Please see the following three changes for 2012:

• Minor Baseball Division Alignment
• Volunteer Training
• Facility Upgrades

The age distribution of our program is changing and its requires us to assess the current age alignment to ensure it is meeting the overall needs of our program. As a result, the Board of Directors has approved the following Minor Division alignment in 2012:

Baseball

T-ball will remain a 4 to 6 year old division.

Rookie Baseball will continue to include league age 7 year olds AND league age 6 year olds with one year of T-ball experience. However, league age 8 year olds will no longer play in this division.

Farm Baseball will now be an 8 year old division only.

AAA Baseball will now be a 9 to 11 year old division. All league age 9 year olds will now play in AAA division.

Softball

We will again offer AAA Softball at the league age level of 8 to 11 years.

Commonly Asked Questions

Why was the decision made to realign the minor divisions of play?

The division adjustments in the baseball minor divisions benefit the program in the following ways:

1. Team balance across the divisions. Based upon our projected age distribution, in 2012 and beyond, this will allow each division to be comprised of 5 to 8 teams allowing for more diverse and competitive play.
2. Live Pitching and hitting is introduced to the entire 8 year old age group. This allows the full age group to be exposed to live pitching which is consistent with our objective when we originally established the Farm Division of providing a means of bridging the gap from machine to player pitch.

Why can't the divisions be the same as last year?

If we had left the division alignment unchanged in 2012 we would not have been able to field more than three teams in the AAA Division of baseball. This would not allow for sufficient competition and development of a broad enough group of players to be eligible for the major division in the future. Further, the amount of players we would have then had to consider for "assessment" to play up in AAA would have diminished the Farm level and created the same issue in that division of play.

Why has the ability for a player to be "assessed" to play up at the next level been eliminated?

First, a point of clarification. This component has often been interpreted as a "Play Up" option. What is true is that a player had the "option" to participate in an assessment at certain levels. The assessment was NEVER a guaranty a player was going to be able to move up to the next level. Other factors besides physical skills were also taken into consideration include safety AND roster space at the next level. During the past several years many players who participated in the assessment were NOT approved to move to the next level.

The assessment has been eliminated because this new minor division alignment allows for the right balance of playing ages across the divisions. Further, there will not be sufficient roster space to allow for assessments.

My son/daughter has played with his friends the last several years and now he will not be able to play with them. Are there any exceptions?

The Board of Directors considered this factor closely. If fact, this decision directly impacts some of their sons and their respective teams. Ultimately, the decision was reached to not permit exceptions. This allows the program to achieve the objectives above and ensure all players are treated in an equitable manner.

In instances where 2011 rookie teams will now have players assigned to teams in two different divisions, you still have the option for your son/daughter to play with the same group that is moving up. For example, assume 10 players on a 2011 rookie team having five players league age 8 and five players league age 9, including your son/daughter. You can still request that your child stay with the four players moving to AAA. Just request that on your registration (we have a designated space on the on line registration form for such a request) and do so by February 4th and we will meet that request.

My son/daughter is League Age 9 in 2012 and did not play in the Farm Division last year.

There are many players league age nine in 2012 that did not play in the farm division the prior season. To ensure these players experience a good transition to AAA we have made changes to our pre-season player clinics and coaches training.

We will dedicate a portion of our pre-season clinics to league age nine year olds only and use that time to introduce them to kid pitch AND conduct pitcher training. Watch the website for clinic registration instructions later in December.

Our coaches training later in the spring be divided into smaller groups with the Farm and AAA Managers participating in the same session. A large portion of that time will be dedicated to how to properly teach pitching at those levels of play. Please see the Volunteer Training section below for further information.

Alderwood Little League offers a formal and mandatory training for all Baseball and Softball managers each season. This is supplemented with our Coaching the Alderwood Way manual which details specific expectations for training skills and philosophy at each level of play . However, this training simply does not reach a broad enough group of our volunteers.

Beginning in 2012, all adult volunteers that would like to be a coach, help with practices from time to time, or be on the field helping with the players, will be required to become a "certified" Alderwood Little League Coach and attend a mandatory training session prior to be issued their volunteer ID badge and assume their coaching duties. We will be offering additional training dates to support this process. Please watch our website for further details.

Over the past several years we have been successful in achieving various improvements to the complex including:

• Infield renovations on Field 1 and Field 3
• Irrigation and drainage improvements
• Implemented a routing maintenance schedule of the fields including mowing, trimmings, weed control, etc.
• Installation of a new backstop on Field 2, a new backstop and netting on Field 1

When you arrive this spring, you can expect the following additional improvements:

• Completion of Phase 1 of a program to replace the dated and weathered wood bleachers on Fields 1 and 2
• Installation of new helmet and bat racks in each of the dugouts
• Renovation of the Field 3 score booth
• Electrical upgrades to the field lighting systems

In addition, we have identified the long-term objective of replacing the Snack Shack building and construction of a new facility to include the league office, meeting space, equipment storage, umpire space, and the snack shack. The Board of Directors has authorized the development of conceptual drawings representing the new facility. Watch for more information in the coming months including how you can help make this project a reality.