Minor Baseball Associations Begin Cancelling Seasons
Posted April 1, 2020
It is a day that people more than likely saw coming and at the same time were wishing would never come. The day that minor baseball associations started to move from postponing/suspending portions of their seasons to cancelling their seasons. Recently the Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association and Red Deer Minor Baseball officially cancelled their house league seasons.
In Red Deer, the City closed recreation facilities until June 30th. In Strathcona County, recreation facilities had their closures extended to June 15. Both decisions were a result of guidelines set in place by the province’s top medical staff and local municipal governments to help flatten the curve in the Covid-19 pandemic that has brought us to a standstill. With a level of uncertainty moving forward and a perception that our communities have a long ways to go before we are fully recovered, the painful decision to cancel baseball was made by volunteer boards who are passionate about baseball. House league seasons, especially for the younger ages, run solely in the months of May and June.
The SPMBA board met on Tuesday night to unanimously vote in favour of cancelling their Community League season which encompasses 5U (Blast Ball), 7U (Rally Cap), 9U, 11U, 13U, 15U and 18U levels of baseball. On Saturday March 28, Red Deer Minor Baseball announced a similar tough decision. Hundreds of young baseball players will be effected by the decision yet it is a decision that everyone can understand. It is likely that baseball in the province will see more of these cancellations over the next few days and weeks.
Both associations turned their immediate attention to coming up with an alternative and building new programming once the bans and closures in their communities are lifted. There are too many young baseball players who are passionate for the game for associations not to put forward the effort to come up with a modified season later in the spring, summer or even in the fall.
Rep Baseball
Baseball associations, coaches, players and parents are patiently, albeit nervously, awaiting new announcements and decisions from Baseball Alberta and Baseball Canada regarding the status of rep baseball for 2020. Will the season start later in the year? Does that mean it will run later into the fall? What about Provincials, Westerns and National Championships? All of these questions and many more are being asked of baseball associations and Baseball Alberta itself.
It is expected that Baseball Canada and the governing provincial bodies such as Baseball Alberta will have their next update on April 6th. While it is unclear if a final decision for the season will be made at this time, we might be get to hear the processes in place, deadlines and perhaps potential plans in place to address many of the questions.
Some local baseball players have already seen some heartbreak when their collegiate seasons were cancelled a couple of weeks ago. It would be a shame to see graduating 18U players miss out on an opportunity for one more season of minor baseball as well. In the meantime all we can do is stay safe, stay home and help flatten the curve while we await a level of normal in our lives again.
Below you can read the notices from both the Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association and Red Deer Minor Baseball below:
Red Deer Minor Baseball Association (March 28, 2020):
The City of Red Deer has made the difficult decision to include all outdoor recreation facilities in the previously announced indoor recreation facilities closures. The City of Red Deer has announced all baseball diamonds will be closed until June 30th, 2020 at the earliest. Given the duration of this closure and knowing it encompasses the entire Rec / House League season, RDMBA is cancelling our May - June Rec / House League season and issuing full refunds. This includes T-Ball, Rally Cap, Rookie (9U), 11U A, 13U A, 15U A and 18U A. We will begin issuing refunds today, and have them completed as soon as possible. Should your payment have been made by credit card it will be reversed and returned back to your credit card. If you registered your player using cash or cheque, you will receive your refund by cheque in the mail. This method of refund will take a bit longer, please be patient, we will do our best to get this to you as soon as possible. If your mailing address has changed or is different from what we would have on file please send us an email with your correct mailing address. info@reddeerminorbaseball.com
Should this situation improve, and it becomes possible to create a modified Rec / House League season further into the summer / fall, we will do our very best to provide some level of baseball for our many disappointed players. If this opportunity presents itself, we will create a new online registration platform at that time and those that wish to register, can then do so. We will not use your current registration as a credit towards that as it is still very uncertain.
In regards to our Rep / AA and AAA Competitive season, we simply don’t have any further information at this time. Baseball Alberta is hopeful for a late start or modified season, but they are also at the mercy of this virus and its everchanging timeline. We will share all pertinent information with you as it becomes available to us.
For all 13U and 11U players that were participating in AAA / AA evaluations when the closures began, we hope to have more information in the coming weeks. We will relay information and any decisions made with you at that time.
As far as NCCP Coach Clinics and NUCP Umpire Clinics they are all cancelled until further notice. Baseball Canada is working on trying to offer these clinics in online versions and once we have more information, we will make that available to you.
We understand this doesn’t provide definitive dates or answers to some of your questions, however, we appreciate the emails and phone calls to our office remaining at a minimum as we simply don’t have anymore information than we are providing to you today.
Stay safe and healthy our RDMBA families, we look forward to the day we are all on the diamonds again…
Thank you
RDMBA
Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association (April 1, 2020):
Good evening,
I hope everyone is staying healthy and finding creative ways to stay busy these days.
In light of Strathcona County’s decision to close all indoor/outdoor recreational facilities until June 15th or until further notice the board of directions held another emergency meeting this evening.
In light of this new information, the board unanimously voted in favour of cancelling the 2020 Community League Season. This decision was not made lightly by any means but with so much uncertainty going forward it was felt it was the prudent thing to do at this point.
This does not include the Rep Program as of now as that season runs longer and we will ultimately be guided by Baseball Alberta and Baseball Canada in this regard.
SPMBA has decided to refund all our Community League Families 100 percent of their cost, including administrative fees with credit cards and TeamSnap. Yes, this will cost the association funds but is the right thing to do for our families.
Refunds will begin tomorrow. If you made your payment by credit card please watch your statements for a refund as TeamSnap does not notify you in this regard. If you paid by etransfer please allow 2-3 business days to receive a transfer back to the email address provided.
It is our full intention to run some Community League programming at all levels in the summer and fall. Our team will be working on several ideas on how that might look so please keep that in mind. This will be a separate registration process as again we want to get your money back to you now.
For those players looking at ways to stay active in the coming weeks, please keep an eye on our website for ideas from our technical director Jared Lovie.
I want to thank you all for your patience and understanding as we navigate our way through this pandemic. Remember you’re not stuck at home… you’re safe at home.
All the best,
Darren Anderson
President – SPMBA
