April 15, 2009 

Hello Tee Ball Parents,

You may be wondering what to expect this year in Tee Ball.  I thought I would give you a brief outline.

Equipment Needed:

Each child will need to have their own glove and helmet.  The Sports Exchange on Burrard between 5^th and 6^th has a great “getting started” deal which will purchase you a helmet, glove, shoes and a sport bag.  The shoes aren’t really necessary at this age and I would suggest that instead of shoes you may want to purchase a pair of baseball pants but all the is really necessary is a glove and a helmet.  All bats, balls, bases, etc are provided by Jericho Little League. 

Gloves:  For information on purchasing a glove please see our website at www.jerichobaseball.com .  Teeball to Minors B – a 10” glove should do.  At Minors A your child may be ready to move up to a 11 ¼” glove.

Helmet:  Everyone must have their own helmet.  Helmets are not expensive and come as one size fits all – so what you buy now you will be able to use throughout your child’s baseball career.  Many people ask about face guards on the helmets.  Jericho Little League follows Canadian Little League standards when ruling on the use of the face mask.  That ruling is that it is up to the parent to make the decision. We dot require masks to have face guards.  The face guard is quite heavy and when the children are younger it can pull the helmet down in front of their eyes. .So, on a personal note,  when my children were younger, and softer balls were being used,  I did not require the face mask.  However,  when my son entered Grade 4 I insisted that the face guard had to go on. 

Mouthguards:  Mouthguards are not really necessary until balls start getting hit fast and hard at the kids.  I required my son to start wearing one regularly when he hit Majors B but many parents started their children in Minors A.  If your helmet has a face guard then your child needs to wear the mouthguard only during fielding.  However,  if you choose to not have a face guard then your child will need to wear the mouthguard at all times.

Bats:  Many parents will buy their child a bat.  This is one area where it is actually harmful to buy your child a bat that is too heavy or long for them.  How can you tell if a bat is too heavy for your child.  Have your child grip the bat right at the bottom with only his right hand.  Now, with the child facing you have them lift the bat up and out to the side (like they are making ½ a T).  When the bat is parallel to the ground have your child stop and count slowly to 10.  If the head of the bat dips at all down to the ground,  which means that your child cannot hold the bat parallel to the ground for 10 seconds, then the bat is too heavy.   Don’t buy it!  Don’t get talked into buying it!  It will do much more harm than good to have your child swinging a bat that does not fit them properly. 

BPF:   BPF stands for Bat Performance Factor.  As of April 2010 all bats used in official Little League games must have the BPF printed on the bat and the BPF of any bat must be 1.15 or lower.  If you purchase a bat make sure it has a BPF printed on it.

Composite Bats:  Jericho Little League does not allow any composite bats to be used during the regular season.  Composite bats will be used during All Star Tournaments.

Playing Format:  For this year we are meeting in 2 hour time blocks.  The first  1 ½ hr will be practice time and the last ½ hour will be scrimmage time.  The teams have been kept very small – essentially all you have is your infield.  During practice time the session will be led by Coach Fred from UBC Baseball.  Coach will work with the coaches to set up exercises and training drills.  He will be showing the kids and parents what can be expected from the children, techniques to follow, standards of play for everyone.   Due to Blastball using trimble field from 10 – 11 we will be having 4 teams in the 9 – 11 time slot and then 6 teams in the 10 – 12 time slot.  BE EARLY if you are in the 9:00 time slot.

Practices:  If you would like to have a team practice for tee ball – go ahead, you may even want to join up with another team for a total of 14 kids.  All the coaches will receive a key to the Tee Ball lock box that will contain bases, bats, balls, and Tee’s.   To find out if a field is free go to our webpage, home page and click on Field Use.  You will need excel to open this.

Uniforms:  Come 20 minutes early on the first day to pick up your team T-Shirt and Hat and meet your team.

I hope this answers some of your questions.  I can do another update if more questions come in.