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 GUIDELINES GOVERNING TRAVEL TEAMS
 

REVISED -- MAY 2006

Each season, the Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association (MLBA) will sponsor travel teams for various age levels comprised of regular baseball season participants beginning with age level 8 through age level 14.   The number of travel teams per age level will be determined by the Travel Team Committee based upon the number of participants, qualified Managers and support and interest within each age level. With sufficient interest and participation, MLBA will sponsor up to 3 teams per age level.   However, it is the recommendation of the Travel Committee based upon past experience, that only 2 teams are formed at the 13 & 14-year old age groups. Within each age group, the teams will be referred to as Blue, Gold, or White.  Each team will be deemed a travel team for a period of one (1) year from the date the teams are selected and shall run until the selection of new teams each June. The only exception to this rule shall be in those situations where a member of a travel team chooses not to register for baseball the following year.  In that situation, the player shall be deemed to have resigned from the team.  The MLBA specifically recognizes and approves the West Penn Travel Baseball Association as an available Spring (and Fall) League for MLBA Travel teams to participate in at their own choosing.  All travel team programs shall be self funding and will be under the direct jurisdiction and supervision of the Travel Team Committee and the Board of Directors of the MLBA.

SELECTION PROCESS OF MANAGERS 

Any qualified individual who is a member of the MLBA and is interested in managing a travel team must submit their request in writing to the Travel Team Committee Chairman along with his/her qualifications prior to April 1st of each year, or such alternative date so determined by the Travel Team Committee. All disinterested members of the Travel Team Committee will review all such requests and after due deliberation, recommend Managers for the current season for each travel team age group.   Such recommendations will then be presented to the Association’s Board of Directors for approval at the April Board meeting. (In the event that the recommendations are not submitted to the Board at the April meeting, they will be submitted for approval no later than the May meeting.)  If no qualified requests are received, the Travel Team Committee may institute a search for a qualified appointee or limit travel team participation within that age level.  Following selection of the individual travel teams, the appointed Managers will be responsible for development of the travel team program including tournament play. The designated Manager of each team in each age group will be responsible for coordination of all travel team requirements, including the collection of all fees associated with travel play and the selection of tournaments within each respective age level.   The Travel Team Committee in conjunction with the Board of Directors may remove any appointed Manager from such position based upon findings of misconduct.  As the travel program is viewed as a more competitive level of baseball, misconduct, as that term is used in the previous sentence, does not include decisions regarding playing time or positioning of players.  Rather, it is intended to address other acts or omissions, which would otherwise affect the health and safety of any player or place the Association in a negative light.  Any person so removed by the Travel Committee shall have the opportunity to petition the Board for reinstatement and may present evidence to the Board at said time.   

Where qualified individuals are present, the Travel Committee may attempt to rotate Managers for a specific age group to avoid having one person serve as Manager more than two consecutive years.

TOURNAMENTS

It shall be the responsibility of each travel team Manager to determine the number of tournaments entered during the Summer travel season.   It is recommended that travel teams participate in a minimum of 3-4 tournaments per travel season.   It is further recommended that teams at the 8, 9 and 10-year old age groups participate in no more than 25 games during the July travel season.  Travel teams within each age category should avoid, whenever possible, from participating in the same tournaments.    Any conflicts arising between travel teams regarding tournaments entered, which can not be resolved at that age level, will be resolved by the Chairman of the Travel Team Committee.

FEES/EQUIPMENT

All travel teams shall be self-funding as respects total costs of team play.   The MLBA shall provide support in the form of team equipment and baseballs for all travel teams.   All other costs associated with team play shall be borne directly by each respective travel team.   The fee for each participant on a travel team will be determined by the travel team Manager in conjunction with the Travel Team Committee based upon uniform costs and tournaments entered.  Unless otherwise approved by the Travel Team Committee Chairman, all teams must purchase their uniforms through MLBA.  MLBA will order and deliver uniforms for all travel team participants, with such costs to be reimbursed through fees charged each participant.   Fees will be collected by the Manager prior to tournament play.   Costs of uniforms will be paid to MLBA prior to delivery to team participants.  Any member of the Board of Directors has the right to waive the uniform fee for any player whose family is currently suffering from financial hardship.  Waiver of tournament fees shall be at the discretion of each team manager.

TRAVEL TEAM COORDINATORS

The Travel Team Committee shall appoint one of the recommended travel team managers as the Travel Team Coordinator (“Travel Coordinator”) at each age level. Each age level Travel Coordinator shall be responsible for the following: 

  1. Forming a Disinterested Player Selection Committee for that age group in accordance with MLBA Travel Guidelines and in association with the Travel Committee;
  2. Scheduling & overseeing tryouts for the Memorial Day Weekend;
  3. Obtaining player rankings or statistics from the prior season’s travel manager’s for each age group;
  4. Compiling a composite of all player evaluations submitted by the Player Selection Committee;
  5. Submitting the composite in each age group to the Travel Chairman.
  6. Selecting the travel teams with the assistance of the recommended managers – subject to player selection criteria of MLBA Travel Guidelines.

TRYOUTS

Tryouts will be one factor used in the selection of travel team players.  Tryouts will be scheduled during the Memorial Day weekend, or any other time as decided upon by the Travel committee.  (One tryout session for each age group.)  Additional tryout sessions may be held at the discretion of the Travel Committee.  This should provide proper evaluation and review of all candidates, with all candidates required to be present for a tryout.  All tryout sessions are to be coordinated with the Chairman of the Travel Team Committee. Once tryouts are scheduled, a player will have one (1) week to be evaluated in the event they cannot attend the original tryout date.   All travel team participants will be selected and teams posted on the internet at www.lebobaseball.org no later than the second Saturday in June. 

Except for the 8 year olds, all tryouts will be by invitation only.  In-house team managers will invite players from their teams for each age level to the tryout sessions. (It is suggested that each regular season manager invite those players that display above average skills in all aspects of the game.  However, any player or parent may request the opportunity to tryout at any age level.)

It will be up to the Travel Coordinator to organize and implement an appropriate tryout process for each age level provided however, that all procedures should be reviewed with the Travel Committee prior to the scheduled tryout.  During the tryouts, players will be evaluated on their ability and skill in the following areas: throwing, fielding, hitting, running and pitching (where applicable.) Players will also be evaluated based upon their attitude at the tryouts 

PLAYER SELECTION COMMITTEE/EVALUATORS

A Player Selection Committee/Evaluators comprised of at least four (4) persons shall be appointed for evaluation of all travel team participants at each age level.  Primarily this will involve managers/coaches from other age groups within the MLBA.  This committee will be comprised of the following individuals: 

  • The Manager(s) recommended for each age level, including the Travel Coordinator for each age level;

  • Four (4) volunteers who do not have candidates trying out for the team they are evaluating.

SELECTION PROCESS OF TEAM PLAYERS

  • After tryouts are concluded, all members of the Player Selection Committee shall submit each of their evaluation reports to the travel coordinator for each age group.
  • The Travel Coordinator for each age group shall then compile a composite of all evaluations submitted from the Player Selection Committee.  A copy of the composite, along with all original evaluation forms, must be submitted to one of the Co-chairs of the Travel Team Committee, within 10 days following the conclusion of travel tryouts.  Evaluation forms and/or composites are not to be released or published to any person outside of the Travel Coordinator and the Travel Committee Chairs.  Violation of this Rule may result in revocation of any recommendation by the Committee to manage a travel team.
  •  The Travel Coordinator for each age group (with the exception of the Eight’s) shall request an evaluation from the previous year travel managers ranking all of the players from that previous year’s team based upon hitting, fielding, pitching and attitude.  (Detailed statistics may be submitted in lieu of actual rankings.)  These rankings/statistics shall be used in conjunction with the Travel Tryout evaluations in selecting the teams.  It is the Committee’s opinion that performance in a prior year’s travel program offers considerable guidance for the performance of that player in the upcoming travel season and that prior year’s performance should be graded at least equally with current tryouts when selecting the current travel team.
  • Based upon the composite compiled by the Travel Coordinator for each age group, together with the recommendations/evaluation submitted by the prior seasons travel team managers, the Travel Coordinator and the recommended Travel Team Managers shall select the travel team(s) for the current season.
  • While not always possible, the Travel Committee strongly recommends attempts by all managers to elevate those players on the Gold and White team(s) who were ranked highest by their prior travel manager based upon their preceding year’s play.
  • In addition to the use of the above information in selecting the teams, selection of the travel teams by the Travel Coordinator and the recommended Travel Manager(s) may also be based upon any games viewed by the Travel Coordinator or any member of the Player Selection Committee during the current MLBA baseball season.  Again it is the Committee’s opinion that performance during games is a better indicator of overall performance than a two-hour tryout.  The Travel Coordinator for each age group will have final authority on the selection of any player.

The Blue team manager shall have first choice of all candidates in completing the Blue team roster.  After completion of the Blue team roster, the Gold team shall select candidates to complete the Gold team roster.   This process shall continue until all teams are selected based upon the number of travel teams sponsored per age group.  The Travel Coordinator, with input from the team managers at their respective age levels, shall have the discretion in establishing the team size and composition.  Where talent is viewed to be strong at a specific age level, talent may be split to create two A level travel teams.  Decisions to create dual A level teams shall be made by the Coordinator at each level in consultation with the recommended managers and the travel Committee.   It is the Travel Committee’s recommendation that teams have no fewer than 11 players and no more than 15 players.  At the 8 and 9 year old level, the Travel Committee strongly recommends that teams have no fewer than 12 players on their roster.  It should be expressly understood that no manager, in the selection of each travel team, is bound exclusively to the tryout composite or prior year rankings.  Rather, the tryout composite and prior year rankings should be used as a guide in the selection of players and managers should make every effort to act in the best interests of the players in the selection of teams. 

The travel team Manager after selection of team members will then select the coaches/ assistant coaches for the current season.

The Chairman of the Travel Team Committee must first approve any deviation from this selection rotation. The only standing exception to this selection rotation is the 8-year old age level, which may divide talent of participants equally between Travel Teams to the most practicable extent possible.  Such a division, however, is strictly up to the Managers selected at the 8-year-old level.  In the event that the managers selected at that level cannot agree, the Travel Committee shall have final authority on the division of players at this age group.                                                                     

IN HOUSE SEASON PRIORITY RULE

All in house regular season games, playoff games and all-star games take priority over any travel team game.  It is the responsibility of each Travel Team Manager to insure that this PRIORITY RULE is strictly adhered to.   This policy applies to all West Penn Travel Baseball League games as well as Spring Tournament games.  Moreover, each travel manager is required to contact a player’s in-house manager to obtain verbal consent prior to having that player pitch in a travel game during the period of time that said player’s team remains alive in the in-house playoff tournament.

PLAYER ELIGIBILITY

In 2005, USA Baseball and Little League Baseball amended their cut off dates for player eligibility from a July 31st cut off date to an April 30th cut off date.  The April 30th  date was chosen to coincide with the start of most spring seasons.  In 2005 MLBA adopted these dates for use in both in-house and travel participation.  As such, in 2006, the following ages apply to each age level:

  • 8 year olds   – Players born between May 1, 1997 and April 30, 1998
  • 9 year olds   – Players born between May 1, 1996 and April 30, 1997
  • 10 year olds – Players born between May 1, 1995 and April 30, 1996
  • 11 year olds – Players born between May 1, 1994 and April 30, 1995
  • 12 year olds – Players born between May 1, 1993 and April 30, 1994
  • 13 year olds – Players born between May 1, 1992 and April 30, 1993
  • 14 year olds – Players born between May 1, 1991 and April 30, 1992

To the extent that a player has already been participating at a level for which he would no longer qualify under these revised dates, that player may elect to continue to participate at his/her current level.  He/she is effectively “Grandfathered” in at that level.  For example, a player born May 3, 1997 may elect to continue to play in the 9 year old travel program in 2006 or he/she may elect to try out at the 8 year old program for this season.  This election/exception only applies to players who are currently on an MLBA Travel Team.    In addition, it should be noted that any player who elects to return to his age appropriate level will not be permitted to return to the older age group during the remainder of his participation in the MLBA Travel Program.  In addition, under no circumstances can a player who may currently be eligible for two age groups try out for more than one team.  Rather, by attending a tryout, each player elects to participate at said age level and may not attend any later tryout at another age group.       

AMENDMENT OF GUIDELINES

These Guidelines may be amended at any time by a majority vote of the then existing Travel Committee.  In the event of a tie, the Chairman of the Committee shall cast the deciding vote.
 

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