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June 1 Update
Managers have been given updated rosters and will reach out to parents. At this time we are looking at a June 22 start for league games.
May 22, 2020 Update
All managers have been given the updated procedures for the 2020 season. They will contact their parents and make sure all are aware of league procedures for 2020.
Please contact us at wpyb1960@gmail.com if you don't hear from your manager by May 26th.
We are anticipating starting practices in early June. At this point we are waiting for the City of Milwaukee to lift restrictions on playing games.
May 14, 2020 Update
WPYB Members
The Board met again on May 13th to make decision on how to proceed with a 2020 season. We have made several decision at this time and will meet again next week Thursday to continue to plan for a safe and abbreviated 2020 season. We are looking at other youth baseball leagues, both locally and nationally (including guidelines from the National Little League) as we work to put together procedures that will allow our players to enjoy the game while remaining safe at the same time. Some of these procedures might inconvenience parents and we may have to limit the number of people that are allowed into the Ballpark facility, but please understand that this season will be unlike any we have witnessed.
What we can tell you at this time.
First, the Board has eliminated all volunteering for this season. To ensure safety of all parents, we will not be running a traditional concession stand at either location. We will have a lead official at each location selling beverages only. This will eliminate the need for our usual parent volunteers. That being said, if there are parents who would like to help the league and volunteer their time, the Board will have a procedure for that at a later date. Any Volunteer Checks that were already submitted will be shredded.
Next, we have drastically reduced the fundraising to a $50/player "Season Fee" to help ease the financial impact that the league will incur. More information on when that Season Fee will be due will be announced at a later date. New playing equipment has arrived, hats have been paid for and updates\upgrades to the Ballpark have already taken place (including a new scoreboard on Ballpark #1). All these costs took place prior to the WPYB season being postponed.
We cannot at this time give a firm date for when the WPYB 2020 season will begin or how many games each team will play. There are far too many factors involved in making that decision. And we all know that any date we give you today, could change in the coming days or weeks. But we also realize that there are parents who will choose to not participate in the WPYB 2020 season no matter what precautions are put in place.
We respect that everyone has to make their own decision and every member of our league has a different perspective. We acknowledge that.
We are asking all parents to determine if they are not comfortable with their child playing baseball this season to contact us as soon as possible and we will refund your registration or carry that fee over to the 2021 season. Obviously, while WPYB would prefer if parents simply carried that registration fee over to 2021 to help the league out, we will refund registration fees if that is what parents prefer.
We ask parents to please let us know quickly so the league can determine the number of players who are still interested in playing this summer. Please contact us at wpyb1960@gmail.com ONLY IF YOUR CHILD WILL NOT PLAY IN 2021. That will allow us to move players to new teams, possibly combining teams and coming up with new schedules. No player who sits out in 2020 will lose seniority or their place on their current team if they return in 2021.
Please know that the members of the Board have given and will continue to give many hours to the league as we move through these trying times. We are still working on the fields and the infrastructure at the Ballpark, maintaining the grass at Wilson Park and planning for a safe 2020 season. Our work never ends. We are hopeful that we'll hear the sound of the ball cracking off a bat on 13th and Grange this summer. It might be unlike anything any of us has witnessed, but the Board will do all we can to put together a safe season for our kids.
April 23, 2020
The WPYB Board met to discuss the 2020 season last evening. At this time we are formulating multiple schedules for the season and adjusting dates and events for 2020. Most of the plans look at an early June start for practices. Of course, this can (and will) change as we move forward. We have asked our managers to reach out to parents to keep them up to date on where we are at as a league.
April 16, 2020
The WPYB Board continues to meet to discuss the 2020 season. At this point we are pushing back the start of the season to late May, while we have not set a firm date we are working on multiple plans to try to maximize the number of games for all levels. We will have more information after April 24th about specific dates and changes to fundraising, volunteering and schedules.
March 29, 2020
The WPYB Board met again this weekend to discuss options for the 2020 season as many things have changed in the last 12 days regarding the COVID-19 virus.
With the Federal Government extending the guidelines for social distancing through April 30th, the Board will not sanction any activities until that date.
Members of the Board have another virtual meeting set up for this week to set up tentative dates for equipment pickup, the start of practices, a revised game schedule, fundraising and other procedural changes that will take place.
We are also creating a "virtual parent meeting" video that will be posted on social media and the website for parents in lieu of the team meetings that were cancelled.
We thank each of you for your patience and understanding as we wade through all this.
The Board will work tirelessly to put together a plan that takes into account player, coach and parent safety as well as getting as much baseball as possible for the kids.
Please disregard any dates that were established on March 17, 2020. We will update those within the next week.
Thanks
John, Tom, Steve, Nick, Neal, Chris and Carmelo
MARCH 17, 2020
To Our Families,
The Board is trying to be proactive and doing all we can to make sure we are prepared, we don't want to cancel any games this season. WPYB is such a huge part of so many young people's lives and cancelling our entire season is something that we don't want to do. We feel that our parents and players do not want to do that either. While we work to create a safe and healthy environment for everyone, we are hopeful and optimistic.
1. Parent Meetings: All parent meetings are postponed. This includes the new to the league parent meeting scheduled for Saturday April 4th. Whether they will be made up or done electronically via email, etc has yet to be determined. Another announcement will be made about this after April 1. All the parent forms are online and can either be downloaded and signed or done electronically.
2. Practices: The league is not sanctioning any practices, indoor or outdoor until at least April 1. This date will be reassessed as we get closer to April.
3. Fundraising. The Board acknowledges that the selling of candy will be more difficult for parents this season. Therefore, this season, we are lowering the fundraising requirements for parents. The league will take a hit financially because of this, however, we believe it will be helpful to our parents, many of whom might be out of work and without income for a bit.
The revised options for 2020 are:
Each Player must choose one:
- 4 cases of candy
- 10 Football Mania Tickets
- 2 cases of candy and 5 Football Mania tickets
- $150 buyout
Family of three or more must choose one:
- 11 cases of candy
- 24 Football Mania Tickets
- 6 cases of candy and 9 Football Mania Tickets
- $375 buyout
Options for Free Registration for 2021 HAVE NOT CHANGED.
4. Candy Pick-up: Candy pick-up will now occur on Saturday, May 2nd
5. Fundraising Money: All fundraising money will now be due to managers on Monday, June 29th.
6. Volunteer Checks: We are still expecting parents to submit their volunteer checks for $30. Those will not be due until Saturday, May 2nd. We will let everyone know when we go live with the Volunteer Sign Up Website.
7. Ballpark Clean-Up: How we staff that will be determined as we get closer to that date but it is still on for Saturday April 18th.
8. WPYB Opening Day: The Board is planning on the same start date of May 1st. In the event changes are needed, the Board has developed backup schedules with a start date in later May. This will reduce the number of games played and we will only make this change if we have to.
9. Parent Forms: Parents can complete the forms electronically on the website. Link: https://www.leaguelineup.com/miscinfo.asp?menuid=43&url=wpyb
10. Social Distancing and Interactions: We will send out common sense requirements for practice and games. But one thing we will mandate during the season is this from the National Babe Ruth league website. “No-Contact/No-Handshake” Policy
Babe Ruth League is recommending a precautionary “no-contact, no-handshake policy” to be observed at every level of the organization until further notice. This includes all physical contact and extends to customary game-related activities, such as pre-game coaches’ handshakes, umpire-coach introductions, and post-game handshakes between members of opposing teams. Instead, staff, players and coaches should use verbal queues, such as tipping of the cap or saying, “good game” without shaking hands, high-fiving or fist-bumping.
11. Picture Day: Our date and schedule for picture day remains the same, Saturday May 16th.
12. The Brewer Game: The league will confirm this event once the Brewers confirm their schedule.
13. Further Notices: We will update you as soon as we need to. Check the website often. Watch for emails and Facebook posts, feel free to contact us as you see fit vai email. Sign up for text alerts or get on our email list. But let's not clutter up the Facebook page with rumors and posts that are not helpful as we move forward collectively as a league.
Thanks everyone for being understanding and working with us. We are trying our best to be proactive and work through a lot of this stuff on the front end.
Thanks,
WPYB Board of Directors
