Tournament Teams

Disclaimer:  Bellaire Little League has no affiliation or control over privately formed tournament teams, included but not limited to manager / coaching qualifications or backgrounds, costs & fees, uniforms, field usage, selection of players, play time or rotation, etc.  Only those BLL teams selected by BLL Managers / Board for play in District 16 (9U, 10U, 11U, 12U) and Blue Gray (7U, 8U) are directly tied to BLL and under Little League Green Book Rules.  Once these teams finish their season through their respected LLI tournaments, any further play by these teams, managers, and players are considered private affiliations.

How to create your new team:

• Identify a player parent who has an interest in developing interest in players, parental coaches, and families who have further interest in additional reps, instruction and game/tournament play.
• Determine players and families with similar interests as Managers / Coaches
• Note: BLL prefers teams to be made up entirely of BLL participating players that have full intention to play in the BLL Spring season.
• Conduct initial parental meeting before any practices to discuss, vote, and inform the intention of the tournament team throughout the season and/or year
• Discuss costs of teams – field/cage usage, uniforms, tournament fees, private team instruction
• Order uniforms – Team name entirely up to your private team
• Determine leagues of play interests – Summer / Fall includes USSSA, Nations, and local Sunday Double Header Leagues (played every other Sunday).  USSSA and Nations work from a different age chart (May 31st) so players have the ability to play down into younger ages or play an additional length of time after they age out in LL.
• Obtain private insurance for the team
• Determine practice/field schedule.
• Note: If using BLL fields the team, needs to be made up of 50% or greater BLL participating players, work through BLL Board Scheduler for available times/days/fields, and must have dues paid up to date to BLL Board Treasurer ($1,200/year)
• Schedule identified tournaments, play, and win!

Notes:

Your players and families are entirely up to the Managers, Coaches, and / or Families participating.

Start tournament teams at an early age!  7U is probably the earliest to find tournaments but it’s never too young to start practices.

Playtime and pitching rules (9U+) differ greatly in USSSA and Nations from LLI, so it's encouraged to have families get familiar with differences and speak with the manager/coach regarding their intent of pitching arm health, roster size and play time in games & tournaments

Find families that everyone can have fun spending a considerable amount of time with, will encourage the players, and represent your team and the Bellaire community!

BLL Thoughts and Suggestions:

• BLL prefers all formed tournament teams to be “Spring loyal” to BLL and register for full Spring Season participation
• In Fall seasons, BLL often has an odd number of teams and could request BLL Fall non-participating players and teams to assist in completing a Fall game season schedule by playing mutually agreed upon games that have equally talented players (LLI age divisions could differ)
• Tournament teams are great ways to gain more reps, and play teams from across the Houston area, the state, and across the U.S.
• BLL wants all players to participate in as many BLL seasons, clinics, and programs as Bellaire tournament players have the ability to join.  Bellaire Little League supports your team!  Join us!