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The
WOODBRIDGE FATHERS BASEBALL LEAGUE (WFBL)
has been extremely busy preparing for the upcoming 2008 Season, which will
be our 36th Season and is only a few months away.
WFBL
Registration dates have now been finalized, so mark your calendars
accordingly. They will all be held in Center School on the following
dates :
Wednesday, January 16th
6 PM – 9 PM {Cafeteria}
Saturday, January 19th
9 AM – 12 Noon {Room #16}
Thursday, January 24th
6 PM – 9 PM {Cafeteria}
Saturday, January 26th
9 AM – 12 Noon {Room #16}
WFBL
Registration forms will be available on this web site by the end of
December (that will allow you to download them, fill them out in the
comfort of your home and just bring them to one of our Registration dates
with your check to facilitate the process which seemed to work extremely
well last year). How much easier can it get?? More information to
follow.
In
2008, the date of birth {DOB} in which the Players baseball ages are
determined will remain April 30th.
Be advised that the WFBL
will strictly place each Player in their respective League Divisions
according to their age and will
NOT be offering any opportunities to
move any 8 year olds up to Minors or any 10’s up to the Majors. According
to the Babe Ruth League, “we feel the April 30th date will
allow most players on a team to spend the majority of the regular season
at the same chronological age as their league age and will provide a
longer opportunity for a player to stay in the game”.
We
plan to merge the WFBL
and Bethany BSL 9 & 10 year old Players in the Minors again in 2008 and
will perform a complete re-draft of all Teams (similar to what we do with
the Majors each year). It’s proved to be quite a success and as a result,
our All Star Teams have been very strong and competitive.
We
will also continue to allow 12-year olds to play in Babe Ruth Prep as we
did in 2006. The WFBL
allows those 12’s who are currently in 7th Grade and who have
the ability to compete on a 90’ Baseball diamond an opportunity to sign-up
for Babe Ruth Prep. All 12-year old Registrants will be subject to the
approval of not only both the WFBL
and Bethany BSL ‘E’ Boards but the Babe Ruth State Commissioners as well
before they are allowed to participate in this Division. The
WFBL
encourages those 12’s however to stay down in the Boys Majors for another
year unless they are confident they will be playing on the JHS Team this
Spring.
The
4-year old Tee Ball Instructional Program was another success in 2007 and
we plan to continue it in 2008. This will allow for positive growth
within the WFBL
and provides an excellent opportunity to
work with these younger Players a year sooner. In an effort to get these
4’s off to a great start learning the game of baseball, we plan to again
hire a professional Coach to work not only with the 4’s but also with the
Coaches. Stay tuned for further details.
The
WFBL
plans to form Travel Teams again for our 10’s, 11’s and 12’s in the Spring
of 2008 to give those Players an opportunity to play competitive baseball
(the 12’s and possibly the 11’s will be playing on a 50’ / 70’ diamond in
North Branford, where leading is allowed). More information to follow on
this, so stay tuned.
Our
All Star Policies will remain essentially unchanged in 2008. As a
reminder, for those interested in playing on the Travel ‘A’ Teams (ages 9
– 12), there will now be a full – time commitment of ALL
Players from the middle of June through the first week in August (Managers
will have the discretion to allow a day off for a special circumstance and
/ or injury only). For those interested in playing on the ‘B’ Teams (ages
9 – 12), in lieu of being allowed time off up to 14 days, we have relaxed
this policy and will allow more time off that will allow more Players to
participate. More information to follow.
In 2007, all four (4) of our All Star Teams (9’s, 10’s, 11’s and 12’s) won
their respective Cal Ripken District Tournaments, which is the first time
this has ever happened in our League’s history. This is a testament not
only to the continued strength of the
WFBL but to
commitment of both our Coaches and Players as well. Our congratulations
on a job well done and best of luck in 2008!!
Talking about All Stars, the WFBL
has again won a bid and will be hosting
the 11-Year Old Cal Ripken State Tournament in mid – July, 2008. Eight
(8) Teams throughout the State of Connecticut will converge into
Woodbridge to participate in this prestigious Tournament, with the winner
proceeding on to represent our State in the Regionals. More info to
follow on this when it becomes available.
As in 2007, the WFBL
will again be instituting a pitch count local rule for Minors and Majors,
in an effort to protect the young arms of our children. Players will be
limited to the amount of pitches they can not only pitch in a single game
but also in a calendar week as well ; this will be closely monitored
throughout the year to ensure it is not being abused. This has been a
topic of conversation for many years and now that Little League Inc. has
formally established this as part of their program in 2007, the
WFBL has
opted to follow suit. We understand that Babe Ruth League headquarters
located in Trenton, NJ will probably follow with similar regulations
shortly. You may obtain a copy of these revised Pitching Regulations on
our Web Site after the first of the year.
The WFBL
Auxiliary is always looking for some
dedicated parents to help out the League!! The
Auxiliary will
be headed up again by Jodi DiMauro as President. Their primary function
will be to assist and support the
WFBL in a variety of functions during the
Season, primarily focusing on fund raising efforts. All the members of
the Auxiliary
did a fabulous job with the Auction they held last June, 2007 ; the money
they raised will now go towards the purchase / installation of two (2)
electronic Scoreboards at our Acorn Hill facility (to be completed in the
Spring of 2008). The Auxiliary
will again be selling WFBL
merchandise during Registration in January as well as on Opening Day the
end of April. We are looking for more people with help us with this
effort, so if you may be interested, to obtain more information, click on
this link to view the notice.
WFBL Auxiliary
For those
boys and girls who will be not younger than 13 years old as of April 30th
and either wish to continue or are interested in becoming umpires in 2008,
you may contact Mark Nuzzolo (Umpire in Chief) via email at
mjnuzz@optonline.net to let him
know, so we may contact you after the first of the year … We are always
looking for a “few good umpires” and there will be mandatory instructional
classes in March and April, so stay tuned for further information.
Opening
Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 26th – again, so mark your
calendars accordingly. This is always a fantastic event for the entire
community and we normally have well over 500 people attend when the
weather cooperates. All are welcome to attend and there will be some
great things we plan to offer (a radar gun booth for one, to test the arm
speed of Players). More to follow in early 2008.
All
of us associated with the
WOODBRIDGE FATHERS BASEBALL
LEAGUE
(WFBL)
extend our sincere thanks for your outstanding and continuing support
year after year – if you should have any specific questions pertaining to
the League, please contact WFBL
President Dwight Rowland at
drowland@tcco.com and / or another League Official to promptly address
them!!!
We are glad to have you part of the
WFBL
family!!
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