"Twinsburg represents community baseball at its best. Their teams are consistently strong fundamentally and more importantly they play the game the right way; with respect."

Former Cleveland Indians & Current Toronto Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro

2021 Twinsburg Baseball League Travel Coach Application

May 29th Update

Happy Friday TBL family,

We're happy to announce the return of baseball to Twinsburg! It's been great seeing kids and their families up at the parks this week playing the game safely and in accordance with the state of Ohio's safety guideline protocols.

If you already registered your child in Jan/Feb, you need to do nothing and will hear more shortly. If you're unsure, email us at twinsburgbaseball@gmail.com. If you did not register your player, registration is now back open.

Note that we will be planning this league around the fall season primary sports (soccer, football) for kids going into 6th grade and under, and for kids going into 7th grade and older, will complete the season by July 31. For the younger group, we're also offering a "multi-sport option", where we will refund $25 of the registration fee for any players that want to only play baseball through August 2 so that they can focus on their fall sport exclusively. Email us at twinsburgbaseball@gmail.com if you'd like to select that option, and we will keep that option open as the other sports hopefully are able to formally start playing. We will also make rosters larger, practices optional, and schedule games around the primary fall sports game times to further accommodate our friends at the soccer and football programs.

This is also a great spot to note that Twinsburg Youth Football and Cheer registration is open! They are moving forward with their 2020 season with anticipation of full steam ahead. They have discounted their registration fees due to the pandemic and are accepting partial, fully refundable, deposits during the registration period. Their practices will begin at the end of July with the season starting at the end of August. Please visit twinsburgfootball.com to register. 

Below are all the relevant details.

TBL's "League of Legends"

Age Divisions

Instructional (still somewhat up in the air due to a current lack of the needed adult volunteers to properly execute this division) - Kids who just finished Pre-K or Kindergarten
Coach Pitch - Kids who just finished 1st or 2nd
Juniors (kid pitch) - Kids who just finished 3rd or 4th grade
Minors - Kids who just finished 5th or 6th grade
Majors - Kids who just finished 7th or 8th grade
Seniors - Kids who just finished 9th, 10th, or 11th grade

Timeline/Dates (May Be Slightly Subject To Change)

Friday, June 5th - Registration Closes
Thursday, June 11th - Coaches Meeting, Rosters & Equipment Distributed
Monday, June 15th - Practices Begin
Monday, July 6th - Games Begin
Monday, July 27th - Sunday, August 2nd - In-season tournaments (Coach Pitch, Juniors, Minors age divisions)
Tuesday, September 8th - Sunday, September 13th - All-Star Game Tournaments, Home Run Derby Contests in each age division (Coach Pitch, Juniors, Minors age divisions)
Wednesday, September 30th - End of the Regular Season
Thursday, October 1st - Wednesday, October 7th - Season-ending double-elimination championship tournaments (Coach Pitch, Juniors, Minors age divisions)

Other Notes of Importance

• TBL will follow and enforce the State of Ohio's posted mandatory safety guideline protocols. Our travel baseball teams started practicing this week and have been able to implement this protocol successfully with little disruption to the game of baseball itself.
• Currently, we are intending to follow state guidance and make the wearing of masks optional, and not mandatory. We will obviously follow any changes to state guidance.
• All parents/guardians will be required to sign a return to play waiver before their player is able to begin practicing.
• If you have a financial hardship situation, let us know. We've crafted a confidential financial hardship application that a small sub-committee of our board will assess applicants for.
• We're asking players to have their own helmets and bats. If unable, indicate as much on the hardship application. We will be sanitizing catchers gear in between every half-inning.
• Link to the rules for each of our various age divisions.
• Link to RainedOut.com, which we use to notify parents of rained out practices and games.
• Link to TBL's real-time field schedule.

Financial Matters

Early projections are that TBL will operate this league at somewhere between a $10,000-$15,000 loss due to the need to purchase items needed to comply with the state of Ohio's safety requirements, the consolidation of registration fee hit from hosting one league instead of two (spring & fall ball normally separate seasons), a 50% reduction in sponsor dollars, and our unwillingness to pass this hit along in registration fee price to people at a time when many have experienced employment disruptions. Fortunately, TBL has enough in our reserves to absorb this hit to be able to provide this option for kids of the community. That said, its a big one, and we're asking people with the means to consider ...

Sponsoring a team - which is such a great way to give back to the community while also providing great bang for the buck promotion of your business with your name on kids jerseys. Contact Paul Baird for more info.

Making a financial donation to TBL - TBL is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible. Donation dollars are 100% plugged into the program to the benefit of the kids on the fields. No donation is too small. Contact Chris Hojdar for more info.

Donate old equipment to TBL - We've set up seven different drop-off locations around town at board members houses. There are bins in these driveways. Simply drop off your (ideally sanitized) equipment donations at any of these locations at any time. We'll take anything and put it to great use as opposed to having it sit in your garage. Contact Katie Sorace for more details.

Changed Dates - Tryouts for 2021 Travel Baseball Teams

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2020 season, we'll conduct our tryouts for our 2021 travel baseball teams. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, our travel baseball teams were not able to start in late April this year, per usual. In an effort to allow our travel teams to play as much of a full schedule in June and July as possible, our TBL board has decided to postpone tryouts by one month. Instead of occurring on the last two Sundays in July, they are now scheduled for the last two Sundays in August.

Twinsburg fields one travel baseball team annually in seven different age divisions: 8U, 9U, 10U, 11U, 12U, 13U and 14U. The tryouts for the 2021 travel teams are NOW scheduled to take place on Sunday August 23, 2020 and Sunday August 30, 2020 at Liberty Park in Twinsburg. We plan to hold tryouts in the morning to allow for kids that play fall sports to be on to their fall sports sporting events no later than 12:30pm.

Final Notes

One last note - we are always looking for new board members. It is a fun and rewarding way to give back to the community. The size of our board ensures no burden is too heavy on any individual member. Shoot me an email if you're interested in simply listening in to one of our upcoming meetings.

Thanks again for your continued understanding and support. Don't hesitate to reach out to me directly with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Rich Swerbinsky
President - TBL
richswerb@gmail.com
440-552-0691

(POSTPONEMENT ALERT)

2021 TRAVEL BASEBALL TEAMS TRYOUT

AUGUST 23, 2020 & AUGUST 30, 2020

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2020 season, we'll conduct our tryouts for our 2021 travel baseball teams.

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, our travel baseball teams were not able to start in late April this year, per usual. 

In an effort to allow our travel teams to play as much of a full schedule in June and July as possible, our TBL board has decided to postpone tryouts by one month. Instead of occurring on the last two Sundays in July, they are now scheduled for the last two Sundays in August.

Twinsburg fields one travel baseball team annually in seven different age divisions: 8U, 9U, 10U, 11U, 12U, 13U and 14U. 

The tryouts for the 2021 travel teams are NOW scheduled to take place on Sunday August 23, 2020 and Sunday August 30, 2020 at Liberty Park in Twinsburg.

We plan to hold tryouts in the morning to allow for kids that play fall sports to be on to their fall sports sporting events no later than 12:30pm.

SURVEY RESULTS

In the spirit of transparency, here are the results of the survey that well over 300 of you completed:

1. 78% of you said you would feel comfortable attending a baseball game by July 1 (projecting League of Legends games to start July 6)

• 97% of you said your kids owns a helmet or you'd be fine buying one, 87% of you said your kid owns their own bat

1. 40% of parents said wearing a mask to games would make them feel more comfortable, 43% would say they would wear one only if they had to, 17% were opposed to wearing a mask

• 59% said their child would wear their own mask, 41% said they would prefer a TBL issued mask

1. The main concerns you cited were "proximity to other players", communal use of equipment", and "time in dugouts" ... all areas TBL will address 

DRILLS AT HOME

Basic Throwing of the Baseball:

Coaching Beginner Baseball: How to Throw - link (equipment: glove, ball)

Throwing from the Outfield – link (equipment: glove, ball)

Fielding:

Series of Excellent Fielding Drills – link (equipment: glove, 3 balls)

Fielding Mechanics (indoor / outdoor) – link  (equipment: glove, 3 balls)

Fielding Drills (indoor / outdoor) –  Link  (Drills 1 and 2)

Outfield Drills:

Drop Step (outdoor) – link (equipment: glove, ball) 
(focus on first 3:30 of video)  

Hitting Drills:

Basic of Load, Stride and Swing (indoor / outdoor) – Link (equipment: bat, balls, tee)

Pitching Videos:

Basic Mechanics of Pitching (indoor / outdoor) – link (equipment: ball, glove)

BECOME A TBL UMPIRE

Looking to earn some extra money this summer while being a part of the game you love?  Consider becoming a TBL Umpire! 

TBL Welcomes new and experienced umpires to become an important part of the Twinsburg Recreation youth baseball experience for local ball players participating in the Spring/Summer and Fall sessions.

Umpires interested in becoming a part of the TBL experience need to complete registration.  Competitive pay.  Minimum age is 12 yrs old.

Registration is now open!  Closes March 15, 2020.

Questions?  Send all inquiries to email below.

6TH ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF WIFFLE BALL ONCE AGAIN DELIVERS

Twinsburg, Ohio - Wiffle Ball capital of America? I think you can now make the case.

86 teams from five states participated in 2019 in five different age divisions (7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-29, 30+) this past September. 

Head over the event website linked below for additional details! We'll be posting the dates for the 7th Annual 2020 event in the coming weeks.

www.worldseriesofwiffleball.com

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL STARS & STRIPES TOURNAMENT IN THE BOOKS!

42 teams in six age divisions came out to Twinsburg the weekend of July 4-7 to participate in our annual Stars & Stripes Travel Baseball Tournament!

Final results for all age divisions can be FOUND HERE on our Stars & Stripes home page. 

CONGRATS TO OUR 2020 REC TOURNAMENT TEAMS!

TBL conducted tryouts for rec tournament teams for the 8U-12U age divisions. These teams are not "travel baseball teams", but all-star teams comprised of kids that play in TBL's spring/summer recreational league.

Tryouts were held on Saturday, January 11 & 18 at The Edge indoor facility in Twinsburg and approximately 80 kids attended the tryouts. There were a total of six teams formed (two 8U teams), and for the first time in recent history, we have an 11U and 12U rec tournament team! This also is the most players on rec tournament teams to date.  Congrats to all of the players and good luck during tournaments!

Click here for more information on our rec tournament teams.

ADULT BASEBALL!!!!!

The TBL Adult Wood Bat league is back for 2020!

"League" may be a strong word though. We have an email list of about 100 people. We pick dates throughout the summer and fall (typically Friday nights at Glen Meadow Park), email the list, and put together pick up games. They've been fun! Players of all skill levels are welcome.

To be added to the adult baseball email list, shoot us a note at tblwoodbat@gmail.com. 

LESS KIDS PLAYING BASEBALL? NOT IN TWINSBURG!

We're putting the finishing touches on what was a record setting year for TBL, with more kids out on the baseball diamonds in our city than ever before! Remarkably, TBL enjoyed all-time high levels of participation in 2019 for every single league and event we facilitate:

~ 67 teams participated in our spring recreational league.

~ 49 teams participated in 7 age divisions (8U-14U) in the Stars & Stripes Travel Baseball Tournament. 

~ 91 teams played in the 6th Annual Twinsburg World Series of Wiffle Ball, which is now America's largest Wiffle Ball tournament.

~ 38 teams participated in our Fall Ball league.

~ And the state of the TBL travel baseball program is strong, with TBL offering teams at 7 different age divisions (8U through 14U). The travel baseball program is coming off its best collective season yet, with last year's teams combining to win an astounding 22 tournament championships despite being a true community program competing against largely club teams that are comprised of kids from large areas or multiple communities.

TBL 2020 FIELD SCHEDULE 

Below is the link to the real time updated TBL master field schedule.  Coaches, please schedule practices and rained out game makeups through your league commissioner. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE TBL MASTER FIELD SCHEDULE

THANK YOU TO OUR TBL SPONSORS!

RAIN OUT ALERT UPDATES

Click here to sign up!

A reminder to all of our coaches, players and parents ...

1. These are kids
2. This is a game
3. Our coaches volunteer
4. The umpires are human
5. This is not professional baseball

 We are always looking for new TBL board members.  TBL is an all volunteer, non city affiliated entity that manages the many different aspects that go along with providing a positive youth baseball experience for well over 1,000 children each year.  Our board is a great group of people that meets roughly once a month, and we'd love to add a few new good people to the board this winter.  Email us at twinsburgbaseball@gmail.com if you have any questions or potential interest. 

TBL mandates that our volunteer head coaches take an online training course to become registered members of the National Youth Sports Coaching Association and also that they take an online concussion awareness training course.  Both courses are also highly recommended for our assistant coaches and any other parents that help out with their children's teams.