Details of Club Championship and Incentive Shield points for season 2006/7 are at Annexure 1

Grand Final day went without incident. The individual Grand Final game results are on the website.

General ...

The Under 12 team won the ‘State Championship’ defeating Illawarra two games out of a best of three ( 12-0 and 7-2).

• There are two sets of rules - one Sydney Associations have to play to and ones Country can play to!

Hills' celebrated is 21st year of operation with a dinner at Rydges Hotel, Rosehill on 21 March. It was a night of good food, making new friends and renewing old friendships as well as sharing in the reminiscences of the people who started Hills all those years ago. The night honoured the founders of Hills. It was attended by 175 people and was a magnificent evening at all levels. It was a very special night, and will go down as another piece of Hills history.

• People who were part of that first committee that had the foresight to start Hills were the special focus of honours on the night but the six Presidents who have served Hills over those 21 years were also acknowledged. Six very special people who have served Hills with distinction over many years were presented with service awards - they were Jeff Catt, John Bramley, John Hook, Wendy Vigenser, Allan Jones and Raif Oymen.
• The President's Award was presented to this year's winner Garry Guild. Jeff Catt and Greg Robinson produced a highly entertaining DVD interviewing Hills players now in America and parts of Hills history. They are currently working on a 'Gold' version of the DVD which will include footage from the night. Orders are being taken and will be available in due course at $10 All guests were given an engraved wine glass as a memento of the event. There are a limited number of these available at a cost of $10.
• We acknowledge the generous support of the 21st celebratory dinner by Castle Trophies. Anne Maree and Nigel donated the presentations for the Hills founding members – Thank you. Thanks also to Cheryl Barnier and Moya Muller for their effort to make the event run smoothly.
• Hills thank all those well-wishers who sent congratulatory messages or who attended the Celebratory Dinner. Evidence of the success of the evening can be seen on the Field of Dreams Photography website of our favourite photographer Sarah Vigenser. Visit Sarah's website to see photographs from the night.

The winter competition is in a state of ‘flux’ with nothing much happening. Sadly it is obvious that there will be no Under 16 competition this year.

• Under 14 appears viable with teams from Macarthur, Blacktown, Quakers Hill, Castle Hill, Kellyville, Baulkham Hills. I thought Hawkesbury had a team but have heard nothing more.
• Under 12 appear to have only three teams. Castle Hill has two teams and Baulkham Hills has one There is agreement that at least these two clubs would prefer that Sunday Development be a mix of development and playing.

Rowan Standish’s appeal against a 20 week suspension has been dismissed. The sentence is to be served in next summer’s competition as stipulated by the BHSC. It means that he can coach in the winter competition.

Peter attended a special meeting of Baulkham Hills Juniors last month, while I was in Taiwan, which was attended by parents and other interested people as well as club officials. The issues behind the creation of the Behavioural Standards Commission were discussed at length. There were many opinions offered as well as suggestions, and some lively debate! The net result was positive, and other clubs are encouraged to set up a similar forum.

• Peter will be available any time to help explain the BSC to your club. Please don't let the output from the Commission surprise you next season - make sure you're fully briefed before then!

We are concerned with our elite development program on Tuesday nights. In a way we are trying to serve too many masters by: o involving players from as many clubs as possible to improve the overall playing standard; o giving preference to 11 year olds over 10 year olds; o most importantly try to identify those players that can play at representative level next season.

• Somewhere between the three criteria is the correct answer
• Some players that clubs have nominated are not at that standard- may be nice kids but not necessarily representative baseball players. As a result these players are likely to be left behind (and suffer a lack of confidence and doubt their own ability) when the standard is quickly increased. Really that is what Sunday morning development is for.
• We are limited in how many players we can invite... we were already over our original limit of 24 players when we invited 31 players. The date of acceptances closed yesterday – 21 players accepted the offer.
• We always run the risk of clashing with training of winter sports. The vacancies will now be offered to Under 13 including players who did not trial for the Under 12 representative team but show some potential.
• Because we do our job well and use the NSWJBL program to Japan to hone the player’s skills we have not lost an Under 12 game at representative level in two seasons however, next summer’s player base is not as promising as the last two years.
• Please don't be mistaken and think that this it is not a very serious program - it is! As I keep saying players who have the 'wrong' attitude will not be invited/ or allowed to continue in the program.
• We indicated that we were quite prepared to set up a separate program for 8, 9 and 10 year olds on Sunday morning at 9 to 11 am. Wherever possible it will 'mirror' Tuesday night program. It may well be that there only 10 or 12 players involved – to date we have received no feedback from the clubs.
• Without any feedback of numbers we cannot be expected to be organized with coaches, equipment etc

Peter Schmidt conducted a player audit where he compared players registered in Hills compared to what was on the Baseball NSW ‘My Club’ system. Nearly all clubs had players registered in Baseball NSW but not with Hills. Clubs were requested to update the Hills registrations but to date no club has responded.

In a second round of offers under the VSEG grants Hills have been successful with our grant application. The grant is $2900 and will be used to purchase a laptop computer and projection equipment.

The ABF is proposing to introduce some form of Little League format nationwide, probably next season. It is under discussion at a national conference that is happening sometime this month. If it goes ahead, the format would involve ‘Regions’ creating their own U/13 teams (cutoff is age 12 @ the end of August each year). If the proposal goes ahead the rules will eventually be set by Little League USA. There is some conjecture whether Hills would be able to qualify as a "Region" in its own right. The method of determining a team would be very different to choosing a team to represent Hills and the chosen team would participate in a nationwide knockout competition. It could mean that we could possibly no longer be able to play graded competitions.

• Costs have not been discussed, but assuming our regions team will go through many rounds, this may involve frequent travelling and a cost-burden on families, especially those who are also involved in NSWJBL tours and/or State teams. We do not have very much information so we will wait and see what comes out of it all.
• It is seen by some as another nail in the coffin of Associations. The long held intent of both the ABF and Baseball NSW is that all players register direct with them and not through Associations.

Miniball starts again April 27th with Term 2. There will be a newsletter sent out before then advertising it, but all clubs should be aware that it is running again. This time, we'll be happy with four teams in one session given that it is winter and we really have little idea about the uptake.

No sooner than one season ends and the planning of another commences.

• Applications for Representative coaches close on 31 May, 2007. Minimum Accreditation for Coaches is Level 1.
• Dates for Representative trials will be advised at May meeting.
• Commencement date of season 2007/8 for Under 10 Petroff and ‘Live-ball’ age groups is at this stage the 8th September, 2007. We will be offering competitions for Under 11 Live ball and Under 12 T Ball.

Senator Boswell is backing a new proposal to grant tax deductibility to families for junior sporting club fees, up to $250pa. This should be in the Federal Budget this year, presumably commencing either this tax year or next. It will pay you to keep yourselves advised of this, especially as registration days for summer get closer - it's a powerful selling point. Details at his website

We are considering establishing a Coaches Newsletter which would be generated similar to our general Monthly Newsletter. It would use information that comes via the various coaching publications. One of the positive benefits from clinics or reading of coaching matters is the positive recognition that comes from “I coach that”. The value of that recognition alone can never be under estimated. Coaches can choose not to be involved in the distribution.

I have long advocated that clubs do not pay enough attention to equipping Mod Ball teams with competent pitchers. Once the players have the confidence that they will not be hit by a pitched ball they can handle the speed of the pitch relatively easily.

• Hitters, especially young players, need ‘speed on the ball’ to be able to hit the ball reasonably long as they lack the strength to generate power.
• The study by Health Sci Tech found that Kids cannot hit slow pitches. The study was posted 4 May,2005. It stated that “You're throwing a ball for a toddler to smack with a plastic bat. You toss it gently, slowly, to make it easier. He just can't hit it. It's because you throw too slowly, a new study finds. Kids' brains aren't wired for slow motion. "When you throw something slowly to a child, you think you're doing them a favor by trying to be helpful," said Terri Lewis, professor of psychology at McMaster University. "Slow balls actually appear stationary to a child." Add a little speed to the pitch, Lewis and her colleagues suggest, and the child is able to judge its speed more accurately. "Our brain has very few neurons that deal specifically with slow motion and many neurons that deal with faster motion," Lewis said. "Even adults are worse at slow speeds than they are at faster speeds." Kids' neurons are immature, making the task even more challenging for them. The study will be detailed in the July issue of Vision Research.”
• Often a fault with Mod ball pitchers is that they themselves do not throw properly. As such, they try to ‘lob’ the ball into the strike zone. In fact besides being a slow throw, the ball is being thrown starting above the batter’s eye line making him make adjustments with his vision in tracking and then timing the ball.
• Take cricket for example – Shane Warne in flighting the ball will want to start the ball above eye height and make the batsman make a judgment on length and speed of the delivery at the very same time the ball is dropping in height – it is a hard to do.
• By tossing the ball instead of actually throwing it you are asking young hitters to make adjustments that are very difficult for them at their age.

The Secretary’s report was accepted.

The team to Taiwan has returned without winning a game. The team placed itself in a position to win three games but lacked pitching depth to “finish” games off. The players had an enjoyable time and were well looked after.

The nominations for the Under 15 and 16 trials will be extended until 15 April, 2007.

• The opportunities in this age group are tours to USA, Japan, China as well as participation in the Pacific Friendship tournament to be held in August in Sydney.

There are recommended changes to NSWJBL Constitution. Basically the changes relate to the deletion of the word ‘control’ from the aims of the NSWJBL. The amendments will reflect the activities actually carried out by NSWJBL. The NSWJBL AGM will be 2 May, 2006. Association Reports were requested.

• None submitted in the absence of Mr Catt.

• Statement of Financial Position was presented.
• Payments were approved.
• Action arising from Treasurer’s Report: It was agreed that the Association contribute $250 toward the cost of use of Centennary for representative teams training

Club AGMs: Mr. Bailey advised that Oakville has held its AGM. Darren Koski has accepted a position in Utah(USA). The new Vice President and Hills Board member is Simon Young.

Castle Hill has also held it Annual General Meeting. Garry Guild has stepped down as President. Kevin Ryan is now President, Junior Vice President is Eddy Bray.

Coaches Knowledge: Mr. Yard advised that there is a lack of ‘real’ knowledge about the skills of coaching baseball within the Association. Hills are suggesting that it will publish a Coaches Newsletter which would contain coaching hints and information. In addition Mr. Yard suggested that the clubs organise coaching seminars for their clubs and Hills will deliver the content for the courses. Same with umpires – but really it will be necessary for clubs to provide an umpire per team Mr. Yard commented that one of the most difficult tasks is to umpire from ‘behind the plate’ – especially in getting the strike zone correct. Most newcomers to umpiring have difficulty in calling the low pitch – most call too low. It is far easier to call from the ‘middle’ – yet clubs insist putting inexperienced umpires behind the plate well before the individual is ‘ready’. The task of umpiring looks easy but it is anything but that. The sometimes constant ‘abuse’/negative comment of the umpire has a negative impact on the inexperienced umpire as it causes them to lose confidence in what they are ‘calling’ then they become inconsistent. It is one thing to know the rules – a completely different thing to call balls and strikes consistently correct.

Parent Behaviour: Mr. Yard stated the reason most sports lose umpires/referees is the abuse levelled at officials. Some sports have addressed the problem better than others – Hills has only just begun the process. Mr. Schmidt advised that parents are our problem. We do need to implement a Parents Code of Conduct. There was a discussion on some options – from those discussions there was support for the zero tolerance policy of late last season. Mr. Yard advised that it was interesting that the non accredited umpires had no difficulty with enforcing the zero tolerance – whereas accredited umpires tolerated the abuse – in some cases tolerated far too much abuse. Admittedly the sample may be a small one – but nevertheless a significant one. For any option to be successful we do need to get into the ‘hearts’ of the parents and have them understand the problem. Netball have, and soccer is well on the way.

Next years competitions: Mrs. Henderson advised that Baulkham Hills may not have an Under 11 team next season. Mr. Yard advised that Hills can only offer competitions and see what responses we get. Included in those offers will be both Under 11 Liveball and Under 12 T Ball.

Behavioural Standards Commission: Mrs. Henderson raised that in her opinion that the Standards Commission was inconsistent with the penalty imposed on Rowan Standish in relation to how the penalty was to be served i.e. in 2007/8 summer season. Mr. Schmidt advised that that decision re suspension was that specifically imposed by the Commission panel. Their view was that the penalty had to be served in the competition in which the offence occurred It was consistent with the penalties placed on Standish as a player when no penalty was imposed: Mitchell Bray no penalty as a Major League player or as a coach in Hills Juniors, nor E. Bray’s ability to coach Major League. Mr. Schmidt added that the Hills Executive did not believe that original decision was incorrect and therefore dismissed the appeal.

Resignation: Mrs. Trau advised that she will not be available as a member of the Hills Board after the Carlingford AGM – she is not seeking re-election.

Mr. Schmidt thanked Gai for everything she had done for Hills and on behalf of Carlingford.