Armstrong Cooper Youth Baseball Association

Hello ACYBA families,

The registration for the 2020 season is now up and running.  Here is what you need to do:

• If you had previously registered and are still planning on playing, you are good to go.

• If you had previously registered and no longer want to play, Please contact Kristen Boughton at kristinboughton10@gmail.com for a full refund.

• If you registered and received a discount and still want to play, please register again so you are in the headcount for forming teams

  • Please follow steps in registration process as things have changed due to a shortened baseball season

Registration will close at midnight on Friday the 19th.  The ACYBA board will be forming teams this coming weekend.

The goal is to form teams and contact coaches by Sunday evening.  Coaches can then determine when practices will start.  Please also remember that games are still dependent on what the Governor says.

Also if you are interested in coaching one of the teams, please contact Dave Franke at d.w.franke@comcast.net  

Thank you

ACYBA Board

ACYBA families,

We apologize for the long email, but there is a lot of information to pass along to you.  Please read in its entirety. 

The past several months has been unprecedented.   We don’t have to tell you that.  The COVID-19 Virus and the pandemic has affected every person.  We are living in interesting times there is no doubt.

Recently MYAS and MBL announced the cancelation of the summer baseball season.  They had hoped to get some type of normal season in, ultimately, when it became clear the Minnesota Governor would not allow baseball to be played in this state in June, they had no choice but to cancel the proposed season.

MYAS and MBL however announced a joint season with hopes of playing starting July 6th.  We have informed you of that proposal.  Please know organized baseball games are still not permitted in this state, per the Governor’s guidelines.

ACYBA asked you our member families your wishes.  Sharing with you the MYAS proposed league, and the CDC and MDH guidelines.  There were over 100 responses to our survey with 70% indicating they would like to see us participate in the league and go forward with a baseball season this summer.  As a result, the ACYBA Board has decided to move forward with baseball activities.

We are busy working on getting the registration system up and running and applying for permits with cities.  We still do not know if baseball games will be playable beginning in July.  We do know the state seems to be opening up. 

Whether anyone agrees with the guidelines and rules or disagrees with them, we are required as an organization to commit to them with our city permit requests.  We in fact are required to write a COVID preparedness plan and submit it with our field rental application.  In one city we have been told we are also required to submit a security deposit for city field rental which will be forfeited and our permit canceled if the city deems we or our opponents have violated the governors orders or the MDH guidelines.

Any team practice or game where a city field is used, must have a Social Distancing Volunteer. This is not an option.  It is a requirement of EVERY CITY in order for us to obtain a permit.  However only 30% of respondents to the survey indicated they would be willing to be a volunteer to take temperatures and be the social distancing volunteer or volunteers at a game or practice.  Please know, if your team does not have a person step up as social distancing volunteer, that practice or game will be canceled to ensure we are in compliance with our city permit requirements.

Also please know these are statewide rules.  This means that if our team travels to another community, they will be complying with their city permit restrictions.  In some cases those cities will have a designated game viewing area for spectators which may or may not afford you the ability to see your child’s game.  In other communities where they are unable to designate an area, they may inform you that players may be dropped off, and there is no spectator viewing available.   You should be prepared for this situation when you sign your child up.

We also know that there will be associations who do not follow the Governor’s Orders, or the CDC or MDH mandates, and you will be able to enjoy baseball the way it should be played free of these restrictions.  What we do not know is where those locations will be and who may be willing to take the risk of violating the Governor’s Orders or their permits.

At ACYBA we have recognized that not everyone wishes to comply with the rules.  We, as an association feel we must be good citizens and follow the rules which are imposed.  In baseball we learn many lessons about life.  It teaches our youth many great lessons that help them when they become adults.  We will not teach our children that we can ignore rules we do not like.  Therefore ACYBA will adhere to and conform to the Governor’s orders and the requirements of every city contract we sign.  Because we play in five cities the requirements of each city may be different and we will communicate the specific rules of each city as we have approved permits.

We have much work ahead of us going forward. Many of you fall into one of the following categories:

• If you are currently registered and intend to play you need to do nothing.  We will be adjusting fees and providing refunds.
• If you are currently registered, and do not intend to play, please contact Kristin Boughton kristinboughton10@gmail.com for a refund.
• If you are not registered please continue to check our website, as registration should be open Monday or Tuesday.

Here are some of the resources we have and what still needs to be done.

• We have posted a COVID-19 section on our website.  Which we will keep updated with the rules and requirements.
• We are seeking a COVID-19 Social Distancing Director who will be responsible for coordinating with the Cities, Associations, Coaches, Families, and Volunteers who will be responsible to allow games to be played.  As mentioned above, if your practice or game does not have a volunteer, that game or practice will be canceled by the Social Distancing Director.
• Please read all material on the website, and be prepared for continued changes in requirements depending on the city we play in or the association we face.

Thank you for your support,

ACYBA Board of Directors

The board met on 6/7 to discuss the 2020 season.  We decided to get input from our Community via a short survey.  This is found on the Covid-19 resource page on the left side of this screen.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey.

There is also numerous documents that have information about Covid-19.

Thank you 

Hello ACYBA Families,

Wanted to pass along an update about what we know about the upcoming season.  The ACYBA board met on 5/17 to discuss the 2020 baseball season.

Here is what we discussed:

The Governor has issued a new order called the Stay Safe Order.  In this Order, it was expressed there will be no gatherings of more than 10 people.

We are working closely with our cities to ensure we have fields available.  Currently Plymouth, Golden Valley and Robbinsdale have closed their fields indefinitely, New Hope has closed until June 15th and Crystal is closed until July 1st. 

With this information the ACYBA board has decided that there will be NO ACYBA ORGANIZED BASEBALL ACTIVITIES until at least July 1st.  If all goes well, on July 1st we will have some sort of baseball in our community.  At this time we do not know exactly what that will look like, and we will continue to update you with information as additional information becomes available.

The board will be meeting again on June 7th to discuss any updates or new information that will be available at that time.

Regarding Registration:

Many families registered prior to the delay to the season.  When it became apparent the season would be delayed, we offered those families that were registered the opportunity to remain registered or to request a refund of the registration if they felt they needed the money they used to register their child.  The board is still offering a full refund for families if they choose, per our last communication.  Please email Kristen Boughton for information regarding a refund.

Additionally, we now know that if we have a season this summer it will be very different in terms of length and structure.  For example, most youth tournaments have been cancelled.  The beginning of the season is lost.  As a result, once we have a season defined, we will review the costs associated with that season and revise the member registration fee’s we need to run the revised 2020 season.  This means a reduction in the cost for those individuals who remain registered, with a refund for the difference between what was paid vs the cost of the revised season.

We also recognize that many players and families have not registered, or some who did requested refunds.  ACYBA will create a new registration session once we have a season defined and the costs determined.  We will provide notification prior to that registration beginning and work with families to get all players registered who wish to play, so we can form teams and proceed with a season.

We know these are uncertain times for everyone; and we wish we could provide more clarity to you regarding the current baseball season.  At this point however, there are too many decisions outside of our control to be able to answer those questions.

Stay well

ACYBA Board

Yesterday, our registrar cancelled all remaining credit card payments for registrants.  This cancelation included both recurring payments and the volunteer amount which was scheduled to be charged in August following the end of season for anyone who did not complete their volunteer hours.

All volunteer amounts were canceled because we know our support needs have changed due to the current unknown status of our season.

We cancelled remaining recurring payments because we know if we have a season the program costs will be different than what a full season would have been.

Any family may still request a full refund.

The ACYBA Board will meet again on a June 7th.  At that time we hope to have more information to make a decision on the program status for 2020.