WHY BECOME A RECREATIONAL MEMBER LEAGUE?
The Southeast Region of Pony Baseball, Inc. strives to make changes in the culture of the Pony Baseball Program in the Southeast Region to include Florida and Georgia by creating more of a friendly and support driven structure for leagues within the program. Our efforts to make this program 100% transparent and consistent region wide has been successful with unique tournament formats designed to bring the fun back to the game and provide more value to participating teams, while ensuring that the Pony Baseball, Inc. motto is upheld in highest regard. If your league is in search of a competitive youth baseball program suited to meet the individual needs of your league's membership, we are the choice for you.
WHAT SEPARATES PONY BASEBALL, INC. FROM OTHER YOUTH BASEBALL PROGRAMS?
Pony Baseball, Inc. gives its member leagues complete autonomy to structure the league in a manner which best serves the league’s operations and its membership. We provide governing rules and guidelines, but ultimately, the league leadership will decide how the league will play.
Pony Baseball, Inc. has successfully integrated the recreational program with the travel baseball element of youth baseball through the introduction of the Elite Program. Our programs operate independently of one another throughout the season. Each program has its own All Star Tournament Series through the Super Regional Tournaments. There is movement to provide the Elite Baseball Program with its own Zone Tournaments and World Series in the near future. We have found that these designations of programs have calmed and eliminated the concern of parents, coaches, and league leadership in the recreational program.
States and regions operate independently of one another based on the vision of the region director, but our goal is to provide member leagues with as many opportunities for their membership. The Southeast Region of Pony Baseball, Inc. has created many partnerships with outside organizations and has strong working relationships with competing youth baseball organizations to ensure that the players and families come first. This is especially true for post season events. Select two, three, four, etc. All Star Teams for post season play. It is our vision to have high participation numbers because it simply is not fair that a select group of 12 to 15 player per division adequately represents the membership of the league. Pony Baseball, Inc. also has age specific divisions for those leagues with a desire to competitively compete in a single age level; Mustang 9U, Mustang 10U, Bronco 11U, etc.
WHAT ASSISTANCE IS PROVIDED TO NEW LEAGUES?
The Southeast Region Director and Staff, regardless of area assignments, will help member leagues when requested. These directors and staff work diligently to ensure that information is received by member leagues quickly and that any questions or concerns are addressed in a timely manner. We will administrate informational meetings for prospective leagues to provide answers to all questions a league’s membership may have. The staff will assist in all aspects of the transition, from refiling incorporation paperwork for 501c3 to registration to even assistance in setting up a new operational structure for the league. Please understand that Pony Directors will only intervene in internal league business when there are financial concerns or to mediate a problem for the member Board of Directors only after a good faith effort has been made to resolve the issues internally.
We do have a strong interlock structure in place for the recreational program region wide based on geographic location of the physical member leagues. Participation in the interlock play is mandatory for all member leagues. There are several recreational Pony Sanctioned Tournaments throughout the spring and fall seasons, which are open only to any Pony Member Leagues for participation. These events assist member leagues in acquiring additional games for their teams throughout the seasons and it offers opportunities for individual managers to get contact information from managers of other leagues for future scheduling, communication, etc.
The Southeast Region Director and staff are happy to visit new member leagues to assist in structuring the leagues operations and provide valuable feedback and suggestions from experience in the Pony Baseball Program, which will be invaluable to league leadership during the process.
WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP IN REGISTERING A LEAGUE?
To register your league, simply go to WWW.PONY.ORG, select BASEBALL, select REGISTRATION, and complete the online league registration form. New leagues and leagues returning to Pony Baseball, Inc. after a season off, are encouraged not to remit payment online and select the MAIL A CHECK option. Pony Headquarters will email an adjusted invoice for the league's registration fee to the league's contact person. This adjusted registration invoice will reflect a 50% discount for the first season. It's our way of welcoming new leagues and returning leagues back to the Pony Program.
If your league requires insurance, please contact Gagliardi Insurance Services by telephone at 800-996-9768 or via their website by going to WWW.GSPORTSINSURANCE.COM. The process is fairly simple to complete and should take no more than 15 minutes. Additional insurees (ex. city recreation dept., county recreation dept., private facility management, etc.) can be added during the purchasing process. Electronic copies of the insurance policy, claim forms and certificates of insurance will be emailed to the league's contact person.
Once a new member league is registered and payment has been remitted, the South Zone Division Directors will forward an electronic copy of league registration paperwork and contact information to the Southeast Region Director and staff so the transition process can begin swiftly with the expectations that the process will also be smooth and painless.