Pompano Beach Youth Baseball Age Group Information
4U Division Pee wee T-Ball (3-4 Year old's)
4U Division Pee wee T-Ball (3-4 Year old's) is an instructional league to teach three and four-year-old players the fundamentals of baseball by the simplest method possible - letting them play the game. If this purpose is kept paramount, 4U Division Pee wee T-Ball (3-4 Year old's) can be a valuable addition to the more formally organized leagues for older players. Emphasis must be on instruction, not on the league championship.
4U Division Pee wee T-Ball (3-4 Year old's) coaches are allowed on the field to offer instruction during the game. The rules require that players be given the opportunity to try different positions, and that all of them get to play in every game.
Players in this age range have a short attention span in any single activity and games must move rapidly. Only the basic fundamentals of the game should be brought out. It is not uncommon for players of this age, initially, to be unfamiliar with which is first base, which is third base, and which field is left and which is right. Lack of knowledge indicates merely that the player has not yet been introduced to the game and has no relationship to the player's potential athletic ability.
4U Division Pee wee T-Ball (3-4 Year old's) was introduced this year and provides an excellent opportunity to teach basic catching, throwing, batting and fielding, and a love of the game of baseball without making the experience a course of intensified instruction. The best approach is to let the teams play with little thought to victory or defeat, but merely for the joy of participation while, at the same time, learning the fundamentals of teamwork, group discipline and sportsmanship.
6U Division T-Ball (5-6 Year old's)
6U Division T-Ball (5-6 Year old's) is an instructional league to teach three, four, five and six-year-old players the fundamentals of baseball by the simplest method possible - letting them play the game. If this purpose is kept paramount, 6U Division T-Ball (5-6 Year old's) can be a valuable addition to the more formally organized leagues for older players. Emphasis must be on instruction, not on the league championship.
6U Division T-Ball (5-6 Year old's) coaches are allowed on the field to offer instruction during the game. The rules require that players be given the opportunity to try different positions, and that all of them get to play in every game.
Players in this age range have a short attention span in any single activity and games must move rapidly. Only the basic fundamentals of the game should be brought out. It is not uncommon for players of this age, initially, to be unfamiliar with which is first base, which is third base, and which field is left and which is right. Lack of knowledge indicates merely that the player has not yet been introduced to the game and has no relationship to the player's potential athletic ability.
6U Division T-Ball (5-6 Year old's) was developed more than 40 years ago as a Tee-Ball League, using a batting tee instead of a pitcher. There is considerable medical opinion that players of this age who actually pitch may develop arm and/or shoulder injuries that may not be evident until several years later. In addition, pitchers of this age often have control problems, resulting in longer games which may become boring to the participants.
6U Division T-Ball (5-6 Year old's) provides an excellent opportunity to teach basic catching, throwing, batting and fielding, and a love of the game of baseball without making the experience a course of intensified instruction. The best approach is to let the teams play with little thought to victory or defeat, but merely for the joy of participation while, at the same time, learning the fundamentals of teamwork, group discipline and sportsmanship.
8U Division (7-8 Year old's)
8U Division (7-8 Year old's) is an instructional league to teach eight and under players the fundamentals of baseball and Softball.
8U Division (7-8 Year old's) comes in Two flavors, Coach Pitch & (Kid Pitch Only if the talents allows for Kid pitch within the 8U Division.
8U Division (7-8 Year old's) teams may be attired in cap and t-shirt rather than full baseball uniforms. The cap and t-shirt will thrill a beginning player almost as much as a full uniform, will leave the player the added thrill of receiving a full uniform for a later day, and will prevent excessive demands on the league budget.
Managers and coaches at this level must be concerned with the development of all of the players on their team. These are training leagues and the development of a player's skill and personality must remain the prime goal of the manager and coach, rather than the winning of a league title.
Every effort should be made to place every player who registers for the program on a team in these early years, and every effort should be made to play every player on the team in every game.
8U Division (7-8 Year old's) Pompano Beach Youth Baseball All-Star Teams may play in local tournaments. The focus should remain on training more than competition.
10U Division (9-10 Year old's)
10U Division (9-10 Year old's) begins Pompano Beach Youth Baseball belief that rather than change the rules of Baseball to make it possible for young people to play the game, it is more logical to change the size of the diamonds, to adjust them to the physical potential of the players.
Use of diamonds matched to their capabilities permits younger players to play in the same proportionate position as the Major Leaguers and to make the same plays as a Major Leaguer. The double play, the squeeze play, the force play, etc. all become probabilities instead of remote possibilities.
Beginning with 10U Division (9-10 Year old's) Baseball, the players are playing real baseball in accordance with The Rules of Major League Baseball as well as specific PONY rules that are in place to supersede the MLB rules where appropriate such as pitching, substitution, re-entry, etc. 10U Division (9-10 Year old's) plays in accordance with the Pompano Beach Youth Baseball MLB modified Rulebook.
With scaled down bases and pitching distances, players react quite favorably to the greater challenge of the game and have little difficulty mastering the transition.
10U Division (9-10 Year old's) Pompano Beach Youth Baseball All-Star Teams may play in local tournaments. The focus should remain on training more than competition.
12U Division (11-12 Year old's)
12U Division (11-12 Year old's) is a continuation of the philosophy to fit the diamond to the physical potential of the players.
The bases and pitching distances are scaled up slightly from 10U Division ( 9-10 Year old's) .
The transition diamond used in 12U Division (11-12 Year old's), permits infielders and outfielders to select their defensive positions in relationship to the anticipated speed of the ball when they field it.
Without this transition diamond, 12U Division (11-12 Year old's) players play their position disproportionately closer to the bases, infield and pitcher.
This diamond positions the infielders and outfielders in direct proportion to that assumed by Major League Baseball players and permits the younger players to play the game as it was designed to play.
12U Division (11-12 Year old's) Pompano Beach Youth Baseball All-Star Teams may play in local tournaments. The focus should remain on training more than competition.