PRESENTER (American): Good morning everyone and thank for your coming to the Young Women’s Softball Association meeting. This is our first meeting of the year and it’s great to see such a large turnout. Last year we only had 17 members at the meeting and this year we have at least 50 or 60 people here, which makes me optimistic that it’s going to be a wonderful year.
I’d like to give a brief introduction about how our league works and then talk about the upcoming schedule for games and make sure everyone knows how to register.
First of all, we were created six years ago to support and promote women’s softball in the community. Our first season we only had four teams but over time we have grown and last year we had twelve teams. So far this season, we have fifteen teams already registered, so our numbers continue to grow, which is wonderful. Also, since we have more teams and players this year, we’re dividing the teams up by age. So, we’ll have teams for girls aged 7 to 10, 11 to 14 and the senior level players are 15 to 17. Now, just a quick clarification about age. Whatever a player’s age is as of January 1st of year the season starts is what age we’ll consider the player to be. So, the season starts March 2nd, but if you were 14 in January and turned 15 in February, we’ll still consider you 14 for classification purposes.
Secondly, let’s talk about how teams are put together. If a coach has an entire team already put together, than that team can be entered into the league as long as all of the players match the age category. However, we have many players that are registered but have not been assigned a team. So, those players will be divided up by age and randomly put on a team together. A team may have no more than 15 players and no fewer than 10.
Now, I’d like to discuss the scheduling for games and go over how to register in case there is anyone here who hasn’t already done so. Games will be played on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. No games will be played on Mondays because the fields aren’t available. Wednesdays are strictly reserved for makeup games that are occasionally needed for rain delays. All games will be played at either 5:30, 7:30, or 9:00. The only exception to this are the 1:00 games on Sunday afternoons. There will be a single elimination tournament for each age group at the end of the season and trophies will be handed out for first and second place teams only.
Finally, I’d like to quickly go over registration. Now, each player must pay $16 to register. That’s up from $12 dollars last season and the reason is because the cost of renting the fields increased. Just to be clear, the fee covers the cost of uniforms, hats and field rental. Each team must provide its own equipment, like bats and helmets. The league will provide the softballs.
In order to register, each player must bring in a copy of her birth certificate so that we can verify the player’s age. Also, some sort of picture ID is required. We have several booths set up that will be accepting registration applications until 12:30. If you don’t have the required documents with you today, you can register online. There’s an additional $2 fee to process the online application, unfortunately. If you’d like to register tonight, you can pay with check or cash but we cannot accept credit cards.