Independence Park Work Day - January 26, 2013

MPTLL is seeking volunteers - both players and families - for some preseason field work at its Junior League diamond at Independence Park on January 26. The MP 13's and 14's have a jewel of a home field at Independence Park. But our home is in need of a little clean-up work before the 2013 season can begin.

Check back here for additional details in the days to come. In the meantime, save the date, and hopefully you can help the league and our Junior League teams by spending some time with us on the 26th.

Register Now for The Spring Season

Online registration for the spring season at Myers Park Trinity is well under way with nearly 200 players already signed up. The registration process began in December this year and will continue through February 15. Sign up now to ensure your child gets a spot in the divisions where space is limited, or to make sure you get the tryout time that fits your family's schedule. It's an easy process online and shouldn't take more than five or ten minutes.

For those preferring to register in person, walk-up sign ups will take place from 10:00-2:00 at the Randolph Park concession stand on Saturday, February 2, and throughout the first half of February in Grier Heights (details to come).

Baseball tryouts for the American League, National League and Major League will be conducted the weekend of February 23-24. Returning Major Leaguers do not need to tryout. There is no tryout for T-Ball or Softball. Junior League tryouts are scheduled for Saturday, April 13. For more dates, visit the MPTLL Calendar.

Best of MPTLL #3: Versatility

Myers Park Trinity Little League is a multifaceted youth sports organization. At its heart, it is a recreational baseball and softball league, open to all players regardless of their individual talent level. From the most experienced ballplayer to the beginner playing for the first time, there is a place for everyone in our regular season. The less experienced players may participate in one of the league's instructional divisions, while the more experienced ones may enjoy a more competitive division, complete with standings, tournaments and a rich history. Our regular recreational season is a quality league unto itself. But we are more than a "rec league."

During the summer months, Myers Park Trinity places an emphasis on the All-Star season. Our tournament teams have a long history of success, including a steady string of championship banners earned in recent years. In the last two years alone, Myers Park has won NC State Baseball Championships in each of the 10, 11 and 12-year-old age groups. But we are more than an All-Star program.

In the spring and fall seasons, our Challenge program provides an additional baseball experience and an alternative to travel ball, with a tournament schedule and an increasing emphasis on instruction and talent development, led by the new MP Academy. But there is still much more to Myers Park Trinity.

We are a softball program made up of competitive girls teams playing all over Mecklenburg County. We are a non-profit community organization, providing scholarships each season to over a hundred less-fortunate kids that would not otherwise be able to participate. We are a family of volunteers, not only maintaining a great league and outstanding facilities, but also building lifelong friendships and helping each other out when there is a need.

Such versatility by a youth sports organization is rare. Many leagues are unable to provide all of these opportunities for their families. They may exist primarily as a recreational league, and lose players wanting a more competitive experience. Or they may focus more on their Challenge or All Star programs, at the expense of their regular season league. But Myers Park Trinity is able to do both and serve the community at the same time. It is a complex task, and we are faced with more challenges each year. But the league is committed to making improvements in all areas every season so that we may continue the upward trend that began generations ago.

In case you missed it.....

Best of MPTLL #1: Community Atmosphere.

Best of MPTLL #2: Dedicated Coaches.

Best of MPTLL #2: Dedicated Coaches

Jake Wade, Harry & Bryant
Manager, 1957-Present

The eight Major League managers at Myers Park Trinity Little League have over 150 years of cumulative experience coaching their teams. The Minor League division has a few dedicated coaches of its own who return each year. The same can be said for our 13 and over MP Academy teams and some of the other areas of our league. You would be hard pressed to find many leagues in the world that can make those statements.

Myers Park Trinity is fortunate to have many parents that are willing to coach a team or help the league in some other capacity. Volunteer organizations depend on these types of valuable participants.

But being a parent with a child on the team is not a requirement for coaching at MPTLL. In our Majors division, it is the exception to the rule. Some of our longest serving coaches' children aged out of the program many years ago. Others do not yet have kids old enough to play. And some have kids who aged onto their teams after more than a decade of coaching. Volunteering to coach at Myers Park Trinity is a choice we make based on our dedication to our teams, the league and the game. We are caretakers of our teams and we strive to perpetuate the positive effects that youth baseball has had on our players for generations.

We do not coach our teams in order to create an ideal situation for our own children. We are here to stay, so we think long-term regarding what's best for our teams and the league - not just what makes our own kids have an enjoyable experience. "Daddy-ball," as it is often called, is a problem in many areas of youth sports. That is why many people have advocated for non-parent coaches. By having dedicated, full-time coaches in these divisions of play, Myers Park Trinity takes "daddy-ball" out of the equation for most of its players aged 10 and up during the regular season and all-stars. That is extremely rare these days, and it is one aspect of our league that sets us apart from so many. It is one of the fundamental reasons that MPTLL is a great league.

In case you missed it......

Best of MPTLL #1: Community Atmosphere.

Best of MPTLL #1 - Community Atmosphere

Online registration for Spring Baseball, Softball and T-Ball has begun. Not a bad time to reflect on what makes Myers Park Trinity so great. And it is great. So here are some of the best things about MPTLL, starting with....



1. Community Atmosphere. 

Whether you're at Randolph Park or Independence Park, MPTLL is a great place to spend a day at the fields. There's nothing quite like being at the ballpark on game day. It's a quiet and peaceful setting at the start of 9am batting practice, with perhaps a lingering chill in the air.  The well-manicured fields surrounding the cages are untouched apart from the work of the grounds crew and coaches to prepare them for the day ahead. The ping of bats begins to wake up the park.

A buzz of energy quickly takes over, with a couple dozen kids on each field starting the day of games simultaneously, each player full of hope for a successful day on the diamond. The parents settle in on the sidelines or head over to the concession stand with little ones for an early treat. The grounds crew can rest and enjoy the fruits of their labor - watching kids play ball.

And it continues like this into the late afternoon. On a nice day, the kids don't want to leave after their games, so the park is most full of life at midday. They can bask in the glory of a big win, or congratulate others on a job well done. They may grab lunch at the concession stand or the Burger Shack and watch their friends play. By age 12, they know almost every other player so there's always a game to watch. Or there is surely a game to be invented behind the backstop, because of course someone has a tennis ball in his bag. The young ones can just find a good spot to dig in the dirt.

The parents and coaches are happy to stay too. It's much better than the yard work or errands awaiting them. Why not stay another hour and catch up with old and new friends?

I think Jake Wade, who has coached his Harry & Bryant team since 1957, summed up the Myers Park Trinity atmosphere best: "In our league, everybody wins. Everything is good and right, as it should be. One can leave the real world and go out there and get refreshed. There are no diversions for the kids, no distractions, no drinking, drugs, smoking or cursing... just baseball."

What else can you say? This is how we spend our Saturdays. It's nothing new to MPTLL. It has been this way for over 60 years, and it will continue into the future....

Leaf Pickup Day - Saturday, December 1

Please mark your calendar and plan to volunteer some time on Saturday, December 1st for the annual MPTLL Leaf Pickup Day at Randolph Park. The festivities will begin at 9am and continue into the afternoon until the leaves are gone.

Our volunteer grounds crew does an amazing job for the kids of Myers Park Trinity, spending countless hours at our park on a year-round basis. Baseball doesn't stop for them, and they are the main reason we have the best park around. But for a project this large, they need our help. Collecting the leaves now will allow them to work on other needed projects over the winter. So please support them with at least a couple of hours of your time, hopefully more, on the 1st.

Volunteers are encouraged to bring work gloves, rakes and gas-powered leaf blowers if possible. Snow shovels and tarps also come in handy for scooping large amounts of leaves off the ground. And a pickup truck or two would be useful for transporting leaves to where they need to be gathered. Remember to mark all tools that you bring with a name so nothing gets lost.

Please join us on December 1st. I hope to see the MPTLL community in full force.

Support Our Myers Park Trinity Fall Ball Sponsors

Thanks to our MPTLL Fall Ball sponsors. Please keep them in mind and support them as they have supported us.

They are:  Leroy Fox Kitchen, Griffith Real Estate Management, T.R. Lawing Realty, JJ's Red Hots, Urban Building Group, Sunset Slush, MedChex, Clark Pediatric Dentistry, Cassidy Turley Commercial Real Estate Services, Hankins & Whittington Funeral Service, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Bell, Davis & Pitt P.A., StrikeCity and Aardvark Engineers.

Fall Ball Games Have Started

MPTLL fall baseball games began this weekend with a full slate of games on Friday and Saturday. It was great to be on the field again and the games were exciting.

Our new and improved 11-12-year-old player pitch division includes 30 returning Major League players among the four teams. The action started with a bang, with AB's R.J. Scholtus landing a 1st inning blast on top of the T-Ball storage container beyond Founders. AB's Raul Beltran went mammo twice, with a grand slam and a 2-run bomb. The late game featured HR's by CH's John Mateleinen and BS's Hayden Malchesky, also a grand slam. The park was alive both days with 9-10 player pitch and 7-8 machine pitch games being played as well.

The action continues this week with more games on Friday and Saturday. The full schedule is at www.MPTLL.org.

Final Week of Fall Registration

This is the final week of Myers Park Trinity Fall Ball registration. Go to MPTLL.org and sign up before it's too late. Registration closes August 19th.

The fall season runs from late August through late October. It's an instructional program, with the main emphasis placed on teaching fundamentals. As discussed on this blog before, Fall Ball is a relaxed, fun season with no standings or tournaments. If you need more convincing, here you go.

Baseball and Girls Softball are available at MPTLL this fall. Click here for information on the various divisions of play. This year there will be new and improved 11-12-year-old and 9-10-year-old player pitch divisions, allowing those kids to play among their own age groups. This should create a more advanced league for older players and a better learning environment for younger ones.

Sign up online today.

Myers Park 14's Southeast Regional Update

The Myers Park 14-year-old All-Stars are preparing for their fourth day at the Southeast Babe Ruth Regional Tournament in Northern Virginia. The team lost game one on Thursday 11-1 to a good San Jose, FL team, but came back to beat Manassas, VA 5-4 on Saturday to stay alive in this double-elimination tournament. Caston Rudisill pitched a complete game for MP and Tom Hay Coggins delivered a clutch 2-RBI single.

Myers Park plays South Carolina today in another elimination game at 11:00 a.m. You can tune in and follow all the action on the Myers Park Twitter page. The updated bracket is here.

UPDATE:  MP beat South Carolina 5-2 on Sunday, but lost to Alabama 12-2 on Monday morning. It was a great run by this team. The league is proud.