More Tough Decisions Being Made
Posted April 20, 2020
Add the Camrose Minor Ball Association and the Beaumont Minor Baseball Association to the list of local associations cancelling their 2020 Community League/House League seasons. It is another sad reality in the fight against the Covid-19 Pandemic that has impacted our every day lives. Both Associations, as well as every other association who have previously made these decisions, are hopefully that some sort of modified baseball season can still happen in some fashion.
On April 19, 2020 Camrose Minor Ball announced the cancellation of the season via their website with the following statement:
April 19, 2020 UPDATE - 2020 CMBA COMMUNITY/HOUSE LEAGUE SEASON CANCELLED: Good afternoon CMBA Families, I hope everyone is staying healthy and finding ways to stay busy in these trying times. Hopefully this warmer weather will make things a little easier on us all.
In response to the recent statements (seen below) released by the City of Camrose and Baseball Alberta, the CMBA Board has unanimously voted to cancel baseball for our Community Divisions for the 2020 Season. This will include 7U (Rally Cap), 9U (Rookie) and all 11U, 13U, 15U & 18U Community/House programs. Baseball Alberta has and continues to discuss "other options" regarding the community division to date, but with the extended closure to our city parks and the uncertainty of what's to come with Baseball Alberta's extended date, we felt this was a prudent decision at this time. This decision did not come lightly to the CMBA Board!!
This does not include any of the Rep Programs (AA or AAA). Being these seasons run longer, there is still a possibility that these programs may start up at some point. We will continue to stay in contact with Baseball Alberta for information regarding those programs. With that said, CMBA has decided that a final decision on the Rep Programs will not extend pass the date of June 5th regardless of the stance given by Baseball Alberta or City of Camrose. We feel by this time if no decisions have come to light we will have enough information to make a knowledgeable decision on what the future will hold for our Association in relation to the 2020 Season. Our fingers will remain crossed that we have decisive answers for you prior to that date. Anyone who may have any other questions regarding the Rep program may contact me by email at any time president@camroseball.com
Then on April 20, 2020 the Beaumont Minor Baseball Association announced on their website plans to fully refund all registrations. The announcement is found in a letter from the Beaumont Minor Baseball Board:
As you may or may not already know, Baseball Alberta has suspended the 2020 season until June 1. At that point direction will be given as to what type of season may still be had and what it would look like.
With this in mind, and the unknown of what the next few weeks will have in store for us due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BMBA has made the decision to refund all registrations and tryout fees.
This refund process will begin on May 15.
To be clear this is in no way means that BMBA is cancelling the season at this point. Our hope is that by June 1, Baseball Alberta is given the go ahead by health officials and Baseball Canada to move forward with some sort of season.
At this point we do not know what this will entail but for those players and families who are up for playing baseball through the summer and into the fall we are 100% committed to providing this opportunity and will hold a separate registration process for this when given the go ahead.
We know how important Baseball is to so many of us and are extremely disappointed in the state of our season right now but also recognize and completely understand and agree with the safety measures that have had to be put in place.
Taking the optimistic approach that we will be playing baseball this year in some form we are creating a “Development Series” that will include online video content the will provide and explain simple drills that we feel will be instrumental in reinforcing the foundation of baseball skills that will allow our players to hit the field ready to go. Our goal is for the initial instalments to include those drills that can be done in basement or garage and then progress to drills that can be done in the yard. Our hope is that as we progress we can post challenges to our players and give our parents that ability to “show off” their kids training to get better and share these videos or pictures with us so we can create a means of promoting a very positive online environment that allows us to appreciate how motivated our players are. Please refer to our online platforms (Website, Twitter, and Facebook) moving forward.
We as a Board know how special our players, coaches and parents are and intent to do whatever we can to continue to motivate everyone involved. Baseball is not dead, it will just be a little different this year. STAY TUNED…..
BMBA Board
