| Sunnyvale Little League News |
|
|
|
Serra Little League and
Sunnyvale Southern Little League are now Sunnyvale Little
League
Baseball in Sunnyvale is changing! After months of work by
parent volunteers, the two leagues have merged to form the new Sunnyvale Little
League.
The merge is effective immediately. All baseball operations
will operate as the new league for the 2017 Little League Baseball
Season.
Registration
Registration for
the new league is officially open. Details regarding registration may be found
here.
League Boundaries
Sunnyvale Little League's boundaries
cover the former territories of Serra Little League and Sunnyvale Southern
Little League. The new boundaries are defined as:
- Starting at the corner of DeAnza Blvd. and Stevens
Creek Blvd
- DeAnza Blvd turns into Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd
(heading toward Sunnyvale)
- Right on East Fremont Avenue
- Left on Picasso Drive
- Left on Crescent Avenue
- Right on Michelangelo Drive
- Right on East Remington Drive which turns into
South Fair Oaks Avenue
- Left on Old San Francisco Road
- Left jog over on S. Sunnyvale Avenue to W. El
Camino Real
- Right on West El Camino Real
- Left on Knickerbocker (Both sides of Knickerbocker
are in Sunnyvale territory)
- Knickerbocker follows the path of Highway 85, the
Sunnyvale neighborhoods that are on the border of 85 are in Sunnyvale
territory
- There is a slight jog that leads up to W Fremont
Avenue following the City limits of Sunnyvale
- The boundaries continue from Highway 85
- Right on W Fremont Avenue to Permanente Creek
- Boundary runs the length of Permanente Creek to
Stevens Creek Boulevard
- Left on Stevens Creek Boulevard
- Return to the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and
De Anza Boulevard
If you do not live within the Sunnyvale Little
League boundaries OR your child does not attend a school within our boundaries,
please visit www.cad44.org for neighboring Little Leagues
School Boundary
Exception
A modification to the Little League's residency rule
was implemented in 2014 from Little League International. The rule in brief
reads: 'A player may qualify for residency of a league if, the player attends a
school within the league boundaries.' Or worded slightly differently: 'Player A
that live within League B boundaries and attends school within League C
boundaries has the option of playing baseball within either League B or C
without penalty.' Example: If player A lives outside the boundaries of
Sunnyvale LL but attends school that's address is within Sunnyvale LL's
boundaries (like Cherry Chase Eleementary , West Valley, Cupertino Middle
School, or Sunnyvale Middle School), player A qualifies as a "resident" of
Sunnyvale LL and may play baseball with Sunnyvale LL without penalty. Proof of
participation with a school may be a report card, progress report or admissions
letter.
Schools which qualify within the Sunnyvale Little League
boundaries include:
- Challenger School - Sunnyvale Campus
- Cherry Chase Elementary School
- Cumberland Elementary School
- Cupertino Middle School
- Garden Gate Elementary School
- Monteclaire Elementary
- Nimitz Elementary School
- Resurrection Parish School
- St Simon Parish School
- Stevens Creek Elementary
- Stratford School - Sunnyvale-DeAnza Campus
- South Peninsula Hebrew Day School
- Sunnyvale Middle School
- West Valley Elementary
FAQ
Have
a question about the merge? We've assembled a few we expect from our
membership. Please review this list and if you still have questions, please
submit them to Sunnyvale Little League's Co-Presidents
here.
1. Why did the two leagues
merge?
A: There were a number of factors that went into the
decision to merge our two leagues, but the primary reason was that
participation numbers in Little League Baseball have been declining year after
year. In order for the two leagues to remain viable, the Board of Directors for
both leagues convened to weighs both the pros and cons of a merge. In the end.
we felt it was in the best intersts of the children who want the opportunity to
play Little League baseball, that a combined league would best serve that
objective.
Our leagues are completely manned by our members who
volunteer for various jobs across the league. As participation numbers have
dwindled, it's also become more difficult to staff the various roles required
to operate the league. By joining forces, we have the ability to spread the
work out across our membership base.
2. Who is
managing the new league?
A: All standing Board Members from Serra
Little League and Sunnyvale Southern Little League were given the option to
continue with the new Sunnyvale Little League Board of Directors. The new board
directory may be found here.
3. How will players be
assigned to teams at each level in the new league?
A: In order to
develop a successful youth sports program, any league must balance the need for
fun, development and competitiveness among the player base. This should be
applied to all levels offered by our league. We understand that younger players
want to play with their friends, so teams at the T-Ball, Pioneer and Farm
levels will incorporate more grouping by residential geography. We do however
need to ensure that teams also maintain some balalnce in terms of
competitiveness, so that no one team dominates another.
While we cannot
guarantee it, every effort will be made to form teams at these levels with
residential geography in mind, so as to ease the ability for parents to get
their players to regular practices. We encourage all players who intend to play
at the Farm level to attend the Farm Evaluations on January 21st so that the
Lower Level Player Agent, Division Director and coaches may evaluate the
player's readiness for the Farm Division. These evaluations will also be taken
into consideration when forming Farm level teams.
As players develop
their baseball skills and age up into Minors, Majors and Junior level play,
formal player drafts are utilized to form teams. This includes player tryouts,
which provide the managers who are leading these teams the opportunity to see
the skill level of respective players before drafting them.
4. Will the new league utilize a Farm draft?
As the
league looks to implement the roster balance described in the previous
question, we recognize that Farm is typically a point in which players are
making the jump to more organized play. This balance is required in order to
make baseball a compelling sports option for the children in our community.
After careful review, the league has elected to implement a Farm player
evaluation, which will be used by the Farm Division Director and Lower Level
Player Agents to assign players to their respective teams, rather than
conducting a formal draft. The league will take residential geography and
friend requests into consideration when teams are formed.
5. How will cash reserves be managed now that the leagues have
merged?
Both leagues maintain a cash reserve. It was agreed by
the Board of Directors from both leagues to contribute a sum of money into a
joint pool, which will be used to pay for various common league expenses. The
remainder of each league's cash reserve will be used to address several capital
improvements at Serra Park (using Serra surplus funds) and De Anza Park (using
Southern surplus funds). Each former league's surplus will be managed by
current Sunnyvale Little League Board Members who formerly served on their
respective boards.
6. Which field will serve as the
home base for the new Sunnyvale Little League?
We are lucky to
have two fantastic facilities in Serra Park and De Anza Park. At this time,
there is no intention of using one more than the other. With the expanding size
of the player base, we will need all existing facilities in order to
accommodate what we expect to be a very busy game and practice schedule this
spring.
7. What are the biggest changes I can
expect as a parent?
As was mentioned earlier, Little League
Baseball is powered by our great pool of parent volunteers. Our new league
requires all parents to contribute their time to help the league run smoothly.
The new combined Board of Directors voted to adopt the model of requiring all
parents to volunteer for a League Level Volunteer Position as well as serving a
Team Volunteer Position (snack shack duty). For more information on these
roles, please refer to the "volunteer positions" defined in Sunnyvale LL
Registration.
Please submit any additional questions to Sunnyvale
Little League's Co-Presidents
here.
|
|
