Cooperstown Club Team Program

LA-MV Pony Baseball is pleased to announce that the League will be sending a 12-year old Club Team to Cooperstown, New York from June 9-15, 2012 to compete in a 104-team tournament. Cooperstown is the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.Teams from the United States, Canada and Mexico play six preliminary games before being seeded into a single-elimination tournament. View more information at Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Thank you to everyone who came out for the Cooperstown 12U Tryouts on December 10th. The Club Director will be in touch shortly regarding the team roster.

Ed Landphere will be the 12U head coach. Coach Landphere played youth baseball in the Mountain View/Los Altos area, attended Saint Francis High School and is a member of the SFHS Hall of Fame for football and baseball. He bypassed signing with the Atlanta Braves out of high school, opting to play baseball at UC Santa Barbara, then played "A" ball in the California League.

A physical education teacher at Hyde Middle School in Cupertino, Coach Landphere also runs "Levels of Play", a professional baseball instructional business. He has assisted baseball camps for America's Game, the All-Star Academy, PONY Baseball and Saint Francis High School.

LA-MV Club Team Description

The Club Team Program is designed for those players who desire a more intense baseball experience within our League. Club Team members, both players and coaches, are expected to put forth considerable time, effort, and commitment beyond that for a typical regular season. Participants will be rewarded with more frequent playing opportunities under more challenging circumstances with more intensive coaching and training. Players who wish to extensively vacation with family or friends during the Club Team season, who have personal or academic restrictions, who are playing on another travel baseball team or a non LA-MV team, or who have other time-consuming commitments are encouraged not to sign up for this program.

Club Team players and coaches participate on two teams - a regular season team and a Club Team.

Cooperstown Roster

The Cooperstown club team is intended for 12-year olds registered for the Bronco Division. While the Leagues expects to fill the team with 12-year olds, 11-year olds may try out and would be eligible for the team, space-permitting.

The purpose of the Cooperstown trip is to provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our 12-year olds to experience the baseball atmosphere that is Cooperstown. Since many of the teams that compete at Cooperstown are year-round baseball club programs, LA-MV Pony is not sending our team with a win-at-all-costs attitude. The League does not expect to form a team that will contend for the championship, but rather expects to form a team that will be competitive and will represent the League favorably.

The goal for the League is to identify 12-13 players who are committed to playing on the club team and going to Cooperstown. The League may select a few players to be alternates. These players would be eligible to participate in club team activities through Memorial Day, and could be added to the Cooperstown team should the need arise.

Preparation for Cooperstown

The club team will begin practices in mid-January. The teams will play up to four tournaments from February through Memorial Day Weekend. The team may practice more than one day per week until the regular season teams are formed. Starting in late-February, the club team will have one practice per week. The team also may participate in a few doubleheaders.

Coaches

The club team head coach will be chosen from the list of candidates that volunteer and the head coach will have a player on the team. The assistant coaches will be approved only after the team has been selected.

Cost

The Cooperstown Club team registration fee is expected to be $1,550 per player. Parents are responsible for paying a $370 deposit prior to the club team Tryouts. If the player makes the team, the balance is due in January. If the player doesn't make the team, the $370 deposit will be refunded. The $1,550 cost includes a club team memento hat and shirt, four "warm-up" tournaments prior to the Cooperstown trip, registration for Cooperstown Dreams Park (including lodging, food, baseball clothing), a set of souvenir pins, and the cost to transport a local umpire. Airfare for players is not included. Players and coaches stay in barracks along with all of the other players and coaches per Cooperstown Dreams Park Rules.

Parent coaches are responsible for paying barracks fees ($795) and airfare.

The total cost does not include flight or ground transportation.

For more details about the LA-MV Club Team Program, please visit the Club Team page.