What one area city is doing to try to boost its little league

Miami Little League is dipping into its past as well as trying something new this year as they prepare for start of play in April.

The traditional Opening Day celebration will return after being abandoned following several years of being stopped by rainy weather. New this year will be a slight modification of the tee-ball ages in hopes of keeping interest alive in the sport for younger players.

The program faced a challenge a year ago amid fears of lower participation among players as well as coaches and sponsors but the board of directors rose to the challenge and 2018 President Travis Robinson said Miami Little League this year “is in really good shape.”

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He said the board responded by creating a new position and getting a strong mix of former and new members.

“The call to action was heard. There is a lot of continuity,” Robinson said. “There is a great amount of continuity between the old and new board. People stuck around. That speaks well to the baseball and softball community.”

He paid tribute to the long-term service of Tony Dsuban, who now fills the newly-created position of past president after several years as president and nearly a decade of involvement with MLL.

“Tony is still invested. I want to give special thanks to Tony for his leadership as president and service over the years,” the new president said.

Founded in 2000, Miami Little League held an Opening Day celebration for many years but rain forced cancellation for several years and they simply quit scheduling it.

“Mother Nature was not cooperating but we decided to pull it out of the old playbook,” Robinson said. “It will be April 14 at the (Oxford Community Park). We will have the younger kids walking in a parade to the four diamonds. We’ll have a bounce house and food truck. Teams will do a little exhibition with the younger kids playing an inning and the older kids three innings.”

He said he’s hoping for better weather than some years in the past because it not only will serve as a fun start to the Little League season it will be the first bookend to the season.

The annual postseason party at Stricker’s Grove will again be held in August and provide the other “bookend.”

Robinson thanks sponsors from last year and appreciates those who are again part of the MLL program, noting the number is up from last year, already with more still being approached. Player registrations are following suit.

“We are on track with registrations. In the past, we were in the range of 350 total kids,” he said, adding the registration period is still early. “There is no reason to think it will be exponentially going up or down.”

Miami Little League will hold player evaluations Sunday, Feb. 25 from noon to 4 p.m. in the Talawanda High School gym. That will mark the deadline for registrations, Robinson said, although late registration will be taken through March 6 but a late fee will be needed.

Registration fee is $100 for the first child, $90 for the second, $80 for the third and $25 for each additional child.

There are two ways to register online in addition to paying at player evaluations Feb. 25 or at the board meeting this Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Oxford Senior Center.

Go to tshq.bluesombrero.com/miamill and click on register, or facebook.com/miamilittleleague and click on Sign Up.

Teams being fielded this year are Rookie Tee Ball (4 Co-ed), 6U Baseball and Softball (5-6), Coach Pitch Baseball (7-8), Coach Pitch Softball (6-8), Kid Pitch Minors Baseball (9-10), 10U Softball, Majors Baseball (11-12), 12U Softball, Juniors Baseball (13-14), 14U Softball, Seniors Baseball (15-16), Big League Baseball (17-18), 18U Softball.

New this year is a hybrid plan for tee-ball with 4-year-old players, both boys and girls, playing in the traditional way with the tee but the older players (5 and 6 years old) playing a modified coach pitch format. Robinson explained those older players will have the ball tossed to them for three pitches and if they do not get the ball into play then the tee will be brought out.

For the boys it will be a baseball, but the girls will play with a softball. He said they have found 4-year-olds have been underrepresented in recent years and part of that may be parental fears of having that age child playing against the 6-year-olds.

He said they hope to have 20 registered for that program so they can divide them into four teams of five players each and stress the fun of playing the game.

The 5- and 6-year-olds will then have the modified version but broken into baseball and softball.

“We want to start girls down the path of being fully in love with softball,” he said. “It’s been interesting trying to find middle ground. It is tricky. It’s been tricky with older kids wanting more in the sense of a different way to play the game.”

Practices for all the levels of play will begin in late March with games from mid-April and into June when the all-star play will begin and continue into July.

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