It
has not been a quiet winter for the members of the Executive of the
Valley East Minor Baseball Association. They have been busily preparing
for the beginning of the 2001 baseball season and are now in the middle
of registrations.
The Board took a break from one of their recent
meetings to introduce themselves by way of this photo: Seated, from the
left: Christine Wadge (Director of Operations), Larry Furmanic
(President), Lorraine Furmanic (Secretary), and Debbie St. Jean
(Vice-President).
Standing: Gary Shyminsky (Director of
Player/Coach Development), Frank Mueck (Umpire in Chief) and Bob
Winfield (Director of Baseball).
Missing from the photo were: Lesley Kay
(Director of Marketing & Public Relations), Rob Spieran (Director of
Facilities) and Serge Parenteau (Treasurer).
One of the new features being promoted this year
is the “Bring a Buddie” program. Any member of the Valley East Minor
Baseball Association can bring along a buddy who has never played before
and the two will be placed on the same team.
Something else which is certain to maintain the
excellent quality of play in the league is the Coaching Development
Program which is designed to provide coaches with certification so that
they can coach travelling teams. It is also being made available to non-travelling
team coaches who wish to improve their coaching skills.
Final registration will be held on April 21 and
22 at the Elmview Playground. Names of registrants will be entered into
a special draw on 10 pairs
of Blue Jays tickets and five adult passes to the Howard Johnson
Recreation Complex. It should be noted that there will be no softball
division offered this summer. Baseball will be played at T-ball, Rookie
Ball, Mosquito, Peewee, Bantam, Midget and Junior levels. Travelling
teams from Mosquito, Peewee, Bantam and Midget will play in the North
Central Baseball Association with teams from Valley East, Sudbury, North
Bay, Elliot Lake and Garson. The Juniors will once again belong to the
Northern Elite League and compete with clubs from Sudbury, Sault Ste.
Marie and Timmins.
When the fields are dry, the first two weeks of
play will be devoted to practices as the result of a survey which was
done last summer among parents. In that survey, 91% of respondents
indicted that they would like to see the first practices scheduled for
the first two weeks.
With 96% of the parents from last summer
indicating that they would be urging their children to play again this
season, the Executive is looking forward to a rejuvenation of sorts in
enrolment. Parents are reminded to take note of the registration dates
of April 21 and 22 so that they don’t disappoint their children.
