Spring Update

Looking a few weeks ahead we have the Spring season slowly getting closer. Here is a small update on registration and dates.

Online Registrations will begin in December for Spring. Payments can be mailed, you can also come by one of the onsite registrations. Location and times are not known yet. Practices will begin in Feb and games will be in March, April and May. A few changes this Spring will be practices will continue thru the season and we will collect for names and trophies at registration. Estimated fee will be $90. Please also consider All Stars which runs from mid June to mid July. All Star candidates will need to sign a team commitment letter that they will be at practices and games before they will be considered.

Wrapping up the year...

Well it's hard to believe but the first year of Little League on Fleming Island is about to come to a close. It has been a great year. We had 23 teams come thru so far and it has been a blast watching the league come to life. We had some great families and great business sponsors that made the league successful. We had a great group of 12 year olds and they will be moving on. I want to thank you for giving your best at Fleming Island and we wish you the best in Junior High or wherever you continue to play.

Thanks to the dozens of Managers, Coaches, Team Moms, Board Members, Umpires, Concession Volunteers, District Administrators and to those great players for a wonderful year.

Mike

Pictures are Ready

All the teams and individual photos and the action photos are on the website www.glossyfinish.com



I encourage you to order soon. GlossyFinish is also offering a promotion, make an order over $32 by 11/3 and you will receive a free $12 photo bag tag.


3 Teams did not make it on Saturday, T3, T2 and the Astros. You will most likely do them at your next game.

Pictures Are Now at THUNDERBOLT

This weekend's pictures will now be at Thunderbolt in order to eliminate any chance of a rainout. Please arrive at your teams time. If you really have a hardship please let me know.

Astros and 3t (Todd Froats) will not have pictures on Saturday. If you are on one of these teams yoo will most likely do pictures at your game next week.

Team 4T I have asked your Manager to move to 1pm due to the 2 hardships, but please confirm with your Manager.

Board Meeting Summary

Present: Mike Collins, Bruce Anderson, Jerry Purdue, Ken Cuyler. Guest from GlossyFinish.com Photograghy.

New Board members are now all current managers. We also added Connie Wolfe as the new Treasurer.

Season Update: We reviewed some thoughts on Fall umpiring. We are doing fine but need better communication with scheduling for games. In Majors we should avoid parents from one team umpiring games due to conflicts.

Rules: 3 new Mnor league rules have been implemented: 1. A grounder that gets thru and rolls forever is a ground rule double. A fly that hits the outfield grass (umps discretion) is a ball in play with no restrictions. 2. One steal home in each inning. IF a second player attempts to steal and is called out the player is out. Only upon reaching home safely will the umpire return the player to third. 3. 5 Rins per inning with no additional runs in the event more do score on the last play. This rule removed end the inning at the end of the lineup rule.

Pictures were discussed. Schedule has been posted to the site. GlossyFinish.com will provide sponsor plaques to our Team sponsors for free.

Clinics were discussed. We wanted to do some more clinics this year but no one thought the interest was there. We did say that we need to schedule weekday practices in Spring with games on Saturdays so the kids get more practice time.

Volunteer Program: We fell short in a few areas with volunteers. We don't have any Concessions manager, and our team sponsorships were not close to what we had in Spring. We need to do a better jog coordinating getting Team Sponsors. Managers and Coaches are will be required to report back with 3-5 businesses that they asked to sponsor. I think its just a case of just taking the time to ask.

Fields - We need some new bases installed at ThunderBolt. If interested to help please contact Bruse Anderson. We have the bases already.

Spring Ball - We discussed spring ball. Registration will be in Jan. Season will be Feb - May with All Stars in June and July. We will have a All Star Player Commitment Letter for all who wish to play All Stars. Managers will sponsor some players but all are welcome to tryout. You will need to submit your letter to the league if you are interested. If we do not have enough letters we will know by the end of year if we will have the numbers for any teams. Managers are responsible for making sure their players aware of All Stars.

Refunds were completed.

Long Term Fields - We will be setting up a meeting with Pat McGovern and John Thrasher to discuss their sponsorship behind our plans. We have some specific plans in place tht we would like to get some Commissioners to sponsor us before we approach the Departments heads at Parks and the School Board.

 

Picture Schedule is Ready

All players and coaches need to be at pictures for team and individual photo. All photos will be placed online where you will select your package or ala carte options. You will make all payments thru their web site. The schedule was based on game time and the photograghers request to have 30 minutes per team.


Please help spread the word. Managers and coaches, Team Moms this will require phone calls to all team members. Thank you.

The picture schedule is as follows:

8:00 - Dodgers

8:30 - Marlins

9:00 - Red Sox

9:30 - Cubs

10:00 - Vipers

10:30 - MP3

11:00 - Red Hawks

11:30 - Green Machine

12:00 - Phillies

12:30 - T1 Lees

1:00 - T2 Arnold

1:30 - T3 Froats

2:00 - T4 Greisemer

2:30 - Astros - (No game on Sat.


The photograghers will aslo get action shots of all kids. So they will be busy on the 28th. If they miss any action photos they will return on 11/4 to pcik up the remaining action photos.

Saturday 1:30 TBall games have Changed

***** ATTENTION TBALL PARENTS *******

We moved all 1:30 TBall games to 9am at Armstrong Park. Armstrong is west on 220 before the train tracks. We will play on the front field closest 220. These fields have dugouts and are completely fenced.

Pictures will be on 10/28

We will have more details to follow. At his time you should arrive 30 minutes before your game in order to get individual pictures and team photos. We have selected a professional photogragher that will offer packages as well as many other products.

They will get standard individual and teams plus action shots. No monies due till you see photos online. Links to come.

I will leave it at that for now, expect details by tomorrow.

Board Meeting Friday 10/20

All board members and volunteers are invited.

6-7pm at Thunderbolt School - Covered Area. We will start promptly at 6 and keep to the agenda to keep things moving.

We will cover the following items:
- New Board Members
- Season Update
- Spring Season Update
- Overall Volunteer Program
- Refund Requests
- Long Term Field Situation dates will be set for first committee meeting

- Open Items

Thank you.

Directions to Palencia to play Mill Creek

Click here to see directions to Mill Creek

Uniform Pickup - Message for Managers

This message is for managers and coaches:

All TBall and Machine Pitch uniforms will be ready at 5:30 today, Friday, at LogoXPress. They will only release to me, so please be there at 5:30 or you can meet me at Paterson till dark. I will be in the back putting in bases for tomorrow.


Do not try and pick up an individual shirt from LogoExpress! This is for managers only.

I will have all uniforms with me at Logo, or at Paterson. If we miss each other I will be at Thunderbolt at 8:30 to 10:30 Saturday morning.

Game Schedules are Posted

The TBall link is now the same as the link in the Game Schedules button.

TBall and Machine Pitch

Minors

Majors

Uniforms are arriving, I will let you know when they are ready.

Umpire Schedules are being created as well.

No Practice Tonight 9/19

Due to Rain. All practices cancelled. Ask your coach about making it up.

Field Improvements

I want to personally thank someone that has done quite a bit of work to get our fields ready this year. Bruce Anderson has put in countless hours and physical work and planning to get all of our fields ready this season. Thank you Bruce.

We plan on having on working on the Ryland Homes Field early Saturday morning. Please email me at mike@filittleleague.com if you plan on attending. We will need about 2-3 hours. We will start about 8am.

All Team Uniforms Are Ordered

The Majors and Minors have been ordered.
All Machine Pitch and TBall teams were responsible for getting their order into LogoXPress by today. Please email me if you have not got your order in, we need to get it into LogoXpress as soon as possible.

Getting Started - Hot Topics

Let me address a few hot topics:

Uniforms - We will provide a hat and shirt for all kids. We will provide up to 3 coaches shirts. The kids will need to buy their own pants. The pants color will be up to the team manager. TBall and Machine Pitch will receive Fleming Island Little League shirts of various colors with numbers on the back. If you wish to have names you can arrange that with LogoXPress. You can walk your order into LogoXPress or we can do it for you. LogoXpress has our designed logo. For Minors and Majors you will get a shirt and hat with any Major League Logo. They will arrive with sequential numbering without names. Names will be up to you. Teams with Sponsors you will need to bring your shirts to LogoXPress to have the logo placed on the sleeve before the first game.


Game Schedule - (Available 9/19)We are working on the game schedules. Plan on playing Saturday morning and or early afternoon from 9/30 to 11/18. Most weeks will have 1 week day game too. We usually have them on Monday Tuesday or Thursday. Minors and Majors will be doing interleague play with Mill Creek. They will travel to our parks and we will travel to theirs twice. They play at some excellent fields in the Palencia Community.

If you have questions and concerns at this point your manager is the best person to contact.

All Coaches and Managers Meeting - 9/16 5pm ThunderBolt Elem.

All managers and coaches should attend one of the 2 meetings: 9/16 at 5pm at Thunderbolt or 9/26 at 5:30. The second date is only for hardship cases. I'd like to have everyone there on saturday. We will have the District Umpire and Chief present to address rules for Minors and Majors.

Practice Schedules Are Done!

Please Click Here to see the schedule.

Your manager should be calling you with all the details. If you have questions please email board@filittleleague.com

All parents should have received a Team Listing email as well.

Mike

Opening Practice and Parent Orientation - moved to 9/9

All players and parents are to attend the September 9th Clinic that will include a player skills clinic and a parent orientation. This meeting replaces the meeting on the 6th that you may have heard about at registration.


TBall players are to arrive at Thunderbolt school at 10:30am.

All others, Majors, Minors and Machine Pitch will arrive at 9am.

Please bring player's gear for practice.

All manager's and coaches will be present and you will meet your teammates.

Please pack a drink and snack for Major, Minor and Machine Pitch.

We will have Hot Dogs and drinks at 12:30 to finish the clinic.

Coaches our meeting is Wed at the YMCA at 7pm.

More details to come...

Ooops - I missed registration

No sweat.

Go ahead and pre-register. Print the Medical and Parent Behavior forms and fill them out. Get a copy of Birth Cert. Make a check for $75 to FILL. Place it in a envelope and then email me at mike@filittleleague.com. I will give you directions to drop it off.



Otherwise call and leave a message at 688-1483. All messages get emailed to me. I will follow up as soon as possible.



First team practices start 9/9.

Final Day to Register is this Thursday August 31st

Registrations are still open. It is great to see the T BAllers coming out. Make sure you are reminding friends about the registration.

Here are the 3 Forms you need at registration.

Player Registration

Medical Release

Parent Agreement



Next registration dates are August 31th at Box Seats, 6-8pm

If you can't make Thursday, get preregistered and send us an email at board@filittleleague.com.


Please preregister to help us gauge kids. If you preregister you do not need to fill out Player Registration Form. Just bring the Medical and Parent Agreement.


If this is your first time with FILL please bring a copy of your birtth certificate. We need proof of residency as well. It is not a requirement that you live in the boundary we just have to know if you don't in order to get a waiver signed.

Thank You! - Mike

FLEMING ISLAND LITTLE LEAGUE MEETING - AUGUST 16TH

FLEMING ISLAND LITTLE LEAGUE MEETING
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16TH
7PM AT THE YMCA IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM

ALL BOARD MEMBERS, VOLUNTEERS, UMPIRES, AND COACHES SHOULD BE PRESENT.

ADULTS ONLY AS THE YMCA CANNOT ACCOMMODATE CHILDREN IN THE MEETING ROOM, THANK YOU!


**THE DATE WAS CHANGED FROM THE 15TH DUE TO SCHOOL OPEN HOUSES.

2006 Registration is now Open

If you plan on playing this Fall please pregister, it should take about a minute.

You will still need to show-up with a check and with the Medical Release and Parent Agreement form at one of the registrations at Box Seats. You will also need a copy of your Birth Cert. if you did not play in the Spring and proof of residency. Cost is $75 per player.

Flyers will be going out to schools this week.

Fleming Island Little League Meeting Minutes - 26 July 2006

Place: Box Seats – Fleming Island

Time: 7:00 P.M.

The attendees were: Mike Collins, Tom Helock, Dawn Bergeron, Chris Otero, Jen Otero, Neal Mars, and Ken Cuyler


The meeting opened up with discussion regarding Fall Ball, the following was determined:

• Fall Ball will include T-Ball, Machine Pitch and Kid Pitch

• We determined that the following 5 items need to be addressed for Fall Ball to be successful: 1. Registration, 2. Fields, 3. Umpires, 4.Uniforms, 5.Coaches

1. Fall Ball Registration –
• The cost of Fall Ball will be $75 per child
• Pre-registration via F.I.L.L. website – this will help collect #s of registrants for planning purposes
• Will have samples of uniforms at registration for parents to view the sizes as sizing was an issue last season, will collect uniform size at registration
• Registration notification will be sent via the schools during the 2nd week of school – August 15th – in Tuesday folders
• Jen O. and Tom H. to work flyers
• Registration will be August 19th, 26th, and 31st
• Practices – start Saturday, September 9th
• Team selection/ Parent orientation – TBD – possibly week after Labor Day
• Season starts – September 30th
• Season ends – November 18th
• Will recruit for needed umpire and Board member positions at registration and Parent Orientation Day

2. Playing Fields are being worked on by Tom Helock and Mike Collins – more determination and information to be gathered and disseminated on that. Possible fields include: Fleming Island High softball field, Thunderbolt Park, Patterson (will have conflicts with FIAA usage), Thunderbolt Elementary: Tom Helock to speak with Principal Phillips, Armstrong Park

Tom Helock to speak with Fleming Island commissioner about local park use such as Armstrong and Thunderbolt Parks

3. Umpires
• Chris Otero – Chief Umpire – will recruit umpires at registration and Team Selection / Parent Orientation Day
• There will be coaches and umpires workshops prior to September 30th

4. Uniforms
• Jen Otero working on uniform order and pricing
• Fall Ball players – all levels - will receive shirt and hat only
• Will check price differential for minor and major league uniforms

5. Coaches-
• There will be coaches and umpires workshops prior to September 30th


• There will not be try-outs for Fall Ball – Spring Ball only

• Fall Ball is for developmental purposes only

• Pictures – same as last season – action shots and team pictures being taken by a photographer – Ken Cuyler coordinating that date

• There will be coaches and umpires workshops prior to September 30th

• Fall Ball needs to be advertised – will need signs made by Chris Otero and Orange Park High Chop Shop, other forms of advertising are being developed



Our next discussion was directed at expanding our current Board membership and delegating associated duties:

F.I.L.L. Board

• President – currently Mike Collins – position is a 2 year term, this position will be up for election next year

• Vice President - currently Tom Helock – position is a 1 year term, due to this being our first year Tom will remain in this position until next year’s elections

• Umpire in Chief – currently Chris Otero – his first year, thus he will remain in position.

• The following positions need to be filled: Treasurer, Secretary, Player’s Agent, Safety Coordinator, League Fundraising Coordinator, Concessions Coordinator

• All positions but the President are one-year terms. President position has a two year term.
It is critical we expand the number of volunteers


We created a “To Do List” of items that we need to address at the next meeting and begin to implement in the League. The following were some of the topics and suggestions that we determined needed to be addressed and implemented into the League in order to ensure the League’s success:

• Try-outs process needs to be established by the Spring.
• Fundraising needs to increase – needs additional volunteers and a full-time coordinator
• Chalking off field of play needs to occur, process must be determined
• Scorekeeper Training
• All Stars Selection and Process must be established and implemented
• Planning of Fall Ball team Selection and Parent Orientation must occur at the next meeting
• A Fields Committee may be beneficial in order to address the growing concern of fields – possible partnership with FIAA, County, Land Developers may be required for League to get the land/fields needed – Mike has identified a couple of pieces of land that may be suitable for future FILL park – need to work this issue
• Field Preparation Day has been suggested – will address date at next meeting
• Further implementation of safety plan


Other notes of interest: Plaques were purchased for the Spring sponsors. Dawn Bergeron coordinated that effort and will disseminate them this week.


NEXT MEETING IS ON AUGUST 15TH AT THE YMCA OR THE OTERO’S HOME IN FLEMING ISLAND PLANTATION – EMAIL NOTIFICATION/WEBSITE POSTING TO BE SENT AT LATER DATE

Fall Registration Information

Here is the latest with Fall Registration


Little League offer Fall league as instructional and Development, and just for fun. Many items are left up to the leagues to create the best environment to develop skills and to let the kids have some fun.



We will send out flyers first week of school and begin registering kids at Box Seats on the following dates.

8/19, 8/26, and 8/31 tentative times will be 11:00 to 1:30 on Saturday and 6 to 8 on the 31st.



We plan on offering TBall for 5 to 7 year olds. Machine Pitch for 7 and 8 year olds, and we are hoping to have 2 leagues for kid pitch, 9/10 and 11/12.


Age Ranges will be the same as Spring with one condition. If you turn 13 before 11/30 you will not be able to pitch.



Team selection in the Fall will try and keep all the same kids together. The Spring league will keep the same group of kids together if they stay in the same age division.


Cost: We will charge $75 for each player.


In a week I will have the Pre-register form online to help use gauge interest. We will still need you to appear at Box Seats to get you fully processed.

Congratulations to San Mateo

San Mateo won the Little League District tournament. It was closely fought game with NOL, but San Mateo pulled it out with some great pitching. Final score was 6 to 5. San Mateo now moves on to Sectionals, we wish them the best of luck.

2006 Fall Registration

I will have a pre-registration form online soon. The site will display counts by ages as kids and families register. This will help us gauge number of teams and coaches.

I encourage all to pre-register. You will still need to appear at an onsite registration to complete registration.

Thanks.

We Fell 1 Short on All Stars

We regretably had to return all the paperwork and tell the 9 kids that wanted to play that their would be no All Star team.



We had one family commit to playing then pull out with no notice, this cost us many hours of preparation and embarassed me and the coaches involved.



To the 9 that stayed committed I apologize. I hope to give each of you something for your commitment to being on the team.

Regards.

Announcing our 1st All Star Team

Congratulations to the following kids for making our 11 and 12 year old Little League All Star team.

Marlins - Austin, Everett,

Cubs - Jake

Phillies - John, Ben, James, Ashton

Dodgers - Dylan, Matt


Your Coaches will be calling you for practice times.

PS - The other age groups did not have enough interest.

Great time in San Mateo

Fleming Island had a great time in San Mateo. We may have lost but I think we all enjoyed the experience.

The second game had some terrific defensive plays. We are looking forward to getting back to practice come the 15th when we can start practice for All Stars.

Members of our District 11

So just who is in our District 11:

Arlington LL

Highlands LL

Mill Creek LL

St Augustine LL

Callahan LL

Hilliard LL

Yulee LL

Baker County LL

Elm Street LL

Navy Ortega Lakeshore LL

San Mateo LL


I will add some maps and directions for each of these later.

Little League District 11 Golf Tourney 6/24

Captains Choice
$240 per Foursome
June 24, 2006
Registration 11:30 am
Tournament 1:00 pm

Mail Entry Fee and team members names to:
Larry Geiger
10801 Wingate Rd.
Jacksonville, FL 32218

For Further Information
Call Mike Tatum
h- 751-6622 / w- 630-1447

Tournament to assist with the Operation of the District
(Deerfield Lakes Callahan)

Concession $tand

We made over $1000 at the concession stand this year. Great job goes to Jen, Dawn and Connie for managing the entire program.

This money will be going towards some top of the line break away bases for next season.

Thanks to the customers as well.

Mike

Eagle Harbor Golf Raffle

We have not picked a winner yet. I will do so this week and post it here. I will do it tomorrow at our tournament practice.

Thanks.

San Mateo Tournament

San Mateo is having tournament this weekend for 9-12 year olds. We have a team that will be going. The tournament is designed for rostered teams but they are allowing us to bring a mix of kids from different teams since we are in our first year.

All the kids that showed up on last Sat will play and all kids that expressed interest in post season play are on the team as well.

Game is Saturday 6\3 at 10am.

Directions to Park
Take 295 N
Go past 95 onto 9a
Get off at Pulaski Make Right and go south on Pulaski
at Eastport make a left
stay to the right about half-mile on Eastport
Park is just past fork on Eastport

6/4/2006 - Fleming Island played well but in the end the Baker County pitching and experience overpowered the boys from Fleming Island. Baker County has a pitcher that is 6 foot something and the boys were in awe of his size. He hit 2 home runs to left center to help them secure the game as well. Our next game is Tuesday at 7 in San Mateo. If we win we play again on Thursday.
Mike

All Star Update

The numbers look good for 11 and 12 year old kids to have an All Star team. Right now, we have 9 committed to the timeframe of 6/15 to 7/15.

The 9,10 ages only had 3 show up on Saturday's open sign-ups \ workout so we don't have the numbers in this age bracket.

The team will be announced on 6/15.

Fleming Island Field Situation

During my many attempts to get fields for the league I learned quite a bit about the different fields around the area. I moved to Florida back in 1990 down in Palm Beach County. Their Park System is first class and baseball is a large part of all their parks. When I moved here I was surprised to see no existing baseball fields or plans for any.



You might be interested in this information as well. Below is a listing of all the parks that I looked at and their status.


Thunderbolt School

We initially looked here since the YMCA TBall program had moved back over to the Plantation Complex. After talking to the Principal in great detail she made a decision together with Mike Elliott that we could not play there. However, The YMCA is allowed to play at this school, go figure. The fields are not in great shape anyway.



Thumnderbolt Park

This park was something we looked at initially as well. The major obstacle here is that County will not let us schedule games at the park. All we want is the corner by the backstop. However the park is now overrun with LaCrosse and Men's Flag Football leagues that tear up the fields with disregard for the baseball field. I inquired to the National Parks program to ask about any restrictions and this was his response.

Thank you for your inquiry. The property, known as Thunderbolt Park, was
conveyed at no cost to Clay County for public park and public recreation
purposes. Clay County, as the owner of the property, is responsible for
determining the types of public park and recreation uses and the hours of
operation. Whether the County operates the park for organized sports or
for unscheduled games is entirely up to the County. As long as the
property is open for public park and recreational use at reasonable fees
and there is no discrimination, and is handicap accessible, then the County
will be in compliance with the terms contained in the deed that we issued
for the property. Our deed restrictions do not specify that the property
must be open on a first-come, first-served basis, nor for organized play.
Those decisions are always the responsibility of the park and recreation
agency which manages the property.




Armstrong Park

This is a county park that is leased for $1 to the Clay County Adult Softball League. They have 2 90 foot base fields and 1 smaller 60 foot basepath field. All fields have lights. The County pays $500 per month for the light bill. We continue to work with them to get access. They lock the fields and we have not been able to get a key to this date. I know several Commissioners would not agree with locking County Parks. We continue to work with them, I hope to get a big field for 1 night a week so we can support an older program.




Paterson School

Patterson was something we looked at as the other parks began to full through. Terry Jeffers from the County worked with the Principal at Paterson and helped us get the fields for our first year. I hope to continue to have access to these fields in the Fall eventhough we may have to cooperate with Football.




Plantation Complex

This park is leased by the YMCA for $1 from the County. They are required to keep 25% of the park for open play, bet you did not know that one. They also control the keys to this park. This park is pretty filled to its capacity with YMCA events. I asked the Y if they would build a Baseball field but they said they had no room.



Fleming Island School

I talked to the Principal directly early on and although they have 2 fields, they are not in great condition. They have land however to develop a field if we want in the future.



Swimming Pen School

I talked to Terry Jeffers about this school and he contacted the Principal. They had a string of vandalism at the time and they did not want to work with us. I found this to be ironic since it's program like this that give kids something to do. I think we can try again in the future.



Fleming Island High School

I met with the Athletic Director, Randy Warren and he stated we can use the Softball field from Jun to December. This is will be a great field for us. We will need to build a mound on this field but other then that we are all set for this beautiful field.



40 Acres Undeveloped Land

Many people always say, 'If we only had the land'. Well, we do have the land, 40+ acres donated by East West and Centex. The land sits in between Thunderbolt School and Black Creek's Spring Creek Cummunity. The county does not even have this on their radar and with the money crunch Clay is in I don't see it happening for a long time unless we make it happen. If you want to help here let me know.




Small Park Adjacent to 4 Silo Business Park

I just noticed this the other day. It looks like a nice field that we can use for TBall.



Pace Island

I have not looked into this but they do have a Backstop in the back park that would work for TBall.

Thanks to our Great Team Sponsors

Fleming Island Little League thanks our Team Sponsors this season.



Ryland Homes = Minor League Yankees Coached by Gary Winterstein


Advanced Florida Mortgage = Major League Cubs Coached by Mike Collins


Olympia Motor Cars = Major League Marlins Coached by Ken Cuyler


Pinch a Penny = Minor League Braves Coached by Larry Powell


Hair Co. of Fleming Island = Minor League Wolverines Coached by Mike and Christy Hamilton


Patterson Homes = Major League Dodgers Coached by David Becker


Jax Dream Homes = Major League Phillies Coached by Tom Helock