2021 Spring Registration Now Open
Hello Maple Valley Pony family. We hope this finds you all healthy and safe. 2020 has been, and continues to be,
very challenging. During this global pandemic, many people have lost loved
ones, lost jobs, been disconnected from family and friends, adjusted to
new patterns of shopping and dining, and adjusted to remote working and
remote schooling. We are all also learning to live with new norms of
social distancing and other health and safety protocols. And of course
those of us engaged in “essential” businesses have continued to go into
work, despite elevated risk levels, in order to provide critical goods
and services for our communities. All of these behavioral and economic
hardships have created a lot of stress, for both parents and children.
Even though the governor imposed new state-wide restrictions yesterday, we hope that things will improve in time for us to play ball next spring. As always, we remain committed to providing baseball and fastpitch programming when it is safe for our community. Maple Valley Pony recognizes the importance and value of
sports – especially to children – and wants to do our part to help in
the process of healing and returning to some sense of normalcy.
While we are opening up spring registration, at this time we are putting everyone on a waitlist (no payments yet). If we are able to have our spring season, we will then activate players from the waitlist and have you complete your payment.
Please note that as
always, the safety, health, and well-being of the players, coaches,
umpires, and fans is of primary importance to Maple Valley Pony.
And that is even more true in response to COVID-19. The Maple Valley
Pony Board has established new protocols for returning to play, and
there will be new expectations for everyone. This entire message will be emailed out to all families, so please see the document attached to that email for details of these new changes.
The Board reserves the right to adjust this document, especially as new
government directives and guidelines are released, but it should be
close to what the final protocols will be.
When we get back on the field, things will definitely be different before,
during, and after practices and games. These changes in and of themselves
could cause additional stress, especially for younger players. But we ask for your understanding and support of these necessary changes. If
you and your player can indeed support these changes, and can accept
the risk of playing baseball and being around other people, then please
do register. Registration will be open through January 10, 2021.
Please note that at the end of the registration process there is a new
required waiver and assumption of risk that includes potential exposure
to communicable diseases such as COVID-19.
Government
directives are ever-changing, but we will make the call
on whether we can have the spring season in a timely manner, probably in January.
Please see the Baseball Info and Fastpitch Info pages on our website for more details on each program.
Baseball Age Cutoffs:
For baseball, please
note that we are continuing to implement the new Pony International standard age
cutoff of August 31 on a rolling basis. For the upcoming spring season this will fully encompass the Mustang division and will
start affecting the Bronco division.
- Baseball - Shetland: birthdays between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2016.
- Baseball - Pinto: birthdays between September 1, 2012 and August 31, 2014.
- Baseball - Mustang: birthdays between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2012.
- Baseball - Bronco: birthdays between May 1, 2008 and August 31, 2010.
- Baseball - Pony: birthdays between May 1, 2006 and April 30, 2008.
- Baseball - Colt: birthdays between May 1, 2004 and April 30, 2006.
Fastpitch Age Cutoffs:
- Fastpitch - Pinto: birthdays between January 1, 2012 and August 31, 2014.
- Fastpitch - Mustang: birthdays between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011.
- Fastpitch - Bronco: birthdays between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009.
- Fastpitch - Pony: birthdays between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007.
Space is limited and roster spots will be assigned on a first-come first-served basis, so please sign up as soon as possible. We always need more Head and Assistant Coaches in all divisions, so please consider volunteering so that we have enough coaches to meet the player demand and won't have to turn away kids.
It is also critical that we get several new members for the league Board of Directors.
Anybody is certainly welcome to apply, but we would especially like to
see parents of younger children (Shetland, Pinto, and Mustang) get
involved and potentially stay involved for multiple years if possible.
Please contact me or any of the other Board members listed on our
website to learn more.
Again, we hope you
and your family are healthy and safe. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank
you for your support!
Regards,
Chris Mazza
Baseball General Manager / Player Agent
Maple Valley Pony Baseball & Fastpitch