February 2, 2012
Upcoming registration dates are Saturday, February 4th, 1-3pm in the Cascade High School Cafeteria and Friday, February 10th, 6-8pm in the common area/foyer as you enter the new gymnasium. Tryout dates have been set for Saturday February 18th and Saturday February 25th. Ages 8-10 tryout between 10am and noon, followed by ages 11 & 12 from noon to 2pm.
February 1, 2012
If you have not had a chance to sign up yet, registrations sessions will be held on Saturday, February 4, 1-3pm and Friday, February 10 from 6-8pm. They will also be accepted at the upcoming tryout sessions at the Cascade complex. Teams will begin forming shortly after the last tryout sessions. Coaches will be approved and begin contacting their players and setting practice times. Remember, inpracdividual teams and coaches have a variety of scheduling requirements so it is common for some teams to begin earlier than others.
The upper level teams usually have games scheduled earliest, so these teams generally must begin practicing first. AA Minor teams begin playing a little later, followed by T-Ball which is usually much more enjoyable for the kids as the weather begins to improve. It's likely that you will see your share of cold, wet weather no matter what (this is Oregon, after all), but since we play all AA Minor and T-Ball games here at the complex, we have plenty of time to play the games. The more we can avoid wet rain and enjoy warm sunshine the better for everyone, especially the little ones.
Although both are very important, the younger kids learn best through "hands on" coaching, while the older kids begin progressing through playing more competitive games. This is why we usually schedule the older kids to play more games than the younger ones. If you have coached, played or watched T-Ball, you don't need to be told that a 20-game T-Ball season would be a disaster.
Baseball and Softball are great sports to play and watch. For kids to learn how to play these sports and develop skills, the most important factor is that it must be fun. No matter how much time and effort we spend coaching and playing, kids will quit at the first opportunity if it's not fun. If we begin here, kids will find themselves learning discipline, courage, teamwork, leadership and, yes, how to play the game. But it all begins with fun, and that's not such a bad thing.
