Rebels Hold Team Meeting

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon at Average Joe’s last week, except for the lonely man yelling at the horse races on the TV in the corner, just the atmosphere that Rebels management and players needed to run a smooth and effective meeting.

First item on the agenda was to determine who was coming back to the Rebels in 2010 and if need be, who to recruit for the upcoming season. “We have someone in mind” said General Manager Kevin Reinholt “but we need to wait until this player’s contract expires with his current team before we proceed with talks.” Although the Rebels management won’t confirm who this player is, it was mentioned that this player has made it known he was filing for free agency in the off season due to a riff in the dugout of his current team. 

The great news is that 15 of the current Rebels have confirmed they will be back in a full-time capacity for 2010 and with a roster limitation of 18 proposed by the league, it gives the Rebels very little wiggle room to add anymore players.

Players and coaches also voted on running the Ryley Sports Days Tournament again in 2010 on the June 18 – 20th weekend in Ryley. The biggest change to the tournament will be making the tournament a wood bat tournament. The decision was made under the consensus of “wood bats make for a better game”. The Rebels also talked about hosting a Slo-Pitch tournament in conjunction with the baseball tournament although it has not been confirmed yet. The always exciting Sports Days dance will return and if last year was any indication should once again be a blast for all. 

Also discussed was the Ryley Centennial Baseball Tournament which will be held in conjunction with the Village of Ryley’s Centennial Celebration, July 16 – 18th. The plan is to hold baseball games on the Saturday of the event that will hopefully include some of the players from previous years who played with either the old Ryley Rebels or other PBL teams, that may still be in the area. 

“I think we would be looking at having maybe 4 teams and each play a couple of games” said Kris Kushnerick “nothing too serious.” 

The event is setting up to be a great event with a block party happening on the Friday night, baseball, slopitch, fireworks, dance and a social on the Saturday which will be headlined by Duane Steele and Hurricane Hill.

The Rebels also decided on a second set of uniforms at the meeting for the 2010 season. “It is pretty sad when in a 6 team league, 2 teams have the exact same uniforms” said Kushnerick “It is almost as bad as having an 8 team league with two teams having the same name.” (Reference to the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the now defunct Ottawa Rough Riders of the CFL). The team decided to go with a uniform scheme similar to that of the Kansas City Royals’ black jerseys.

If the meeting was any indication, the Rebels will have a busy 2010 season with public appearances, events, practices, tournaments and of course the quest for the 2010 Powerline Baseball League Championship.

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Kris Kushnerick