News

Field Work Day, March 6th

Parents, players, and fans…come out and join us for this year’s Field Work Day. Give a hand in helping make our diamonds ready for the 2010 season.

Date: Saturday, March 6th
Time: 8:00am Start
Location: Valley Oak Park (the main ball fields)
What to bring: Yourself + 1 more, your favorite tool (shovel, hard-tooth rake, etc.), and a smile
What we’ll provide: Project guidance, The Heavy Equipment, doughnuts & coffee, a smile, and a Thank You!

This year we need to continue the strong parent participation that we have seen in years past, plus some. This same Saturday, we have the District 5 required Safety Clinic for the league and the Team Parent Meeting. Plus, many of the teams that have been rained out of most of their practices will likely be trying to get in some practice this morning too. We’ll need as many parents as we can get to step up and cover for the managers, coaches, and team parents helping our children in other ways.

We encourage you to bring your players too. I’ve brought my son every year to help out. I feel it has resulted in him having an increased sense of pride for the fields he plays on, and he looks forward to it each year. Well, it could be the doughnuts too. He has even come up with a doughnut rule for the kids. Telling his T-Ball sister when she said she wanted to go get a doughnut, “You have to work an hour to get a doughnut, two hours for two, and so on and so forth.”

Update 3/5/10:

Looks like the weather will cooperate with us tomorrow.  For those that like to plan ahead, the following is a short list of expected projects. Please take a look and let us know when you come if there is a project that fits well with your skills or interest.

• Batting Cage – level soil and existing DG.  Fill new area with new DG and compact as needed.  Install one sleeve in new concrete for cage frame.  Clean existing cage area (weeds, debris, etc.).
• Red bleachers (new) — paint (prime) new boards for new bleachers and install on frames.  Install new skids on frames.  Mark with ‘caution’ tape to prevent usage.
• Remove large debris from existing path areas.
• Power wash around snack bar.
• Clean BBQ.
• Work on Blue diamond infield (cut lines, remove sod, add infield mix)
• Add infield mix to White.
• Clean construction debris from all areas.
• Clean parking lot of ALL soil materials.
• Frame ‘new’ mounds for blue and red.  Add clay mix and compact, move rubbers.

Looking forward to seeing all of you there!

Directory Advertising Deadline Approaching…Fast

Attention Business Owners AND Parents! Yes, there is an opportunity in here for you too parents.

Your opportunity to reserve a directory ad spot ends this week, Sunday, March 7th.

The Arden Little League directory is a hot spot of activity during the season. From parents scrambling to find the manager’s phone number to trying to line up pick-up games after the season this directory gets a lot of attention. It’s a valuable location for an ad to promote your business!

Directory Ad Options:

• footer ($75)
• 1/2 page ($150)
• full page ad ($250)

Plus, this is the part for parents, this year we’re also offering parent driven encouragement ads for your player, team, or both. These ads can be at the bottom of your player’s team roster page and say something like “Have a Great Season Johnny, Love Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa!” or “Go Orioles! – the Ripken Family”. These ads are only $75 and will be first come first serve to get your ad on your player’s team page. We can only have one per page, so act quickly.

To learn more, please contact Patrick O’Donnell or John Hartman.

Scorekeeper Clinic on March 12th

The 2010 Scorekeeper Clinic will be held on Friday, March 12th at the Arden Park Recreation and Park District, Community Center Room A, 1000 La Sierra Drive at 7:00 p.m. (clinic runs approximately 60-90 minutes).

This clinic is for new scorekeepers and those who may want a refresher course before the season begins! All volunteers who are going to act as scorekeepers should attend this clinic. There is no charge to attend. You may want to bring pencil and paper to take notes.

Team Parent Meeting, March 6th

Calling all team parents. New and seasoned team parents are asked to attend the league-wide team parent meeting this coming Saturday, March 6th. You will learn more about the coming season, schedules, snack bar duties, Opening Day, pictures, pancake breakfast, and more. Plus, collect the materials you’ll need to help your team have a successful season.

Date: Saturday, March 6th
Time: 11:00am
Location: Coyle Clubhouse (room above snackbar at Valley Oak Park)

Visit our Team Parent page for more…

Mandatory Safety Clinic on March 6th

The 2010 Safety Clinic will be held on March 6th at the Magic Circle Theater in Roseville. This clinic must be attended by managers & coaches and meets the necessary ASAP Requirements as set forth by Little League Baseball, Inc.

7:30 a.m. – Registration
8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (approx)

Magic Circle Theatre
241 Vernon Street
Roseville, CA 95678
(916) 782-1777

View flyer (.pdf)

Game Schedules Posted

They’re here! The all important game schedules have been published for T-ball, Farm, Minors, and Majors Divisions. We have also included a complete schedule for all games being held at Valley Oak Park.

Mark your calendars early this year and don’t miss a single game.

• T-Ball Schedule
• Farm Schedule
• Minors Schedule
• Majors Schedule
• Valley Oak Schedule

Thank you to Clayton Smith, Vice President, and the league Division Directors for the special effort this year to deliver these game schedules weeks ahead of the season start.

Umpire Training

All umpires, and those interested in umpiring, are expected to attend the Umpire Training on February 27th or 28th. Provided by District 5 umpire Ken Petersen, this is a great opportunity to learn from the expert.

Managers & Coaches: As noted in the published Expectations for Coaches the league requests:

Each manager is expected to provide an adult umpire (manager, coach or parent) for a minimum of two games per season in a division outside his or her own. Each adult umpire is expected to attend a minimum of one training class. See below for date/times.

Umpire Training Classes:

• Location: Valley Oak Park – Meet near the Red diamond
• 2/27/10 @ 8:00 – 10:00am
• 2/28/10 @ 4:00 – 6:00pm

Want to be an Umpire?

Arden Little League is actively recruiting Adult and Youth umpires for the Minor and Major divisions.

For the adults it is a great way to stay involved with the kids, and for the youth umpires it is a great way to earn some extra money and have fun at the same time. Youth umpires receive the following each game they umpire:

• $15 for umpiring behind the plate
• $10 for umpiring the bases

To sign-up or for more information, please contact:

Craig Hegland
Umpire Coordinator
craighegland@yahoo.com

Tryouts Rained Out! – Postponed until Sunday

Tryouts moved to Sunday, February 7th!

After review of the fields and the continued pending rain, the decision has been made to cancel tryouts for today.

Farm, Minor, Majors, and Juniors will all tryout tomorrow at the same posted times. Please note, contrary to yesterday’s notice, Farm and Juniors are asked to come to tryouts tomorrow.

Important: Please wear cleats and bring tennis shoes.

It appears the Red diamond will very likely be too wet for use tomorrow, so we will move over to the Blue diamond (the field in the back left corner of the park) or the parking lot area nearest the blue diamond. Yes, you read right, we will hold tryouts in the parking lot if Blue is too wet. Bring your tennis shoes just in case.

Parents are asked to please park nearest to the Red diamond as you can. We know that the lot will fill up, but we’d like to leave as much room as possible in the back left corner of the parking lot (near the Blue Diamond) as we can for potential use.

We’ll see you tomorrow.

Tryouts and Rain Are Not a Good Mix

Looking ahead to tomorrow, we unfortunately need to consider that the weather reports may be correct and we get more rain. You wouldn’t know it by the way today has turned out.

Tryouts for tomorrow are still planned as originally scheduled until we’re pushed off by too much rain. If we must cancel due to rain we will post a message here on the site as soon as the decision has been made.

If we do cancel, tryouts will then be re-scheduled for the next day (Sunday, Feb. 7) at the same time for Minors and Majors. Farm and Juniors tryouts will not be rescheduled. For these two divisions the division directors and managers will meet to discuss and rank the players based on previous experience.

Until then, think positively that the rain will just go around the diamonds.

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