Registration is now open for the city's youth baseball league.
The process is changing this year for signing up kids to the Prince George Youth Baseball Association (PGYBA). Instead of sitting at public locations making people line up to fill out forms, it can all be done from the comfort of your online device at whichever time of day suits you.
"The only in-person registration being held will be at the first evaluation on March 2 and we will only be accepting cash or cheque. PGYBA encourages you to register online," said league registrar Amanda Langevin.
The Registration tab on the PGYBA home page leads parents through the process.
That portal will allow interested families to sign up players for the WinterBall program as well, which got underway this week at the Northern Sport Centre at UNBC and has room for some more players to join.
It is also the portal potential coaches need to use to let their names stand for that position, even if it isn't a final decision in your mind. Moms, dads, grandparents, former players, anyone interested in possibly leading a team for the two-month season of house-level baseball is directed to same Registration tab.
"We ask if you are wanting or able to coach or assistant coach please register online as this eliminates the missed applications. Please make sure you have a criminal record check done before the season starts," said Langevin.
At the winter AGM for the league, it was disclosed that PGYBA had defied the usual national trend. When the Blue Jays aren't doing well, there has been a statistical slump in the number of young players joining baseball. Not so in Prince George. In some of the age categories there were wait-lists and the only thing holding back league expansion is the number of playing fields, a hurdle the City of Prince George is working to overcome with the PGYBA board of directors.
"We had 541 registered players but we had to cap teams in all divisions because of the limited field space," said league president Carmen Martin, who noted that growth is especially immanent in the two oldest age brackets, bantam (age 14-15) and midget (age 16-18).
"It's really exciting to see those numbers growing, with more players staying on to play longer," Martin said. There were two full midget teams this past season for the first time in years, one of which was the region's Knights all-star team that went on to win both the B.C. provincials and the four-province Western Canadian double-A championship.
The feedback about returning midgets, bantam players aging into the midget division, and new midget-level players indicates there may be enough players in that age category to field both a double-A and a single-A team under the Knights banner, plus some left over for house-level recreational play.
The bantam double-A Knights won silver at both the B.C. Minor Baseball Association and B.C. Amateur Baseball Association (similar names, but different leagues) championships, with a single-A bantam Knights team also on the road playing rep games around the province.
Having such competitive depth at the bantam level, plus a championship-grade midget program underway means the immediate future of the upper age groups is bright, and in only a few years the odds are strong that quality players in numbers will ooze into the city's adult recreation league as well.
"PGYBA is hoping to be able to allow for some growth in PGYBA and in order to do so we will be utilizing our fields as much as possible," said Langevin. "With this, please keep in mind that this will bring some weekend games and practices for the older divisions."
Baseball families new and experienced are reminded to frequently visit the PGYBA website for the latest league news.
