Thank you for your interest in the Lakeville North Youth Traveling Baseball program. Each year the program continues to grow, we are striving to maximize the number of youth trying out for the North program. Please visit the other areas of the LBA web site to find information on open gyms, coaching opportunities, and other general information that will help you to prepare your youth for the upcoming season.

INTRODUCTION
This year age groups 9U – 15U comprise our Lakeville North Youth Travel Program. There will be one AA team for 9U and  a mix of AAA, AA, and A teams at 10U-15U these age levels, based upon youth participation. All traveling teams belong to the Metro Baseball League (www.mbl.bz). LBA TRAVEL HANDBOOK
                                                                                                                               

IMPORTANT 2024 DATES:

January  - Travel registration opens

February 1st - Virtual parent meeting: 6:30-8:00 PM

February 16th - Travel registration closes

March 2nd - March 9 - Travel Tryouts conducted

March  TBD - Virtual Travel Coaches Meeting 7:30-8:30 PM 

 April TBD- Coaches Information: The Equipment Handout is scheduled for Saturday, April TBD at 2-3 pm at Quigley Field.

April 15th - MBL League Play Opens

April 29th - Picture Day

April-June - League Games & Tournament Play 

May 13th - Travel Night in Elko. North vs South HS game

June TBD - All Star Festival at King Park 

July - League Playoffs

• AAA - July TBD
• AA -  July 7th
• A - July 7th

July - State Tournaments (optional)

July 31-Aug 4th - August Classic

REGISTRATION
Registration will be offered (Date TBD) and only a non-refundable $70 tryout fee will be assessed at this time.  There will be no late registrations, as our tryout times, facilities, and uniform process are affected by late registrants.  Players that would like to tryout for a travel team be sure to register in the Online Registration for Traveling Program Section.

TRAVELING AGE RESTRICTIONS:
The team (age level) for which a player is eligible is the same as the player's age on that birthday cutoff date (April 30th), or grade they are in. A player cannot “play up” (i.e., play on a team older than his/her age level or grade level) unless he/she has the permission of the Traveling Baseball Director. A player cannot “play down” (i.e., play on a team younger than his/her age level) for any reason, per the state and national governing organizations. A copy of the child's birth certificate should be supplied to the head coach at the first parent/coach preseason meeting. We strongly encourage the baseball players to play with their grade if age restrictions allow.

FOR 9's & 10's ONLY - IMPORTANT
If you have a 3rd or 4th grade child and his 9th/10th birthday is after April 30th, the registration system may not let you register because of the MBL cutoff. We encourage players to play with their grade and all 3rd/4th grade students that will be 9/10 or younger by the age cutoff are eligible to play traveling at that age level. If this is the case with your player, please email Bella Lepinski at bella.lepinski@lakevillebaseball.org to get your child registered at the right age level.

TEAM FORMATION AND STRUCTURE

• Parents will have the ability to request their baseball athlete play at a specific level if that matches their family commitment or player development. For instance, if a family wants the highest level for their child to be AA or A, they can request that prior to tryouts.

‘AAA’ – This is the most competitive traveling team and will play in 3 tournaments. Based on trying to put players in the best possible position to succeed, some age levels may not have a AAA team.
‘AA’ - This is a competitive traveling team and will play in 3 tournaments. The number of ‘AA’ teams will vary at each age group. Some age groups may not have a ‘AA’ team.
‘A’ –We are expecting all age groups will be able to form an ‘A’ level traveling team. A Teams will play in 3 tournaments and have the option to play in additional tournaments.  Parents should request their child to play at this level if they don’t want to compete at the ‘AA’/’AAA’ levels.
Anyone who does not make a travel team will NOT automatically be registered for a House team. If you have been playing "House" and/or do not wish to try out for traveling, please register for the age appropriate House team.

All items below are assuming that we have volunteers to fulfill the role of coaches at our various age groups. If we do not have a coach that is willing to volunteer, we will not have a traveling team at that age/level.

9's
The goal is to have at least one team at this age.  The 9's team(s) will allows those who plan to play travel at 10's to get some experience playing travel baseball. There is a possibility that we will not have enough participants or needed skill levels among the participants. If this should occur we may combine north and south players to make a team or explore other alternatives.

• 9's teams will participate in the Metro Baseball League and only 2 weekend tournaments and  as a result the registration fee will be slightly less than 10's thru 15's travel players.

10-14's
Depending on number of participants and skill level of the players will factor into the level of play selected for the teams. The levels of play (AAA/AA/A) may not have a team or more than one team at a level. These teams will participate in the Metro Baseball League (MBL) and 3 weekend tournaments.

15's
We will always have attempt to have at least a AAA team and a AA team at these age levels. Historically, these teams consist of players from the 9A and 9B programs within the high school program. Our goal is to have a paid high school coach for the AAA team at this age level so that the principles learned during the high school season are carried through in the summer. If the parents from the AA team at this level would like to have a paid coach, they can certainly pool together the funds to pay for this and LBA will attempt to help them find a qualified candidate.

Based on the desire to place teams in a division in which they will have the best possible chance for success and numbers of kids trying out, there may be instances in which South does not field a AAA or AA team at an age level. We have had situations in which teams have won only 1 or 2 games or less in an entire year and that is not a great deal of fun for anyone, particularly the kids. In addition to losing games continuously, many of these games appear to be 10 run rule games in which players on the team only get 1 or 2 at bats during a shortened game. Playing at the wrong level does not help development of players and is not the type of experience we want to have our players involved in.