Just to give the parents and players an idea of what to expect, this is what the WBF Fall League is all about:

 

Our goal is to make our part of NYC (Whitestone, Bayside, Flushing, and surrounding areas) a place where many quality baseball players come from. I would like all of the players in the program to go on and play high school, college baseball and possibly beyond. 

 

1. This is a development program first, but we do play real competitive games. During the games the coaches will look to teach all of the players the different situations and plays in the field, on the bases and at the plate. 

 

2. All Games will only be played on the weekends and is designed to not interfere with school. We do prefer that all players do well in school since they will need to have good grades in order to be able to play sports in high school.

 

3. All players will get equal playing time. Team rosters for each team will probably have 12 to 15 players, so each player should expect to play at least 4 innings in the field. If only 12 players show for the game then each player will get 5 innings.

 

4. All players will bat in a universal batting order. If a player chooses not to bat then we just skip over to the next batter.

 

5. Pitchers are only allowed to throw 50 pitches per game regardless of age. I have heard many stories of teen aged players needing either elbow or shoulder surgury. We look to avoid this and by this point in the year many of the pitchers have already thrown 500+ pitches. The 50 pitch limit per week (we only play one game per week) will help reduce the work load on the pitchers elbows and shoulders and hopefully avoid any arm injuries.

 

6. We will enforce a no-bully policy in the program. All players are expected to act appropiately at all times or will be asked to leave the program. Our main goal is to create a safe, comfortable environment for every player.

 

7. Yes, each team is playing for a win, but it is not the priority. The purpose of this league is to have the players learn as much as possible about the game of baseball, and to provide a stress-free, low pressure environment so that the players can relax and improve their overall baseball skills and have fun in the process.

 

                                        We currently have two divisions:

 

 - Adjustable Mound (54 for 12,13u & 51 for 11,10u)/80 Wood Bat with leading division - for the older more experienced players (10, 11, 12 and 13 yr olds). We don't really care about age, it is all about where the players will be more comfortable. We do know that some of my younger players will be able to play up in this division. We will use all baseball rules including leading and drop third strike. Pitchers will learn about holding runners on and catchers will need to learn how to control the running game. The earlier the players learn this the better players they will become. Also we want the players to start using the wooden bats to prepare the players for high school ball and eventually playing on a 60/90 field.

 

 - 46/60 division - for the younger, less experienced players (6,7,8,9, and beginner players). Once again it is not based on the age, but on playing level of the players. In this division it will be more developmental than the 54/80 division and we will look to improve the basic baseball skills of the players so they can eventually graduate to the 54/80 division. These players may be asked to play up in the (51 or 54/80 division if we are short players on a 51 or 54/80 team. We do forsee that some of the older players in this division may be moved up to the 51 or 54/80 when they are ready.

 

9. There is a small fee $70 for the fall season. This fee will cover insurance, uniform and ump fees for the WBF Fall Season. We have recently upgraded our insurance policy to better protect the players and coaches, will be upgraded the uniforms and continue to use the best umpires so we had to increase the price more that we wanted to due to these additional costs.

 

10. The coaches that volunteer provide this service because we also love the game of baseball and want to share it with their own children and as many other players as possible.

 

If you have any questions you can email me directly (jtc_johng@yahoo.com) or you can use the Contact tab.

 

Remember that this site is not only for the parents, but for the players as well. I know most of them go on the internet already and should start using the website to keep track of their teams progress.

 

We will be looking to create the most competitive rosters so that each game is a well played, close game where both teams can enjoy the game and are in an environment where they can relax, learn and improve.