1. Many leagues have new board members. If your league happens to be one of those leagues make sure that your board members know the PONY rules and regulations and your league bylaws. When they are talking to parents, they need to use the correct terminology and know the difference between PONY rules and your local bylaws. If you have made changes to your local bylaws, make sure they are posted on your website.
2. Please be sure as the league president you know what your board members are doing as board members. Board members should not be calling parents to intimidate them or to tell them a player can play outside the PONY rules and regulations and be eligible for all stars. There is nothing worse than having to "red line" players, managers and coaches or worst case scenario is to remove an entire team.
3. I would suggest that you use the correct division names for your divisions and when registering your teams, that your teams are of the ages that coincide with the PONY age brackets as indicated in the rule book and on the PONY website. The correct division names are Foal, ages 3 & 4, Shetland ages 5 & 6, Pinto, ages 7 & 8,, etc.
If your league decides to use any other age bracket description or definition, then contact me to make sure you register your teams correctly to be all star eligible.
4.. For leagues with advanced baseball programs or whatever the leagues want to call it, the Region will only recognize advance baseball programs at or above the Pinto level and we have no plans to host an open tournament play for any division below Mustang 9 in 2022. At the May presidents meeting we can discuss the possibility of having an open tournament for the Pinto 8.
5. Since we do not know what the COVID pandemic will do or what rules and or mandates the Governor or your county public health officer may impose from now until the end of all stars, I would suggest that you have a refund policy and that you post it on your website.
ALL STAR ELIGIBILITY ITEMS -
Several PONY all star eligibility rules to remember during this time are -
1. A player may only register and play in one PONY league during a season
2. A player must play all stars in the division that they played in during the spring season, i.e., - if they are PONY Baseball age 10 and play Bronco division during the season, they are not eligible to play Mustang all stars. If they play both Bronco and Mustang during the year, the player is eligible for all stars in the division they play 50% of their games and that must be the team listed on the TTEA.
3.. PONY has boundaries. However, the North Region boundaries have been expanded. If you have players from other regions or live in an area not currently having a PONY Baseball program, and want them to be eligible for all stars with your league, please make sure that you contact me.
4. There is no requirement that if a player played for another league in the 2021 spring or fall league that they must wait a year to be all star eligible. This may be a local league rule, but it is not a PONY rule.
MANDATORY TRAINING AND CHECKS -
Below is the checklist of mandatory training and checks for Managers, Coaches, Team Parents, Umpires, Board Members, and any others that have contact with minors. We covered these requirements during the Presidents' meeting and several people asked for a checklist.
- Mandatory Background Checks - Suggested source is JDP which is a PONY affiliate and is very reasonable. You must use the PONY link to get the reduced rate of $3.95 each.
- Concussion and Sudden Cardiac Arrest protocols (AB - 379) - Both of these are required for all persons listed above - the no cost training is available at any of the websites links that can be found on the North Region webpage. It is recommended that your league maintain copies of everyone's certification. The certifications can be printed out at the end of each online training class.
- Safe Sports Authorization Act (SB-534) requires background checks with Abuse Awareness training for adults or anyone with repeated contact or authority over players. This training is required of Board Members, managers, coaches and team parents. Training can be found at
www.usabdevelops.com. This website also lists all individuals who are banned from managing, coaching or being involved with youth sports.
The USA Baseball website (
usabdevelops.com) also contains other information that may be useful for your league, i.e., manager and coaches training.
QUICK REMINDER -
One of the most important things that you need to remember, be transparent, especially with your parents.