Q: What is the registration fee? Are there other costs associated with playing baseball in Bryant?
Registration Fees
Registration fees for the Spring 2012 season have been set. If you will have only one child playing, the fee will be $65 for those playing in the T-ball division and $80 for those playing in all other divisions. For any family with 2 or more children playing, the fee will be 50% for the second child and free for the third or more child participating. Registration will be conducted at Bishop Park this year.
Example:
1 Player (T-ball Division) = $65
1 Player (All Other Divisions) = $80
2 Players within a family = 50% off, so $40 or $32.50 for t-ball.
3+ Players within a family = No additional registration fee.
Fundraiser Fees
In addition to the registration fees…the fundraiser is an additional cost. To opt out of the fundraiser, $40 per player will need to be paid at the time of registration. Candy has been chosen as the fundraiser again this year. Each player choosing to not opt-out and participate in the fundraiser will receive 2 boxes of candy to sell for $1 each. This equates to $100 for all candy bars. Each player participating in the fundraiser is expected to provide $100 back to the organization. Unsold candy is the responsibility of the player/parent participating in the fundraiser. NO CANDY MAY BE RETURNED!
Scenario 1: Participant sells all 100 candy bars for a $1. Participant brings money to organization. Participant essentially has no additional money out of pocket.
Scenario 2: Participant sells only 50 candy bars for a $1. Participant brings $50 to organization and must pay $50 out of pocket for the unsold candy bars.
Scenario 3: (Worst case scenario) Participant eats all candy or sells 0 candy bars. Participant must pay $100 out of pocket for the unsold candy bars.
Additional items to account for when preparing for costs this season:
In a joint effort with the Benton Optimist Club, a fundraiser will be held on February 3, 2011 at the Center at Bishop Park. The fundraiser will have both Travis Wood and Cliff Lee in attendance. Their agent will be one of the speakers. An additional speaker is being sought at this time. Food will be included as part of the ticket price. Tickets will be $30 per person. In addition to silent auction items, it is expected that signed baseballs and jerseys will be available; however, all of the details are still being finalized at this time. Tickets will be sold at Registration.
What can you expect after your child has been placed on a team with regard to additional costs?
Preseason tournaments, Socks, Hats, Belts, and potentially baseballs for the team.
Preseason tournament
Costs are typically $75 per team, AA and AAA would count as 2 teams. Other tournaments played outside of Bryant are at the discretion of the team, so those costs would need to be accounted for as well. I know we typically as a team chose to play in one additional tournament besides the Bryant Preseason Tournament, which usually cost up to $10 per player. Again, this is at the discretion of the team, but you should expect another $7.50 to $20 for Preseason tournament costs.
Socks and Belts
We typically purchased these from SportShop as a team, but we always gave the parent the choice to purchase the same color socks and belt or additional socks and belt if they so chose at Walmart or any of the other local sport stores. Many parents had some of these items from the previous season, too. Still, this could be another $8 – $15.
Hats
Here again the style and, therefore, the cost of the hat is up to the team to decide upon. We have had hats as low as $5 per player to as high as $20 per player. A good flex-fit hat with a player’s number stitched on the back will run in the $12 – $14 range.
Uniforms
Uniform Jerseys are provided by the organization. Players do NOT need to purchase their game jersey. Pants are NOT provided. Gray pants should be purchased. Here again, the options range in style, but gray pants can run $8 to $40 or even higher. You can pick these up at Walmart or any local sports store. I think we typically will purchase one for game and one or two cheaper ones for practice if our child has grown out of the previous season’s pants. Otherwise, we use last year’s game pants for practice, and we wait until the first game to purchase a game only pair.
Equipment
Helmets, Bats, and Gloves are not provided by the organization to each participant. A manager can obtain a few of these items for the team. However, it is important to note that with regard to gloves, usually only a catcher’s mit is obtained. A player/participant should expect to bring their own glove. Many parents will purchase a helmet for only their child to wear, but as mentioned, the manager can obtain a few of these for those players without their own to use as necessary. The same applies for bats.
Bats
It is important to note this year that Babe Ruth (Ages 13-15) has put a ban on Composite big barrel bats for post-season. You can read more about this at the Babe Ruth League website. The BAA will allow these bats during the season, but it is important to note when budgeting for costs if you are planning on purchasing a new bat this year, as the majority of you will want to verify which bats will be allowed for post-season in order to avoid having to purchase another one at the end of the season. Again, this only applies to players in the Babe Ruth division, which are those players that will be playing age 13-15. For rules pertaining to the other ages/divisions, our park playing rules typically mimic post-season.
Balls
Many managers will purchase a few dozen baseballs at the beginning of the season and split the cost across all players. The typical cost for practice baseballs is $100 for 3 dozen balls. Less are usually purchased for t-ball. Still, with 10 players, this could be another $10 per player that is distributed across the team. I can tell you that by the end of the season with fielding and batting those 36 balls usually dwindle to about 15 to 18 as players accidentally take them home or they are accidentally not returned to the bucket/coach at the end of practice. Also, with the fielding and batting practice, those balls are worn out by the end of the year. We usually let each kid have what ever was remaining by the end of the year if they wanted just because they were really no longer any good. Still, this is a team decision that the manager will work through with the parents, so it needs to be expected.
For local sport stores to purchase equipment and apparel, click here.