Little League. The most vexing question is that of Little League. There just appears to be no neat one right answer. To say it is a distraction to our planning is a major understatement.

Peter and Eddie Bray have had a meeting with Baseball NSW and ABF about our decision not to conduct Little League in the format presented. Neither, Jeff Catt as Hills delegate or myself as Secretary of Hills were involved.

Further discussion is covered in the section below headed "LIttle League".

Visiting International Teams. This coming weekend NSWJBL will host two Japanese teams and a USA team. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday there will be a Pacific Friendship Tournament conducted at Castle Glen and Knights Field. There will be two Sydney teams plus Japanese and USA teams. Details of the tournament can be found on www.PacificFriendshipBaseball.org.au

Also on Saturday and Sunday at Castle Glen are the 12 year old games. On Saturday the touring NSWJBL Under 12 and 13 teams will play a Japanese team. Games start at noon. On Sunday at 2.30 pm the Hills representative team will play the Japanese.

On Tuesday Hills’ Under 16 representative team will play the Japanese at Knights Field. Game will commence at 6.30pm.

Really all young players, parents and coaches should attend at least one of these games to gain an appreciation of what can be achieved with good coaching, dedicated training and a genuine ‘desire’ to play the game to the best of their ability. Defensively these teams are usually excellent.

Pre-season Administration.

• Team nominations are due by 31 August. However any advance indication of team numbers would be appreciated as it would allow time to consider the structure of the various competitions.
• Applications for dispensations will have to be submitted by 7 September for them to be considered at the September meeting. Then there is a question of the Baseball NSW waivers for 12 year olds to play Under 14 and not Little League.
• Wendy Sloggett will again be the Hills Recorder for this coming season. Clubs should forward her details of their club Recorder. Send details by email to results@hillsbaseball.org.au

Cal Ripken. News from the Cal Ripken Tournament is that Dominic Woodward finished second in the ‘Home Run Derby’ and Joshua Guyer was the fourth faster runner around the bases.

BSC Update. There is not any more regarding the Behavioral Standards Commission as yet. The last update was that all we had to do was to flesh out the summary.

Hills21. The Hills 21st DVD has been completed and the first 10 copies ( which we already have orders for have been made). The final version is said to be much better than the draft copy which I must admit I have not seen.

Rep Teams. The selection of the representative teams continues.

• The Under 16 squad is down to 14 or 15 players. There is another trial Wednesday night.
• Under 14’s have had two trials and will probably require two more trials before the squad can be finalized.
• Under 12 are proving to be very difficult. There is another trial tonight and a game against the Japanese on Sunday before that team will be announced.

Overall the playing standard continues to fall alarmingly.

Bats. Whilst in Japan I purchased seven more rubber sleeved Kenko bats. The bats were on special at Y10,000 each ( approximately A$100). These bats supplement the four we purchased last year.

As was the case last year Hills will continue to own the bats – loaning one bat to each team in the selected conferences. Bats have to be returned at season’s end.

We are not certain what conferences will be selected. It could be Under 12 Phil Leonard or Under 11 Don Petroff.

As I wrote earlier I am a believer that the 12 year old players should only ever use 2 1/4” dia. Bats. The 2 5/8 dia. bats are too heavy for the smaller players to control the head of the bat.

With the distinct possibility of several smaller players being selected in this season’s Under 14 team I am seeking approval to purchase a high performance 2 ¼” dia. bat for use when playing in the Under 14 representative team and any Hills’ Little League team.

National Championships. What you do not read on the Baseball NSW web site is the venues for the National Championships this year are.

• Under 16 – Redlands 10 – 19 January, 2008
• Under 14 – Lismore 5 – 12 January, 2008

Both championships are being hosted by Queensland Baseball.

Stock for sale. I sent clubs an email advising of the equipment that we have in stock for re sale at cost. Just in case that email has been misplaced we have in stock:-

• 10” leather gloves (for Under 8) @ $21 ea 11” mesh back gloves@ $17.50
• Kenko C Class Balls @ $72 doz. K500 balls ( for Under 8) @ $45 doz
• Canvas gear bags ( navy and red) @$17.50 ea Stress balls @ 50 cents ea

Should you require any equipment please contact me.

In fact after leaning what some clubs pay for equipment I am prepared to source the supplies that a club may need. Clubs would do the ordering and the paying as I do not want to be involved in that aspect. I am just offering my knowledge and contacts.

The Secretary’s report was accepted.

• Under 12 team to Japan has left and is playing
• Under 16 team leaves tomorrow and the Under 13 and 15 teams depart early August.
• The tour to China for Pan Pacific championship is proceeding, but with an increased playing roster of 14 players. The coaches are John Yard and John Chapman.

• Organisation is underway for the Pacific Friendship tournament which will be staged as part of the Japan and American visits to Sydney.
• The Under 13 tour to Singapore scheduled for October will be advertised on the web site.The Pacific Friendly Tournament to be held in August, preparation of which is being disrupted by the spate of wet weather.

• Mrs. Betram apologised to the meeting, saying that she mislead a previous meeting. Under 14 representative players can play Little League.
• Cumberland are not conducting a Little League Major League competition.
• Only Ryde and Cronulla have nominated to play Under 16 Association Cup. The alternate plan is to play those two teams against representative Youth League teams every second week.

• Statement of Financial Position was presented.
• Payments were approved.
• Debtors and liabilities were disclosed.

It was the opinion of the meeting that Baseball NSW has mishandled ‘the sell’ of LL and now the product has a real bad name. Baseball NSW has gone from ‘That is not we agreed to and we are not doing that’, to ‘it is optional’, to ‘this is what you are going to do’.

Collectively the Delegates did not like the concept. They believe that ‘if it ain't broke don't fix it’. They consider it will harm retention of players and threatens the very existence of smaller clubs. Further, the clubs realise how its teams are structured now - five or six 11 year olds and four and five 10 year olds and maybe the odd nine year old to make up a division three team. Under Little League that is a Major League team - the thought of those players playing anything other than third division is abhorrent to them.

Simon Young ( Oakville) spoke suggesting that it is not about now - it is about the future.

The meeting was unanimous in its view that it will not agree to anything unless they are provided with the detail. That included in not signing off on the Little League (LL) Charter until they have the opportunity to see it. Mr Yard explained that there is no use in playing a compliant mid week competition if you don't sign the Charter because you are not in LL until you sign the Charter.

The meeting reinforced that this does not change in their view - they require the details - chapter and verse. The meeting was critical that there was no agreement in writing to things verbally agreed to including no copy of the Charter.

The meeting was also angry with the way it has been forced through – Mr. Borg stated that in business matters such as this are either a conspiracy or a stuff up - he leaned towards stuff up in this case.

Mr. Yard stated that had he had the four or five months notice that Baseball NSW had (and wasted) he would have suggested that Hills would be playing Under 11, 13, 15 and 17.... and we would not have a problem. The meeting agreed that they would have accepted that proposal.

Mr. Yard queried where is Hills going to come up with 18 or even 12 teams to run three graded competitions in a single age group (12 year olds).

The largest Hills competition outside Under 8 last year was Under 12 Phil Leonard South with 12 teams in it- no doubt these teams had a large percentage of 11 year olds in it, making those players Major League players

The view at the meeting was that they are changing rules as they ‘go along’, discovering that the American system does not suit the Sydney Baseball structure. Already no mound, no draft, no catchment size, eligible Under 14 can play LL - so we don't have to accept anything as gospel - anything can be changed.

Mr. Whatson queried what happens to representative players if the Association does not sign – the response was that we cross that bridge when we come to it but at this stage we are affiliated members wanting more information on a proposal before we sign anything - and nothing has changed from that point.

Mr Yard stated he was not prepared to support the changing the names of Douglass, Leonard, Petroff and Daisley Leagues – but until we know the exact details we may be dealing with semantics.

Representative Trials: Mr. Hook queried the procedure which allowed players to trial for representative trials without first registering for the clubs.

Mr. Yard replied that the Association does not know who is registered and who is not. It relies on who was registered last season – maybe that has to change.