Tag Archives: PONY

PONY Divisions Coaches: PONY Rule Change Clinics

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The SFYBL umpire assigner, president of the NCUA, and section director for PONY baseball West Zone North Division Peninsula Region — Don Simon — will be hosting a PONY rules clinics for the SFYBL PONY divisions coaches.

We STRONGLY urge at least one coach from each of our PONY division teams to attend one of these clinics. Don will be going over rule changes from our previous five 4th, 5th, 6th grade and middle school divisions from last year to our three Mustang, Bronco, and Pony PONY divisions this year going forward. He will also answer any questions you have have regarding PONY rules.

When:

Tuesday February 28 – 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Wednesday February 29 – 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Where:

Pacific Rod and Gun Club – Trap House
520 John Muir Dr.
San Francisco, CA 94132
(on Lake Merced)

After entering the gate, turn left in the parking lot and proceed to the Trap House at the end.

For directions, see: http://prgc.net/our-location/

PONY Divisions – Age Cut-Off Revision

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In an effort preserve existing team integrity during this transitional year from grade-based divisions to PONY League age-based divisions, the SFYBL board has decided to alter the age cut-off date to December 31 (from April 20) for this season only.

The age cut-off dates for in-season play are now:

Mustang: May 1, 2001 – December 31, 2003
Bronco: May 1, 1999 – December 31, 2001
Pony: May 1, 1997 – December 31, 1999

Again, these dates are for this transitional year season only. Summer tournament teams and the 2013 season on will use April 30 as the age cut-off date.

PONY divisions – Age Clarification

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[revised 2012.01.29]
As previously mentioned, the SFYBL PONY divisions (for ages 9-14) are not grade-based…they are entirely age-based.
The age cut-off date is December 31

Mustang division: those born between January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2003
Bronco division: those born between January 1, 1999 – December 31, 2001
Pony division: those born between January 1, 1997 – December 31, 1999

Some 3rd graders will fit within the eligible age-range for the Mustang division. Those players have the option of playing either on a 3rd grade division coach-pitch team or a PONY Mustang division kid-pitch team (not both).

Additionally, for the first time in a long time we will allow high school freshman to play in our PONY division as long as: 1) they are not on a high school frosh/soph, JV, or varsity baseball for a CIF high school team, and 2) they turned 14 years old after April 30, 1997.

Lastly, PONY League rules give us the flexibility to permit players to “play up” one division. As previously mentioned this is not an automatic entitlement to teams. Any coach who wishes to have player eligible for one division lower play up a division higher (e.g. a 9-10 year old Mustang eligible player competing in the Bronco division [11-12 year olds]) must have approval from the SFYBL board before doing so. We want to be sure that any kids who play up are doing so because they have sufficient baseball development and skills to do so and not because it is logistically convenient or for social promotion reasons.

A Few Words About PONY

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[revised 2012.01.29]
As previously mentioned on this site, SFYBL will be affiliating with PONY League for 9 year olds through 14 year olds. This roughly coincides with 4th, 5th, 6th grade and Middle School divisions of previous years. We will maintain grade-based divisions for K (t-ball), 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. There are plenty of of 9 year old 3rd graders out there. Those players will have the option of being on a 3rd grade division (coach pitch) or a PONY Mustang division (kid pitch) team.

As far as PONY goes, our registration process will be the same as our K-3 grade-based divisions. To the player/parent the only immediate difference is that the PONY divisions are age-based (as opposed to grade based). The rules for our past 4th – middle school divisions were nearly a mirror image of PONY rules already, so there will be little change in the rules. PONY this year started allowing composite bats in their divisions. We will follow those rules.

Being affiliated with PONY will allow our PONY division players to try out for SFYBL summer all-star teams and compete in PONY League tournaments such as sectional, regional, national, and world championships as well as compete in some of the open tournaments we have in years past. In addition, being age-based gives our players a little more flexibility in finding a skills/development appropriate division for them.

The PONY divisions are:

Mustang: 9-10 year olds
Bronco: 11-12 year olds
Pony: 13-14 year olds

[The age cut-off date for all PONY divisions is December 31]

PONY does allow for some flexibility in allowing kids to play up one division. All such “play-ups” are not an automatic privilege but will need to be approved by coach of the prospective coach as well as the SFYBL board. We want our kids playing in a division they have the appropriate skills and physical development to play in and not play up as a matter of logistical convenience.

SFYBL to be PONY League for 9-14 year olds.

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Effective the 2012 season; SFYBL will be PONY League-affiliated for nine through fourteen year old youths. We will keep our grade-based structure for the K, 1, 2, and 3 divisions.

For the last 6-7 years, SFYBL has operated in a grade-based division structure. Starting this coming 2012 season, we will be PONY League for nine through 14 year olds (not in high school)

The divisional structure for those age-groups will be:

Mustang Division: 9-10 year olds
Bronco Division: 11-12 year olds
Pony division: 13-14 year olds

Our Mustang, Bronco, and Pony divisions will be in Peninsula Region/Northern California Division/West Zone.

Having PONY affiliation and adopting their divisional structure has the following benefits:

1) It gives players more flexibility in playing in a division right for them in that players are allowed to “play up” one division meaning a child who is eight years old could technically play in the Mustang kid-pitch division or a skilled 12 year old could conceivably play in the Pony division.” “Playing up” will not be an open privilege to any and all players in the league…but instead, will be approved on a case-by-case basis after consultation between the coach and the SFYBL board to ensure the child in question has the skills and development necessary to play in a higher division.

2) It gives SFYBL the PONY brand bringing greater awareness to SFYBL as the preeminent youth baseball organization in San Francisco with more teams and twice as many players as the next largest league.

3) It allows our plays to compete in PONY championship (regional, division, zone, etc) championships at the end of the season.

**”playing up” will not be an automatic privilege bestowed on any player/coach who requests it, but instead, will be subject to approval by the SFYBL board on a case-by-case basis upon skills assessment of the player in question or extenuating logistical considerations.**

This is a significant change to the way SFYBL has operated for the last 6+ years, but we believe it to be a positive change.