Blaine Spring Lake Park Athletic Association

The 2013 BALL Board and positions are: Open - President, Kevin Johnston - Vice President,  Lori Clark - Treasurer,  Lisa Kauppi - Information Coordinator/Secretary,  Chris Bentrott - Equipment/Uniforms,  Curt Muske - Player Agent,  Chris Otten -  Safety/Umpires,  Jessica Villa - Volunteers/Concessions.

*The Vice President serves the role of the President in the absence of a President.
*The position of secretary of the board is open at this time.

Board meetings are held the 1st Sunday of each month at the Blaine Baseball Complex (BBC) Building starting at 7:00 PM. All meetings are open to the public. If you plan to attend an upcoming board meeting please vist the Board Page on the website as times or dates may be adjusted on occasion.

Please visit the contact us page and send us a note of interest and we will respond to you and find something that might interest you.

Please complete the online coaching application provided on the coaches page on the website and return by the deadline date to receive full consideration. You will be contacted regarding your interest and appointment after player registration closes.. All positions are volunteer and require submitting an online application, background check, proof of certifcate of concussion training and attending our coaches training meetings for the level you plan to coach.

Our goal is to have a minimum of three coaches per team at all levels with most levels requiring four coaches. However, this is all dependent on the interest level of our parents and families that are interested in coaching each season. With more than 85 teams offered each year this is the largest group of volunteers that are needed and we will do our best to train them properly for success in developing each player. Al coaches that have regular contact with players must pass a criminal background check and mandated concussion training.

Special player requests to play with a buddy are allowed only for ages 4 - 8 playing in the t-ball, instructional and developmental divisions. Please utilize the special requests section of the online registration to make a request. Please make sure that both requestors list the same person so that there is a match. Requests are not guaranteed, but are accepted for consideration. Coach requests are not allowed as coaches change from year to year. Once your onlne registration is completed no future requests will be accepted.

All registration materials are available on the front page of our website. You can also visit the FAQ's section and the parents page for further information. If youn have further questions please contact us. 

We offer baseball for ages 4 - 19 with ages 4-12 being affiliated with Little League International and are a part of MN District 1. Ages 13-19, depending on the age level are associated with various organizations throughout the state of Minnesota. All players who register to play in our organization will be placed on a team. We do not cut players, but do our best to place players on our teams. We offer more than 85 teams serviing more than 1,050 players.

We will offer the following levels of play in 2013 and have named each of our divisions this season. All levels are based on a players age as of April 30th per Little League International rules. T-Ball (4 yr old), Instructional (5-6 yr old - coach pitch), Developmental (7-8 yr old - coach pitch),  Rookie (9 yr old - first year player pitch) *8 yr olds can tryout for this league,   Majors/Minors (10-12 yr old), Junior League (13-14 yr old), Senior League (15-19 yr old) with team makeup and age division based on player enrollments. Our goal is to have a maximum of 12 players per team for ages 4-12 and final roster size is based on amount of coaches available.

Our goal each year is to have no more than 12 players on a team at the 4-12 year old level so that we can maximize participation and development opportunities. However all teams are based on the availability of coaches and the appropriate interest levels of players. Some teams may have more or less than 12 players, but our goal is 12.

The overall season for little league ages 4-12 begins with team practices in mid to late April. Games for some levels begin the end of April for the minors and majors, but most other levels begin in mid-May. The regular season for most, but not all concludes in mid to late July depending on post-season play. Specific division schedules are dependent on amount of teams each year.

4-8 yr old players are placed on teams by the age group commissioners. Teams are based on neighborhoods and school locations. Special player requests can be made through the online player request system, but are not guaranteed. Every attempt will be made to place players playing their second year in the same division with the same players as the previous year. However, when players move from one division to another the process begins again.

9-12 year old players must be evaluated through our evaluation and tryout process and are placed on teams by a draft process. 10-12 yr olds trying out for majors or minors are ranked based on tryouts and then drafted to majors or minors teams based on these results. 9-yr olds must tryout and will be placed on teams using a draft process also. Additionally, 8 yr olds that have an interest in playing in the 9-yr old league must tryout and may be placed on a team on a space available basis. All players that register for our programs are placed on teams regardless of ability as we are open to all interested players and place all players on teams.

All practices are scheduled through the city of Blaine Parks & recreation department. Practices are scheduled and conducted at the discretion of the coaches. At the younger levels, ages 5-8, there is normally 1 practice and 2 games per week at most. At the rookie, minors/majors level and higher there are more games and more practices per week. All practices are conducted at the coaches request with no minimum or maximum requirement.

Players will be evaluated on their baseball skills during player evaluations and tryouts. Please visit the website after March 1st for specific tryout times and skills that will be assessed. In general players will be evaluated on their hitting, throwing/catching, fielding, and running ability.

During the regular season on weeknights for ages 4 - 8 all games start at 6:30 PM and last no more than 1 hour 30 minutes. For all other ages games could start as early as 5:45 PM on occasion and may end as late as 9:30 PM. All games are played in the City of Blaine.