June President's Message

Dear LCYO Parent:
We’ve just concluded another successful spring season serving 1,600 boys and girls on 105 baseball teams and 35 softball teams. Our recent Championship Saturdays in baseball and softball were great successes. Our 13 baseball all-star teams and seven softball all-star teams are now competing against teams from throughout San Diego County and even Southern California.

LCYO’s mission is to give local youth an opportunity to learn and enjoy the games of baseball and softball in a friendly and safe environment. We want to make sure we have an atmosphere where our players can feel good about their successes, but even more importantly, feel safe about their failures; to learn that it’s OK to strike out, miss a grounder or lose a playoff game. After making a mistake our players should be thinking about the “Next Play,” and learn that in baseball and softball, when you make a mistake, you can come back on the next play and make the play. It’s also a great lesson for life.

LCYO’s success is dependant on the many volunteers we have, from board members, to team parents, and in particular, the more than 400 coaches who spend countless hours teaching, preparing their players for games, spending their personal money for equipment and spending many nights making out the lineups. In my six years of involvement with LCYO, starting with the Little Mermaids in our Pee Wee softball division, I’ve had the good fortune to learn so much from the outstanding coaches I’ve had the privilege of coaching with and against.
I’ve always felt the most important measure of the success of a youth coach is not wins and losses, but whether a player wants to play again next year, and whether he/she wants to play for that coach.

Using that as a yardstick, I’m proud to say that more than 90 percent of LCYO parents who responded to our recent survey said they would like their child to play for the same coach next season. That’s a phenomenal response and our coaches should be proud to have earned that mark.

We had 865 responses to the survey representing every baseball and softball team in the league and more than 70 percent of LCYO players. I’d like to share with you some of the other information from the survey:

94% of respondents felt their child was taught the fundamentals of their respective sport.
95% had a positive assessment of their coach and assistant coaches.
97% of respondents felt good sportsmanship was practiced.
97% felt their child was treated fairly.
96% felt their child had the opportunity to play a variety of positions.

In addition to these stellar results, parents made many other suggestions. The comments showed us areas where we can improve and areas where we can do a better job of keeping parents informed. We’ll provide more information for you on our website in the coming months.
Thanks to all of the parents who participated in the survey.
* * *
Fall Ball – Registration for our Fall Ball season opens July 2. Practices and games are played on Sundays from Aug. 24 through Nov 23 allowing players to play in other Fall sports on Saturdays. It’s a great way for players to improve their skills for the spring season, particularly for those moving up a division. You can register on our website at http://www.lcyo.org/.
* * *
Outgoing Board Members – As the new President of LCYO for the 2008-09 year, I’d like to take a moment and thank two longtime board members who have given countless hours to LCYO. Mike Downing leaves the board after 12 years. Along with coaching numerous teams throughout the years, Mike was instrumental in developing, training, and scheduling of our junior umpires for our softball program and Mustang Division. With about 60 teens in our junior umpiring program it’s a critical job. Greg Norton leaves the board after 10 years. In addition to coaching many teams, being a Division Director, and Director of Baseball, Greg dedicated his time to refining LCYO’s overall programs and policies to ensure we provide a level of baseball appropriate for players of all skill levels.

I’d also like to thank give a special thanks to Ed Mungovan. Ed remains on the board as our Treasurer and Softball Director but spent the past year as the de facto president when the position was unfilled. Prior to that Ed served two years as President.

Board Member Openings – We have a few positions open on the Board of Directors we’re still looking to fill: Umpire Chief for the South Mustang Division; North T-ball Director; a Board Member at Large; and a Webmaster. We’d like to use our website to keep parents and players better informed. We’d like to be able to share timely results and pictures of our playoff tournaments as well as results and a schedule of upcoming games for all-star teams. If you’re interested in any of the positions, please contact me at lcyopresident@lcyo.org.
* * *
This is the first of a series of occasional letters I’ll be sending to keep you informed. As the parent of a daughter moving up to Division 2 and a son moving up to the Mustang level I get to see both the softball and baseball sides of our organization. We’re one of the few organizations that operates both softball and baseball leagues and I’m continually amazed at how smoothly LCYO runs.

I realize serving as President of LCYO is a great privilege and responsibility. I’m honored to work with a group of board members dedicated to making your child’s softball and baseball experiences positive.

As a coach I have a special final cheer I like to do at the end of the season. I gather the players together and quietly explain that the reason they get to play this game I love is because their parents are willing to take them back and forth to practices and games, and come out to cheer for them. I then have them yell “Thanks Mom and Dad,” and then go hug their parents.
As we end another successful spring season I’d like to say, “Thanks Mom and Dad for your support.”

Respectfully,
Phil Urbina
President