Baseball Queensland (BQ) have confirmed there will be some modifications to the upcoming junior season format and age brackets, helping BQ improve participation opportunities in baseball.
Carina Leagues Redsox Baseball is committed to providing the best playing experience for all our junior players. We appreciate that our juniors play baseball for a variety of reasons. Some play baseball as a purely recreational activity; looking for fun and fitness. Some play baseball to be part of a competitive team experience and others play baseball to pursue playing careers. It is that variety of opportunity and reasons that makes baseball a great sport.
To help players (and their parents) understand the changes, we have tried to answer the most frequently asked questions below. You are most welcome to contact our Club President or our Junior VP if you have any other questions or are not sure how the changes might impact you.
Adjustments to junior team ages
Why the change in age brackets?
From 2018 Little League International will use 31 August as the cut-off date for age groups. Baseball Queensland has introduced the change in age brackets to keep Queensland players and competitions in line with these changes. You can find the 2017-2018 age groups for each League under in the Junior section of our website or find a summary of the 2017 – 18 Age Matrix here.
Please note that there is a fairly significant reduction in the age that children are eligible to play Little League Majors. Parents of children born from January 2005 to August 2005 should take specific note of these changes.
Is there a transition period?
For this season only there will be a group of children (born between May 2005 and August 2005 inclusive) who will be able to choose their preferred competition – Little League or Junior League. These grandfathering provisions are part of the global change in age brackets.
For those children we recommend having a discussion with our Junior VP about which League they would be best suited to.
What if my child just wants to keep playing with his friends who are now in different age brackets?
We want your child to have the best baseball experience they can. The age brackets and Divisions within each League are designed to make sure children are playing in appropriately skilled teams.
We do appreciate that for many children playing with their friends makes up a big part of their enjoyment of the sport. Please contact our Junior VP f you would like to discuss options available for your child.
Surely my child is too young to play in a Senior League team?
Each of the age brackets in Junior baseball (and the corresponding rules) is designed to be age-appropriate and reflect the skills level (or the ability to gain the skills needed) for that age-group.
The “Senior League” which forms part of Junior baseball is still aimed at young players. Previously this age-bracket would have been called “Under 16s”. Details of the Junior age group competition called Senior League can be found here.
My child want to play representative baseball – what do these changes mean for him/her?
Carina Leagues Redsox Baseball is very supportive of players who want to go as far as they can with representative baseball. Our club is part of the Brisbane Metro region. You can read more about the Tournament Pathways here.
To be eligible to play at representative level this season, your child will need to be playing in a Division 1 team (eg Little League Majors or Junior League/ Senior League Div 1 teams) in the pre-Christmas competition.
Carina Leagues Redsox Baseball will be holding Division 1 try-outs for team placement in August/September 2017. Those try out dates will be released soon. As per previous seasons, it is the club’s intention to field at least one Division 1 team in each competition. If you have any questions about your child’s eligibility to play representative baseball please contact our Junior VP.
Season in two competitions (excluding U20 players)
What will the costs be?
We are waiting for the final details to be released from BQ before we can finalise the season fee structure. However, the intention is that you can elect to sign-up for a short season (10 weeks) or the full season. The cost of signing up to a short seasons will be more than half the cost of a full season.
What are the advantages of playing a full season?
Apart from being able to play more baseball (which is always a good thing!), signing up to play a full season of baseball means players will have access to tournaments, be eligible for selection to representative teams or other carnivals held during the year.
What are the advantages of the split season?
We see the introduction of the flexible membership option (eg signing up to play baseball just in Term 4 of the school year) as a great way to bring the sport of baseball to more players.
Under this new model, players will have the chance to play in a pre-Christmas competition (complete with finals) and if they choose to continue in the second half of the season they can compete in the post-Christmas season (again complete with finals). All teams will play through to a Gala Final Day on the last day of both competitions. More Finals = More Games = More Fun = More Development. The Christmas break will also give clubs the chance to reassess the appropriate grading for teams and players for the post Christmas competition.
My child wants to play representative baseball – what do these changes mean for him/her?
If your child is hoping to be selected to a representative team, they will need to sign-on for the full season. While the short-season sign-on is great, it does not give players access to playing on representative teams or access to carnivals or other programs. Brisbane Metro will release details of its selection process closer to the season, however it will be different to recent seasons as the regular season pre-Christmas competition will act as the qualifying games.
