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22

Jun, 2020

We are going to miss watching you play!

It is with great disappointment and sadness that the STNLL Board has concluded that we will cancel the season. We have a very dedicated group that was determined to make a season happen but with the recent release of some required guidelines, we feel the game would be modified too much to make it enjoyable for the players and families of our community. Whether you agree with the guidelines or not, we would need to follow them. They are put in place to protect our kids, our community and our league. We want kids to love baseball, the guidelines would make that difficult to love.

The first guideline came out from Little League International a couple of weeks ago. The Board had a number of meetings and conversations to figure out how to make it work. Would it work for the younger divisions? Can we at least make it happen in the upper divisions? We were trying to find a way to play once the fields open to team sports. The fields are not available yet because team sports are not allowed in the Governor Newsom's Road Map to recovery. When will this happen? How do we keep this fun and something kids want to do in the future? Check out Little League International's guidelines here.

The final blow was the news of an increase in the rate of Coronavirus cases in California bringing a new face covering order. Whether you agree with the ordinance or not, it is meant to help protect our community and our league would have to participate. This would require players to wear masks on the field as there is no way to stay 6 feet apart while playing. The only recreational exceptions in the order were for individual activities were distancing can take place.

I am super proud of the group of parents dedicated to organizing Little League Baseball. When closures and shutdowns began, we were in full ramp-up mode. Fields were being scheduled, equipment and uniforms orders were ready to hit the "send" on, player evaluations were a "go", the draft was set and all the coaches were ready and excited. We decided to hit the brakes hard. Just in case the unlikely scenario of cancelling the season became reality, all expenses were immediately halted. Some expenses were already paid and required whether we had a season or not but the agility to brake hard is going to play a big role in how we will be able to refund a majority of registrations fees. Money that our families could likely really use right now. We wish we could give it all back but we had some non-refundable expenses.

The other big factor in determining our ability to refund most of the registrations fees, is the support of our sponsors. Our sponsors are AWESOME. Most have communicated to us to hold on to their money, either to role it over until next season or to help offset costs and maximize registration refunds. We have been recognizing these sponsor on our Facebook Page. Please remember their commitment to our community when you think about which businesses to support. You should see refunds come through in the next week. Thank you Sponsors!!!

We will be in touch again as we navigate the next steps in the refund and cancellation process.

Thank you for your support and patience!

Brian Bigley
President, South Tahoe National Little League