2016 Softball Season Update

Thank you to all who attended assessments!  It is very helpful to the daunting task of attempting to distribute player skill evenly among teams, while factoring in region, age, and logistic needs - all that for a combined registration of 391 girls for the 2016 season!  Thank you to all who assisted in running the assessments, including the Mad River Girls Fastpitch Softball Association's 16U Travel Team, the Mad River MIST, who greeted and escorted players through the assessment stations.  

PROGRAM UPDATES

Team Distributions:  We are scheduled to finalize team distributions on Thursday night, March 24th.  

• Coaches Meeting:  Tentatively scheduled for next week.

• Practices:  Many of our local Parks and Recs have told us fields will not open until at least April 1st.  Coaches may need to be creative with practice plans depending on when the fields actually do open.  The moisture has really put a damper on the field maintenance activities they have been able to do in years past.  As soon as fields open, we'll get those girls out there!

• Communication:  We do as much as possible electronically!  If you know someone who is not getting the email updates, please have them email humboldtfastpitch@gmail.com!  We are happy to add them to the list!  Also, we have not been able to finish merging last year's email list with this year's and as a result some of you may be getting multiple emails of the same thing!  Thank you for your patience as we work to get the season started.  We are looking to clean that up by the end of next week also!

• Social Media:  We post on Facebook any email communications that we send plus more!  Please join us:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HumboldtFastpitchSoftball/

We also love positive and fun community interaction!  Please feel free to positively post and/or comment!  We love to hear from you!

• Game Schedule:  Once teams are finalized, we will attempt to get the schedule out as soon as possible.  Look for games to "soft start" mid-late April with the first tournament being April 29th, 30th, May 1st.  We are hoping the weather doesn't crash our best laid plans but that uncertainty is all part of the sport!

• Pictures:  Team and individual pictures will be available again this year.  This year pictures will be provided by Parky's Pics:  

https://www.facebook.com/parkyspics/?fref=ts.  

A photo schedule will be distributed at a later date.

• Spirit Wear:  Will be largely on a pre-order basis.  Pre-orders will be collected electronically and available for pick up at snack bars during tournament play.  The 2016 Humboldt Fastpitch Softball Sweatshirt (see attached pic below):

Look for Pre-Order Forms soon!

Camp Opportunity:  Fortuna High School is offering another clinic during Spring Break.  Space is limited and pre-registration is done online.  Click here to download a clinic flyer.  To reserve a spot for your player, click this link below.  If you know of other local softball camps, please let us know as we will post those as well. 

If you have any questions for us, please let us know!

Program Update

We are please to report that following the closing of late registration yesterday (March 18th), the Association's Recreation League, HUMBOLDT FASTPITCH, now has over 380 REGISTERED PLAYERS for the 2016 season!  Wow!!! This is by far the largest group of young ladies that have been registered for our recreational youth fastpitch softball program in the history of this growing youth organization. At this point, board members and regional representatives are in the process of distilling the registration information and player assessment data to distribute player skill equally among teams. Once assigned to a team, parents will receive a call from your player's assigned Coach to inform you of the practice schedule and location.

Now that we can set the number of teams in the league, we can also begin the process of scheduling games and tournaments for the season, incorporating the new teams that will be formed in response to the increase in registration numbers! Please be patient as the organization's ALL VOLUNTEER STAFF work to pull together teams, register players and VOLUNTEER COACHES with ASA, and network among coaches to get systems up and running and schedules developed :) Also note that at this time, most fields around the county, including the Arcata Sports Complex, Hiller Park, Newberg Park, Pacific Union, etc. are CLOSED due to the wet weather and soggy fields, with more rain coming tomorrow! We are hopeful that the field situation will improve over the next two weeks so practices can begin.

 Also… Are you looking to help support youth athletics in our community and earn a bit of extra cash in the process? Consider being an umpire with Humboldt Fastpitch! Umpire training for the 2016 fastpitch season is available for all interested individuals. If you are interested in this unique and rewarding opportunity, please send us an email at humboldtfastpitch@gmail.com and we will get you in contact with our League's Umpire in Chief. Thanks!

Finally we want to give a shout out to the TEAM of VOLUNTEERS that make this program possible... to individuals like the Association's President Kelly Helms who works her tail off to make the wheels turn, to Cathie Wainwright who works tirelessly  behind the scenes to maintain the league's financial records, to Jennifer Pinard who volunteers her expertise in maintaining  our not-for-profit organization's tax records and status, to the Recreation Program Regional Representatives - Deb Egbert (north), Ageana Brett (south), Ryan Colegrove (east), and Rick Todd (far south) and their team of helpers, to the Niles family for taking on the league's equipment and uniform duties, and to all of the other volunteers that chip in to help on a day-to-day basis.  We also want to thank the parents for registering ON-LINE, which makes our job much easier and more efficient, and for the many $$ donations the league received in the registration process!   Thank You!  Stay tuned for updates and look for emails from Humboldt Fastpitch...      

Sunday March 13 Assessments

Inevitably the weather will move us INSIDE for the Humboldt Fastpitch Assessments.Please make sure your athlete has TENNIS SHOES for indoor work outs. Information is as follows: This Sunday, March 13th, don't miss out on the 2016 Humboldt Fastpitch assessments being hosted at MCKINLEYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, rain or shine Late registration is STILL OPEN online for a quicker check-in at the assessment OR register onsite prior to the assessments! Online registration is available on this website. Simply click the lock icon and "Registration Open" button on the right side of this screen. Create a profile on our secure website that will exist until your player ages out! Don't want to pay with a credit card? No worries...just simply print the invoice at the end of the online registration process and bring check or cash with you to the assessment! No more wasted paper and time by registering online!

Assessment times are as follows: Ages 6 and under and 8 and under - no need to attend Age 10 and under at 10:00 am(8u only needs to attend if petitioning to play up!) Age 12 and under at 11:00 am (10u needs to attend if petitioning to play up!) Age 14/16 and older at 12:00 p.m.(12u needs to attend if petitioning to play up!) See you there!

2016 Humboldt Fastpitch Assessments

This Sunday, March 13th, don't miss out on the 2016 Humboldt Fastpitch assessments being hosted at MCKINLEYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, rain or shine!  

Late registration is STILL OPEN!!!  Register online for a quick check-in at the assessment OR register onsite prior to the assessments!  

Simply click the "Register Here" button in the upper right hand corner of this webpage.  Create a profile on our secure website that will exist until your player ages out!  :) Returning players can register super quick by logging into their existing player profile using their primary guardian's email address (the one you used last season) and password.  Forget your password?  Click on the "Register Here" button, enter then enter the primary guardian's email address and click on "forgot password" and an email to reset your password will be sent to your profile address.  Be sure to check spam filter if you don't receive see the message in your inbox.  Don't want to pay with a credit card?  No worries... just simply print the invoice at the end of the registration process and bring check or cash with you to the assessment!  Go Paperless, speed up team formations, and ease the workload on the all volunteer staff by registering online!  

Assessment times are as follows:

Age 10 and under at 10:00 am         (8u only needs to attend if petitioning to play up!)

Age 12 and under at 11:00 am         (10u needs to attend if petitioning to play up!)

Age 14/16 and older at 12:00 p.m.    (12u needs to attend if petitioning to play up!)

See you there!