Shetland Division
 |
Ages 5-6 |
| Director: Mike Bice 650/960-1752 or mike.bice@sun.com | |
| Current Season Info: | |
 Printable Schedule | |
 Team Schedules | |
| LA-MV Local Rules | |
Frequently Asked Questions
We hope you will be able to find the answer you are looking for here, but if not, feel free to ask the Shetland Division Director Mike Bice. We'll try to update the list periodically with the good questions that parents continue to ask.How, What, When, Where?
How old does my child have to be to
play baseball?
Is my child ready to play baseball?
How do I register my child?
What is the difference between PONY Baseball and
Little League?
When does the season start?
Where, when and how often are
practices held?
Where, when and how often are games played?
How many games are
scheduled?
What equipment is required to play?
What equipment is supplied by the
league?
Do the kids keep the team hat and shirt?
Is there any additional
fundraising required?
What and when is Picture Day?
Team Formation and Assignment
Does my child need to tryout?
How are teams assigned?
How many kids
are on a Shetland team?
Can my child request a friend to play on the same team?
Are there girls playing in Shetland?
Will my child be able to play with kids from the same school?
Can I enter/form
my own team with all my childs friends?
When will I be notified which team my
child is on?
Im interested in coaching, what should I do?
What opportunities
are there for parents to assist the coaches during the season?
What are the
special rules for Shetland division?
Answers
How old does my child have to be to play
baseball?
For the 2008 Season,
children have to be 5 years old by April 30, 2008 (born before May
1, 2003) in order to play in LA-MV PONY Baseball. Most of the participants are
actually 6 years old by this date and the median grade is kindergarten. We have
many preschoolers play and this is a parental choice based on the child's
desire to play sports and their physical and emotional maturity. [back]
Is my child
ready to play baseball?
The median grade for kids in the Shetland Division is
kindergarten, with most kids at 6 or turning 6 years old during the season.
About 20-25% of kids are preschoolers.
Preschoolers will always play Shetland.
If you have a
child in kindergarten, ~90% of these kids will play Shetland, with the remaining
moving to Pinto-1, generally because they are athletically gifted and played
Shetland the previous year. We have many kids who play Shetland for two years,
as a preschooler and again in kindergarten. We also encourage first graders to
play Shetland if this is their first baseball experience and they are young/less
athletically inclined for their class, or if they would benefit from the more
casual learning environment that Shetland provides. There are no try-outs for
Shetland kids and we assume no prior baseball knowledge.
The Shetland Division is designed for absolute beginners through a single season of age-adjusted beginning baseball. Most 5 and 6 year-old kids can figure out quickly the fun of hitting a ball but most cannot play a sustained game of catch and very few know much about the game rules. The practices will emphasize throwing, hitting, fielding and game knowledge, but performance expectations are in line with the age/ability of the kids. The goal is to provide a fun, positive sports experience in a safe environment. If you have a preschooler considering Shetland baseball, please evaluate whether they possess the physical and emotional maturity to be in a learning environment that requires some level of attention span and receptiveness to a team play. For most children, baseball is their first team sport and we are particularly interested in the experience being a positive one. At this age, children change tremendously over a year in physical and emotional maturity and waiting a year to start a child in baseball can have a huge effect on their experience. Whether they start at five, six, or seven, there is plenty of time to develop before the pro scouts start attending the games. [back]
How do I register my child and what does it cost?
Registration and payment is performed entirely online.
Complete information is provided on our
Registration Page.
Shetland players must also mail a
photocopy of the child's birth certificate, passport, or other age-verifying
document to the league, again per the instructions on the
Registration Page.
In recent years we've struggled with too many children and not enough coaches, so do register early. The best way to ensure your child has a team to play on is to volunteer to coach! [back]
What is the
difference between PONY Baseball and Little League?
At the Shetland level, there
is essentially no difference in the baseball experience that your child
will have. We aim to introduce your child to baseball and we've tailored the
game for the child's age, safety, fun and many opportunities for success.
At the
higher levels, the main differences are age based divisions (rather than
skill based), incremental increases in the size of the playing field,
and the introduction of leadoffs. [back]
When does the
season start?
Team assignments begin mid February and final teams are announced
at the Shetland coaches meeting in early March. Coaches then contact their teams
and begin practicing in mid-March. Games start in late March and run through the
week preceding Memorial Day weekend in late May. The Shetland Division is the last to form teams due to
many late registrations and recruiting new coaches, so the players are usually
notified of their team assignments after the rest of the league divisions. Don't
panic if you don't hear about your team assignment by March 1st;
your coach will be calling you soon.
[back]
Where, when and how often are practices held?
At the coaches meeting, I advise
the coaches to get about five practices completed prior to opening day. The
coaches have a lot of latitude as to how often to hold practices, but it is
recommended that they have two practices a week, one mid-week and one Saturday
practice prior to opening day. After the first game it is up to the coach to
determine whether they will continue to practice. If they chose to, it
will be one day a week. Sunday practices for the Shetland division are not
encouraged, but are allowed. Most coaches choose to practice at the field
closest to their own neighborhood school, but Shetland practices can be held
almost anywhere there is some open space — especially when in the batting tee
phase of the season. Shetland teams must defer to upper division teams
practicing at formal LA-MV PONY baseball fields (diamonds with backstops), but
most of the time, there are not a lot of conflicts. The Montclaire fields are
exclusively for Shetland use. Coaches pick their practice times with some opting
for a 3:30 start and others opting for a 5:00 - 6:00 pm start. Most practices
run 1 to 1&14; hours. Parental assistance is highly encouraged during practices. [back]
Where, when and how often are games played?
Shetland games are at Montclaire
school in Los Altos (corner of St. Joseph's Ave and Stonehaven Dr.) and each
team has one mid-week and one Saturday game each week. The
season is 15 games and ends during the week prior to Memorial Day
weekend. We take off the week of spring break. The mid-week game could be on a
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday
and will most often start at 5:00 pm.
The Saturday game is at 9am, 11am, or 1pm, or 3pm.
Most coaches continue with a mid-week practice after the games start, but
some do not, or they meet prior to the game and do a few drills.
Note that the players usually need to be at the game 15-20 minutes prior
to the official start time. [back]
How many games are
scheduled?
The Shetland season is 12 or 13 games.
We start in late March, take off the
Spring Break, and finish by Memorial day. Rain-outs are rescheduled by the
affected coaches, as is the decision to make-up or move a game time or date for
the convenience of both teams. Your coach/team parent will contact you if a game
is called off, so always assume the game will be played unless you hear from
your team. [back]
What equipment is required to play?
The only baseball equipment
required is a baseball glove. The glove should be leather (avoid plastic) and
should be small, commensurate with the small hands of a 5/6 year old. Gloves are
available from SportMart, Toy's R Us, and other local sports stores. Please
ask for assistance in getting the correct size if this is the first time a glove
is being purchased. A glove suitable for Shetland play should cost less than
$20 and
will last for the next several years of play. For practice at home, parents/kids
sometimes buy bats. We do not want the Shetland kids bringing personal bats to
games or practices. This is a simple safety issue in keeping control of the bats
at practice, by keeping the number of bats low. The league issues bats to teams
as part of their standard equipment. Baseball pants are not required and many
Shetland kids play in shorts on warm days. Baseball shoes (cleats) are not
required. If cleats are worn, plastic only. As a practical note, if you are
getting cleats, buy soccer cleats, as a soccer cleat is useable in baseball, but
a baseball shoe with a toe-cleat is not acceptable for soccer. The league
distributes the hats and a uniform, which is a long-sleeved T-shirt. Teams can
individually decide if they wish to acquire baseball pants and socks and last
year about a third of the teams went in this direction. [back]
What equipment is
supplied by the league?
The league gives each team an equipment bag containing
baseballs, bats, helmets, a Tee, and some practice bases. A hat and team T-shirt
are provided and the kids keep these at the end of the season. [back]
Do the kids keep
the team hat and shirt?
Yes, at the end of the season, the kids keep the hats
and shirts. [back]
Is there any additional fundraising required?
No. LA-MV Pony
Baseball derives all its funds from registration fees, donors,
and sponsorships.
That means that no candy sales, magazine sales or mid-season fund
raisers.
This won't make your child a
better ball player, but it does make your life a little easier.
[back]
What and when is Picture Day?
Picture day is when the team and individual photos
of the children are taken.
For the 2008 season, Shetland Picture day will be
Saturday, May 3, at
Covington School.
The time slot for each team is published in the league Yearbook.
A team and
individual photo is included in your registration fees. Additional photos
(individual and packages), plaques, key chains, baseball cards, etc. can be
purchased using the photo form handed out prior to picture day. [back]
Does my child need to tryout?
There are no try-outs for Shetland kids and we assume no prior
baseball knowledge. The Division Director assigns players to teams. Shetland is
an introductory level and the games are skewed toward fun, player participation
and success. [back]
How are teams assigned?
The Division Director assigns the kids to
the teams. We take into account the requested teammates, school, and special
requests to the extent possible. The estimated size of the division is
fifteen to sixteam teams and twelve players per team;
so incorporating all the requests, and ending
up at 12 kids per team is like solving Rubiks cube with a blindfold. We work
hard to accommodate all the requests, but cannot guarantee a specific request
can be met. [back]
How many kids are on a Shetland team?
We start with a goal of 12 kids per team, and then build as many
teams as we can, up to the number of head coaches that have volunteered
by the time teams are assigned. If not enough parents volunteer to coach,
teams may have 13 or more players.
[back]
Can my child
request a friend to play on the same team?
Each player can request one friend to be placed on the same team.
The request has to be mutual; that is,
the friend must request your child.
We also
look at the school the kids attend and try to place them with kids from the same
school. If you have a special request, please list it on the registration form,
but if it is elaborate, contact the Shetland division director.
Please do not request that a child be placed on a team that practices
or plays games at a specific time, as there is no way to accommodate such a
request.
[back]
Are there girls playing Shetland?
Every year about 20 girls play in the Shetland division,
although not all teams will have girls assigned to them.
If you have a daughter who wishes to be assigned to a team with at least
one other girl, either cross-request a buddy, or indicate that you'd like to
be assigned to a team with another girl. We'll do our best to honor the
request.
[back]
Will my child be able to play with kids from the same school?
We use
the child's school as a first try at assigning kids to teams. For several
schools there will be multiple teams with kids from that school. The number and
source of volunteer coaches also determines how teams are created, as some
schools may have more or less coaches volunteer than the number of kids wanting
to be on teams. If your child is currently in pre-school, it usually helps if
you put the school where he/she would attend kindergarten (closest public
school) on the application and you'll most likely end up on a team of kids and
parents from your general neighborhood. If he/she has a buddy he'd like to play
with, put that down on the registration form also. [back]
Can I enter/form my own team
with all my child's friends?
Yes, but there is a requirement that must be met.
With the consent of all the parents, a group may request that between 5 and 12
kids be placed on a single team if you provide a head coach from the parents
making the request. If you have a group that is thinking of doing this, please
contact the division director to coordinate your request. This can be a very fun
way to experience your Shetland baseball season. If your request is for less
than 12 kids, the division director will assign other kids to complete the team
of 12. [back]
When will I be notified which team my child is on?
Teams will be formed
by the division director from mid-February to early March. The Shetland coaches
meeting in early March is where the coaches will find out which kids have been
assigned to their team. Once the coachs meeting has occurred it is our policy
not to move kids from team to team unless an extraordinary situation exists.
Coaches then contact their players over the next week and pass on the details
such as team members and practice schedule. It is recommended that the coaches
hold a parents meeting before or after the first team practice in order to
introduce themselves and recruit assistance during the season. [back]
I'm interested
in coaching, what should I do?
When filling out the registration form, the first
step is to check the “Head Coach” or “Assistant Coach” box in the
volunteer section. Coaching at the Shetland level is quite fun and it is a great
way for you to participate in your child's sports experience. It definitely
helps to “know baseball”,
but knowing how to work with 5-6 year olds is equally important.
We offer training for coaches and assistance with planning
materials. Recruiting coaches at the Shetland level is one of the largest tasks
of the Division Director as most parents are just starting their youth sports
experience. Many parents doubt their ability to coach, but most who volunteer
find the experience rewarding and return as coaches the following year. Our
desire is to get one head coach and two assistants officially signed-up for each
team. Co-head coaching is also OK. If you would like additional information or
have questions, please contact the Division Director. [back]
What opportunities are
there for parents to assist the coaches during the season?
Each team will need a
team parent to organize a snack schedule, distribute picture-day materials
and organize the end of year party. During practices, if you are waiting for
your child, offer to assist the coach with drills, or just to assist with kid
management. During games, parents are allowed to go onto the field with the team
and to “coach” during the game.
Also, parent volunteers are required each
game to assist with Tee management, coaching bases and the very important job of
“bench manager.” The bench manager keeps the kids queued-up and the game
flowing when your team is at bat.
By having a “system” in place, the kids
stay in tune with the game more, the risk of injury due to shenanigans is
reduced and the games move at a much faster pace. The head coach will request
your assistance in some way and most of the time, it will mean being involved in
a game or practice and no preparation is necessary. The kids respond extremely
positively to having their parents involved. [back]
What are the special rules for
Shetland division?
The LA-MV PONY Shetland program teaches the fundamentals of baseball,
team spirit, and sportsmanship in a safe environment while having as much
fun as possible. The following formal rules apply:
- LA-MV
General Rules apply to all
divisions, and are designed to help maintain the condition of
our playing fields, help ensure everyone's safety, and supplement
the Good Neighbor Policy.
- Shetland
local rules specifically govern play within the Shetland Division.
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