first annual family picnic, which hosted over 400 families
• A combined league approach with other communities for our 16/18U division
• Welcoming our HS Varsity Baseball Manager onto the SPFYBA Board
• Teaming with the SPF school program for coaching clinics and managing our 7th and 8th grade teams
 

SPFYBA is a member of the Babe Ruth / Cal Ripken (BR/CR) family of baseball. While Babe Ruth baseball has been a staple for many years, Cal Ripken baseball is fairly new and designed for players 12 and under. The flexibility of the Cal Ripken brand allows us to tailor each of our divisions to the needs and skills of those players who participate in that division. A great example of this flexibility occurred in 2009 when we instituted our 50/70 division for 6th graders. The division was a great success and the kids really enjoyed leading and stealing on the less intimidating sized 70’ diamond. BR/CR also provides for the safety of your children by requiring every volunteer to participate in rigorous safety programs before participating in any sanctioned SPFYBA activity. We set out with two goals each year. We want to teach our children the fundamentals of playing the great game of baseball and make sure they have fun doing it.

SPFYBA consists of 8 divisions that allow players to progress from the strictly developmental stage all the way through high school. The divisions are segmented by school grade so players play with their friends and classmates. The divisions are as follows:
 

Division	Grade	Games	Uniform	Fee
Junior Tee Ball	Kindergarten	Saturday + 1 Weeknight	Shirt and Hat	$60
Tee Ball	1st Grade	Saturday + 1 Weeknight	Shirt and Hat	$60
Pee Wee	2nd Grade	Saturday + 1 Weeknight	Full Uniform	$75
Junior Division	3rd and 4th Grade	Saturday + 1-2 Weeknight	Full Uniform	$125
Major Division 5th	5th Grade	Saturday + 1-2 Weeknight	Full Uniform	$150
Major Division 6th	6th Grade	Saturday + 1-2 Weeknight	Full Uniform	$150
Senior Division	7th - 9th Grade	Saturday + 1-2 Weeknight	Full Uniform	$150
Prep Division	18 and under	Saturday + 1-2 Weeknight	Full Uniform	$150

The divisions are designed to progress the players development during the current season and from season to season. Junior Tee introduces players to baseball and is purely developmental. Tee Ball starts the season with players hitting from a batting tee, and switches to coaches pitching halfway through the season. Pee Wee starts with the coaches pitching for the first half and moves to player pitch for the second half. This progression allows our

coaches to teach their players the fundamentals of the next step of their progression, and then teach them that step in season. We have found this to be a very effective way of keeping young players engaged and excited about playing baseball throughout the season. In response to the awful weather we experienced in 2008, we will change the schedule in 2009 for these divisions so they play games both during the week and on weekends.
The Junior Division begins the player’s experience of playing straight baseball with 3 outs per inning and 6 full inning games. The Major 5th grade division plays exclusively at historic Booth Field, while the Major 6th grade division introduces players to the new 50/70 division. The Senior and Prep divisions are played on the 90’ diamond and are consistent with the type of baseball you’ll see in high school.

Registration is EASY

There are two ways to register. The easiest way is to log onto our website at www.spfyba.org and go to “Spring 2010 Season Registration. Online registration is open now.

You can also register in person on Saturday, October 10th or 24th at the SPFHS Cafeteria from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM. These will be the only in-person registration dates.

All players, both returning and new, must register. If attending the in-person registration, all youths must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. New players MUST provide a copy of their birth certificate for proof of age.

If your son or daughter is in 2nd grade or higher, and you’re not sure what uniform size to order, please bring them to the in-person registration dates. We will have sample uniforms and will measure your son or daughter to ensure that they get a properly sized uniform. If you’ve already registered on line, you can go in back into the system and change the uniform size.

SPFYBA is a self funded organization. Our fees are based on our expenses and our fund raising projections. We are not part of, and do not receive any supplemental funds from the Recreation Departments of the Township of Scotch Plains, or the Borough of Fanwood. In both 2008 and 2009, we were able to reduce fees, primarily because of our fund raising efforts. The fees for 2010 will remain the same as last year. Those fees are: Jr. Tee & Tee Ball: $60.00, Pee Wee: $75.00, Junior: $125.00, Major: $150.00, Senior: $150.00 and Prep $150.00. For families with 3 or more children participating, fees are collected only for the two oldest children, the others are free. Fees are payable at the time of registration.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact:
Jim Morris Registration Chairman 908-322-8387
Bruce Moran Assistant Registration Chairman 908-654-1568

The Scotch Plains Fanwood Youth Baseball Association is a fully volunteer organization that strives to meet the baseball needs of the youth of our communities. Our volunteers continue to be the core of our ability to achieve that goal. Our continued success is dependent on the support and interest shown by the parents. Please consider joining our organization as a volunteer so we can continue to provide a great experience for your’s, and everyone’s children. We look forward to the Spring and the 2010 season, our 55th year of existence.

SPFYBA Board