Hello HHMBA Families,

We are very hopeful that we will be able to offer a program to both our House League and Travel programs this summer, despite the current Provincial Stay At Home order.  On May 20th, Premier Ford will be announcing the plans moving forward and we are hopeful that this will include our players being allowed on the diamonds, to return to the training portion of returning to baseball.

What are we doing to be ready?

Our co-op student, Ryan, is busy in the community hanging visual reminders for our players to ensure that they set up their "homebase" at 6 foot intervals.  Players will need to add a lawnchair to their equipment for games, which will allow the players to keep their belongings separated from their team mates.  

Our umpires are involved in virtual trainings for their umpiring credentials for the upcoming season.  Level One and Two umpires are completing their modules on the defense, while our Level Three umpires are attending Canada-wide Superclinics.  Our men and ladies in blue will be ready to start their season when we get the ok to move forward.

Our equipment manager has begun putting together house league equipment bags, so we will be able to start the distribution process when we get the ok.  Our co-op student has also been busy preparing PPE bags for each House League team, which are ready to be distributed as well.  Thank you to Canadian Tire and Superior Glove who made product donations towards these kits.

Our wonderful house league sponsors have once again stepped forward to pledge that they will support our league once again this year.  Even in these difficult times, they wanted to help us ensure that our players will be on the field this season.

Our Director of Logistics and Planning has created a matrix of what diamonds we will need this summer and has secured what was necessary for our season to move forward.

Where do we go from here?

As soon as the Provincial government makes an announcement that we can return to sport, we are ready to move forward. 

Our Travel teams have a season of Covid-ball under their belts.  Travel teams will Return to Train in group sizes prescribed by Baseball Ontario.  We are anticipating the same restrictions as in 2020, where teams were allowed to practice in groups of up to 10 people in Red, and then move to game play in Orange.  Travel teams will be involved in "Bubble play," where they will play in loops of 3-4 teams, not exceeding 50 players.  Baseball Ontario has already released that there will be no tournament play this season.

For our House League program, as soon as we get the go-ahead, the Executive will release the proposed schedule for the 2021 season and the accompanying fees.  Our registered players will be contacted with this information and asked to provide information for payment for the season.  There will be a short-turn-around for this stage, as we want to get on the diamonds as soon as we can.  Our House League Directors will be busy at this point, connecting with coaches, drafting teams and dispearsing equipment and PPE to get our players on the fields.  Our Director of Logistics will be finalizing schedules and sharing this information with families and coaches.

As you can see there are many moving parts to getting our season started and we cannot move forward with announcing our plans until we receive further information from the various governing bodies from the Province.  

We are doing our best to be transparent with all of our invested partners, parents, players, umpires, sponsors and community partners.  We will continue to communicate information as it comes available. 

Please refer to our previous post on our website at hhmba.ca, "House League Registration Update,"  where we provided information about the look of the HL program for the 2021 season.

If you have any questions that were not addressed in this post, please reach out to info@hhmba.ca and your email will be forwarded to the appropriate member of our Executive.  

Yours in baseball,

Halton Hills Minor Baseball Executive

The Ontario government has announced that as of 12:01 am, Saturday April 3rd, the province is moving back to lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result of this lockdown for the next four weeks, Baseball Ontario is suspending all in-person organized baseball activities both indoor and outdoor as of Saturday, April 3, 2021.  In turn, the HHMBA will be following these restrictions and as long as the government lockdown continues, no such activity will be permitted.

The HHMBA and Baseball Ontario will continue to monitor the situation and advise of any changes as they develop.

The HHMBA is committed to offering a meaningful season to both our House League and Travel programs during the 2021 season.  The next 4 weeks will allow us to continue to prepare for the upcoming season and plan accordingly.  

For more information, please do not hesitate to reach out to info@hhmba.ca.  

We understand that some families are balancing schedules for multiple children or multiple sports and we have been asked, "What are the nights of play?" Hope that this helps!

5U (2016, 2017) Mondays

7U (2014, 2015) Acton-Tuesdays, Georgetown-Wednesdays

9U (2012, 2013) Tues/Thurs/Sat (1 game, 1 practice per week)

11U (2010, 2011) Wed/Thurs (1 game and 1 practice per week)

13U (2008, 2009) Mon/Tues (1 game and 1 practice per week)

15U (2006, 2007) Mon/Thurs (1 game and 1 practice per week)

18U (2003, 2004, 2005) Home games Tuesdays (*this division plays in an interlocking loop with other communities so there is some travel and other nights of play).

For more information, please reach out to info@hhmba.ca and you will be connected with the appropriate Director of House League.

Is your son or daughter born in 2014? If so, please read our updated article on the 2014 development program for the 2021 baseball season.

https://www.hhmba.ca/development-overview

Please see the updated guidance provided by Baseball Ontario regarding bats for years 2021 and 2022. 

Please reach out to your HHMBA executive member if you have any questions.

Thank you to all of the families who have registered for the upcoming house league season.  We are receiving emails from families, looking for more information about the upcoming season, so we though that we would take this opportunity to let you know, what we know.

Why no money?  At this time, we do not know when our season will be permitted to start.  Halton Region would need to be in orange, yellow or green zones to be able to begin game play.  At this time, our region is in the Red Zone, which means that game play is not allowed and groups of 10 individuals can engage in "training."  Once we move into the orange zone, we will be prepared to move quickly into league play and at that time, we will be asking families to complete their registrations by paying their fees.

Will the house league program look the same?  Under the current Provincial Measures, our teams will be placed into "bubbles" of 50 players or less and will remain in these bubbles for the entire season. We could have more than one bubble in each age group, but the teams will not interact with teams from another bubble, despite being of the same age group.  Bubbled teams will engage in regular league play, with weekly games.  The current provincial mandate is that these bubbles have a maximum of 50 players in each.  Coaching staff and game officials are above the 50 people cap.  

What equipment will I need to supply for my player?  Due to Covid protocols, there will be no sharing of equipment.  Players will need to purchase their own bat, glove, helmet, jock/jill and an individual bottle of handsanitizer.  The HHMBA will provide players with their uniform and hat.  Closed toed shoes are mandatory, but running shoes are quite acceptable.  We also require each player to have a lawn chair that is used as their "home base."  Players will ensure that their chairs are where they store their equipment, waterbottles, handsanitizer, etc.  

How does the "no sharing equipment" affect the back catching role?  Each house league team will be provided 2 sets of catching equipment.  This means, each team will need to appoint two players to be that catcher that night.  These 2 players will be the only players who can catch during the game.  At the completion of the game, the coach will ensure that the equipment is returned to the game bag and then isolate the equipment until the following week's game.  The same rules will apply to the "pitching" role at U9, where each team will be provided 2 pitching helmets and 2 players will hold this role during the game.  At the completion of the game, the coach will ensure that the equipment is returned to the game bag and then isolate the equipment until the following week's game. 

Where can I find the Return to Train Documents?  The HHMBA has adopted all of the Ontario Baseball Association's Return to Play guidelines.  Parents are encouraged to visit the OBA's ONDeck app at https://ondeck.baseballontario.com/page/2316/for-participants-parents-guardians.   The HHMBA also has an approved Emergency Response Plan, that has been vetted through the Town of Halton Hills and the Region of Halton.

I have more questions, who should I speak to?  The HHMBA Executive is made up of volunteers who are committed to offer recreational baseball to the youth in Halton Hills.  The best method to get an answer is to send an email to info@hhmba.ca.  Our Director of Communication responds to emails and redirects them to the appropriate member of the Executive.  

Hey Eagles families,  our registration is now open for our Travel Teams, as well as our house league registrations.  Click on the above registration button and drop down to Travel or House League option.

Let's Go Eagles!!

Our House League registration is open and ready for registration. https://hhmba.sportngin.com/register/form/379640369

Registration is going to be a bit different this season, we are providing families with the projected nights of play and asking them to register for the division that their child would belong to.

At this time, we are NOT asking for any payment. As COVID-19 is still very much a part of our daily lives, at this time, we are asking families to register for the upcoming season, but not to provide any payment information. We are very confident that we are going to be able to offer a program this season, but at this time we cannot announce the start date or finish date of the season. We continue to work with the Region of Halton Health Department to determine what the 2021 House League season will look like.

Once we have further information about the program that we are going to offer and the fees that are to be associated with it, we will then ask registered families to confirm their registrations and provide payment for the upcoming year.

If you have any questions about our programs, please reach out to our Directors of House League at jason.tomlinson@hhmba.ca (U9, U7 and U5) or darcy.carr@hhmba.ca (U11, U13, U15 and U18). If you have any questions about the plans for the upcoming season, COVID-19 protocols or payment information, please reach out to info@hhmba.ca.

HHMBA has partnered with www.licensetosport.com to offer our families a great gifting opportunity,  license plate covers, which also gives back to our baseball community.  The company owners are 2 of our players' dads and they are providing $5 from each sale back to the HHMBA.

For more information, please visit their website, or reach out to them directly at Chris Robb-chris@licensetosport.com or Andrew Murison-andrew@licensetosport.com.  

Thank you in advance for your support.

Unfortunately with Halton moving to "Red" on Monday November 16, 2020, we have received notification from Baseball Ontario that our in person training sessions, that take place in communities other than Halton,  must be put on hold until the situation changes. This change is effective immediately.

The health and safety of our players, their families and our coaches continue to be at the top of our minds.  Please stay safe.

Once again Melissa from Therrien Accounting has come to the plate, when the HHMBA needed her!  Melissa has purchased the Welcome Banner for the upcoming Santa Claus parade.  

Melissa is an incredible supporter of the HHMBA, not only purchasing the banner, but also filling the role of convener in the past.  Melissa is also a supporter of Halton Hills,  hosting many community events and being involved in the organization of the Canada Day Celebrations in Glen Williams.

Thank you again Melissa for all that you do.

The HHMBA held their Annual General Meeting on November 5, via Zoom.  The minutes are attached below.  

The HHMBA would like to thank Larry Fitzgerald and Peter Meth, whose terms were over on the Executive.  Thank you for all that you have done to ensure that our players were able to be on the diamond to play the game that they love.  

We would like to congratulate John Behara who is our new League President and welcome Scott Stubberfield and Ryan Douglas to their new roles on the Executive.

We currently are looking for two Executive members, Director of Equipment Distribution and Maintenance and Director of IT.  Interested individuals should reach out to Association President at john.behara@hhmba.ca.  

The first meeting of the 2020-21 Executive has been called for November 15 at 7:00 pm via Microsoft Teams.

The new and improved Baseball Ontario ONDeck mobile app features a Drills Library, Practice Plans, Umpires Zone, Safe Sport, Resources and more.

Access 175 drills, video and practice plans anytime, anywhere.

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Apple App Store (iOS):

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Google Play (Android):

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