Welcome to Sohi Little League, If you are new to our league or have been playing with us for a while, we want to provide you with an overlook to our season. Our season starts by registrations in December, followed by try-outs, practices and season starting around March and ending in June. Below is a breakdown and hopefully helps explain how we operate as a little league.
Boards of Directors- Please know we are always accepting applications to join our board. We are
ALL VOLUNTEERS that work countless hours for ALL the players and families in our league. We meet at least once a month for board meetings, those dates are always posted on our website.
www.southernhighlandsll.com. Please consider making a difference in the lives of kids and join our team!
Managers and Coaches- If you would like to Manage, Coach, or be a Team Parent in our League, you must fill out a Volunteer Application each year. We also must have a copy of a current driver license. Your SS# must be placed on the application. (Only the Safety officer & President have access to these applications, they are shredded after the season) All applications are considered, but not guaranteed to be approved. A background check is performed per Little League Rules. In addition, the board of directors must approve your application. Managers, Coaches and/or anyone on a practice field or in the dugout at any time MUST have completed a volunteer application, background check to receive a badge.
NO ONE will be permitted on the fields or in the dugout without a badge! Since all of the coaches are volunteers and some may have never coached or managed prior to our league, we conduct a Manager and Coach’s clinic each year that is mandatory for all to attend. Please know that we will assist you in any way we can to help you get involved with your child’s team. We do not expect pro coaches and managers, we can effectively show you how to run practice and have a great season with our coaches clinic. There are a few mandatory meetings for Managers, Coaches & Team Parents. All Managers and Coaches are also required to complete the Concussion Prevention, Management and Treatment Policy prior to being allowed to draft a team or be allowed on the field to coach.
Managers-this is the person in charge of the team. Coaches- the coaches are there to assist the Manager.
Team Parent- May be in the dugout if needed, and organizes and assists the Manager and Coaches as needed. The manager & coaches as needed.
Registration- We are mandated under Little League rules to get proper documentation & make sure all players are in our boundaries, which are given to us by Little League or attend a school within our boundaries. Specific proof of attendance at the school is required. There are a few exceptions, and any of those must be approved by the President of Sohi, as well as Little League, and will require further documentation as needed. All registered players MUST have three (3) proofs of residency within specific dates, registration form, birth certificate, medical form & code of conduct. ALL of these items MUST be in before the child will be allowed to play in the first game.
TryOuts-We hold two (2) tryouts on two (2) different days, players only need to attend one (1) of the tryouts. T-ball players DO NOT tryout. Returning major players that are on an assigned Major team DO NOT need to try out. All other players must try out. All children make a team. The tryout is a way for our managers and coaches to help select their teams during the draft. Our local options also state, “For a player to be eligible to be selected to any of our All-Star teams, they must attend a try-out.” What do players need for try-out? They need to have cleats (cleats are highly suggested but not mandatory) and a glove. Bats will be provided if needed. What happens if they can’t make either try-out? If a player misses both tryouts, they will be a hat pick in the draft. This means, after all the players are drafted to a team, your child’s number is placed in a hat and the next manager in line to select a player will pick a number and that player is on their team.
Draft- The draft is held after the tryouts. Divisions that are drafted are Rookies, Minors, Majors and Juniors. Only Manager & one (1) coach from each team that have been selected by the Board of Directors are allowed to attend the draft. Players and additional people are NOT allowed to attend the draft- NO EXCEPTIONS. Results of the draft are to be confidential. No child is to know when they were drafted or what round they were chosen. This is NOT for T-ball players. T-ball players are placed on teams accordingly. The Player agent will assign the players to teams. If there are special requests for kids and friends or family to play together, please notify the board member at the time of registration. We will do our best to accommodate your request; however
NOT ALL requests may be granted. Final decisions are up to the Player Agent & President. Once the draft is completed, the Managers will call the players and welcome them to their team. Practice begins shortly after. For additional rules please see our Local Options. We must follow ALL Little League Rules & Guidelines. However, each league is allowed to have Local Options, these are additional guidelines we as a Board have assigned to each division of play. These are addition guidelines to help you understand your child’s division better. These can be found on our website for your review.
Fields- Games are all played at Desert Bloom Park, unless we play inter-league games with another league, then travel may be required to other parks for a few games.
Concession Stands- We have concession stands at Desert Bloom Park. These are completely ran by our league. We rely heavily on the profits from the concession stands to help keep the cost of our registration fees low. We encourage all of your teams to purchase our team snack tickets for you’re after games snack needs. We sell them for $1.00-$3.00 each. We have a variety of items from hot dogs, pizza, drinks, snacks & candy. We operate our concession stand ourselves so you can all come to the park and enjoy your child’s game without having to work any events like some other leagues.
Fundraising- We ask families to help with a few fundraisers during the year. We will have all that information placed our website and flyers at sign ups as well. In addition, your team’s Manager & Team Mom will have the information too. Registration fees do not cover all the costs associated with running the entire league. All fundraising dollars are used allow us to cover all the necessary items that players registrations don’t cover. Conduct- Please carefully read the code of conduct that both parents & players must sign. It is very important that all of these rules are followed. We do not want to eject anyone from our fields. All these rules are to benefit the players. There is
NO smoking on any Sohi practice or playing fields.
Opening Day- This is our kick off to the season, it is filled with fun activities, picture day for your team, scrimmages, craft fair and more. Flyers will be handed out by team moms and also be placed on our website for more information. You won’t want to miss out on this fun day for the family.
End of the Season- Here is how the end of the season works for each division:
T-Ball- (league ages 4-6 years old, must play at least one year in t-ball to move up to rookies) All children will receive a trophy at the final game of the season. There are no winning teams of the division at this level, it’s a non-competitive division. They are all winners. The Player Agent will be giving out the trophies at the final game of the season.
Rookies- (league ages 5-7 years old) Rookies is an instructional division. During our season scores are recorded only for the 2nd half of the season to determine each teams seeding in the end of the season “in-house” tournament. Sohi Little League will provide a trophy to each player on the team that wins the In House Tournament. All other teams may purchase trophies for their players if they choose to do so; this is up to the Manager/Coaches/Parents.
Minors- (league ages 8-11 years old) Minors is a competitive & instructional division. All scores & pitching counts are carefully recorded and places will be determined by wins/losses/ties at the end of the regular season. It is clearly defined who is in what place per the scores. All teams that will then be a part of the “in-House” tournament. Sohi Little League will provide trophies/medal to each player on the 1st and 2nd place teams of the in-house tournament. All other teams may purchase their own trophies if they choose to do so; this is up to the Manger/ Coaches/Parents.
Major’s- (league ages 10-12 year olds) Majors is a competitive division, in which players must be selected to go into the draft by a Manager. All scores & pitching counts are carefully recorded and at the end of the regular season we have clearly defined who is in what place per the scores. Sohi Little League will provide the 1st place teams with trophies/medals at the end of the regular season.