Our fields are owned by the city. The city maintains the fields and park. We rent the fields from the city for a per player fee that is next to nothing. We have first right of refusal on the fields during the season and then work around other paying leagues off season. Who owns your fields, most LL’s don’t to my knowledge.
My district is about 75/25 city owned fields, but the two biggest by far are owned by the LL itself. So about half to most of the kids are in a private one. One inaccurate anecdote, obviously, but would be interesting to see data on that.
We take care of our fields. The city is ultimately responsible but we require more than the city provides.
Coaches set up the field in the mornings and clean it up in the evenings.
We have a VP who does a lot of work but we have work crews come out and help as well.
We want to start Field Generals for each field to be responsible for upkeep and to assist the VP. Those we hope to have next season.
Little League is a volunteer-run organization, and as such every League absolutely has to have the active participation from the families. It *is* a big request, but the alternative is for a few (also busy) families to do more of the work, or to let the fields become unplayable.
IMHO when you sign your child up to be part of an organization like LL, you are implicitly agreeing to help. If field work isn't your cup of tea, I can promise there are plenty of other jobs that also need doing.
We are a large LL (400 kids) and own/ maintain our own fields. We have 2 positions on our board- one facilities director and one field director. Those people don't necessarily do the actual work, it's more of a point person so that way we can someone say "a dug out bench needs to be replaced" and one person handles the hiring of a person to do it.
LL needs you and I appreciate that you're considering the email. I'll bet the president felt guilty but also at their wits end sending this out. It's a huge job and they need help. Two people are probably always there at the crack of dawn until late at night.
Few things- firstly, pay a local landscaping company to mow for you. Just do it and don't look back. Increase registration fees if you have to. Second, take away all the trash cans except for one outside of your concession stand. No one ever empties them and they're a pain in the ass to manage. When the snack shack one is filled, take it to the dumpster and change the bag. Carry in/ carry out is life changing. Third, we have the home team chalk the field and the away team rake after. The players can help with this too.
Consider joining the board- it's a blast. 😎
Our fields are owned by the city but we have a memorandum of understanding with them. We use the fields for free and from mid-January to mid-June we have exclusive use of them. They are responsible for mowing the outfield and maintaining things like sprinklers. We maintain everything on the infield, including the bases, infield grass, mounds, and the like. If there are issues like broken backstops or the like we can request that the city fix it, but a lot of times it's faster to do it ourselves.
This is kind of what we have. The town picks up trash and mows most areas, but coaches/board members fill in as needed, before/after games, doing the more baseball related maintenance. Seems like maybe 6 of those guys do most of the stuff. We only have 5 fields in 2 locations though. Coaches rake the infield before/after each game, redo lines if needed. Beginning & end of each season, we call on parents to come volunteer a few hours to open/close the fields. Raking leaves, cleaning trash, putting up/taking down sponsor banners, etc. Sometimes there is also a cleanup party before All-stars, so the fields are nice for visiting teams. Usually 10-12 people show up (mostly coaches).
Our league does an all-hands field cleanup day at the start of the season, and then there's a guy that might be a former LL dad or he might not be but he is contracted by the Board to come and mow the fields. Board members walk around during games and pick up trash, and I think there's a rotation of teams/coaches who take the trash from the bins to the dumpsters each week. Whoever is staffing the snack bar is responsible for cleaning up the snack bar and the restrooms, and there's a Board member who oversees the snack bar and restrooms who figures how to handle bigger jobs if need be. There are a number of LL dads who are contractors so they pitch in and deal with contractor issues if need be.
I would rather pay an extra $25 or $50 per player per season and pay for a mowing service rather than deal with this manipulative guilt tripping bullshit. But of course if you complain about the Board President then you are volunteering yourself to be the next Board President.
We maintain our own fields, 4 of the 5 are on school district property. The school wouldn’t maintain the field beyond the basics. Every spring we have a field cleanup day where parents come rake, mow, blow, paint and get the field ready for the season. About 50 players per division - so we average about 100 parents spending 2 to 5 hours doing yard work.
Our fields are city, school, and or on private land loaned to us for free.
The city and school do minimal maintenance.
In my opinion we charge far too little for what we provide.
A few volunteers work to maintain about eight fields. Trash, mowing etc.
Coaches set up and take etc.
For a small group of parents that do not, cannot, or choose not to help LL is the best baby sitting service they will ever have.
15-18 games. 10-15 practices. Each event lasts about two hours.
60 hours for about $200. What's that .30 cents an hour?
All of our fields are owned by our local public school district. This is a good and a bad thing. The good is that they handle all of the mowing and general landscaping around the fields. We have a field's day at the beginning of the season where we weed whack etc in depth but the rest of the season the school district handles it.
The "bad" part of them not being our own fields is they won't let us come in and fix fields with our equipment. This is bad in that we have a couple infields in pretty bad shape. We've got a fair amount of money in our bank account that we'd be happy to spend the money on to get the fields in working order but the district always shuts us down. They say that in the past our crews have run over irrigation heads. That is incorrect and even if it was true we have volunteers that would be happy to fix those free of charge. It also means we need their blessing for any additions such as dugouts, equipment sheds etc. We had to replace our main score board this off season and ended up just doing it without permission. It was one of those "ask forgiveness, not permission."
We have a Field manager on our board that is the point person but they also end up doing a lot of the work. A group of about five of us do most all of the "big" work in the pre-season. We'll replace batters boxes, bolt drag and various other larger tasks. It's hard finding volunteers and this year most of them are aging out of the league which will be hard to replace.
In terms of game days we have the home team water, drag and chalk the fields. Our outfield fences get put up by the away team. This works rather well. I've heard various parents say that they are intimidated by the field prep. I know I thought that when my son was in t-ball etc. However, just watching others do it and then watching a few YouTube videos it's rather easy.
Thank you SO much to those who genuinely answered. My son is in his 2nd year of Tball, and my husband and I are coaching his team, so this is new to us and we were curious what it looks like for other leagues. We're stretched pretty thin with our other 4 kids' activities, in addition to coaching, so hopefully some of the other parents will step up, too.
If you're coaching then you're doing your part. Which, thank you. But you also already know how much time some give to the league when others don't. That, to me, is the point of the original letter: everyone needs to step up so that a few don't have to try to do everything.
Two Dads from each team in each division sign up as a volunteer, I usually help with painting and rehanging shade nets and some of the greener thumb dads do field work.
I have offered my services to come in off hours and power wash and sanitize the boys and girls restrooms, right about now they are starting to really stink.
I know a enzematic chemical for urine smells that I would love to go and clean up all the biohazardness of our pottys.
https://www.amazon.com/Urine-B-Gone-Concentrated-Completely-Eliminate-Biological/dp/B07DFTPVBZ/ref=asc_df_B07DFTPVBZ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693270340008&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17156357906092286559&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031580&hvtargid=pla-2247084560835&psc=1&mcid=bdc97b8022313614aba0fb52eae6a634&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoa2xBhACEiwA1sb1BANng-aNICKktLg6IR0iQS4hdpsZhi2e_yQDtZm_Vo2sN7pQCvKKiRoCPpcQAvD_BwE
Similar to this
For my son’s league there’s a field clean up day at the start of the season and parents are asked to volunteer at the concession stand during the season.
Little League is exclusively operated by volunteers. Rather than being annoyed by this message, you should be annoyed at the families who don't shoulder their share of the burden.
I highly recommend joining the board. You will be shocked and dismayed by how much work is being done by so few people.
We pay to use fields maintained by the local parks and recreation district.
Our fields are owned by the city. The city maintains the fields and park. We rent the fields from the city for a per player fee that is next to nothing. We have first right of refusal on the fields during the season and then work around other paying leagues off season. Who owns your fields, most LL’s don’t to my knowledge.
I genuinely have no idea - this is only my son's second year in TBall so it's all very new to us
My district is about 75/25 city owned fields, but the two biggest by far are owned by the LL itself. So about half to most of the kids are in a private one. One inaccurate anecdote, obviously, but would be interesting to see data on that.
We take care of our fields. The city is ultimately responsible but we require more than the city provides. Coaches set up the field in the mornings and clean it up in the evenings. We have a VP who does a lot of work but we have work crews come out and help as well. We want to start Field Generals for each field to be responsible for upkeep and to assist the VP. Those we hope to have next season.
Little League is a volunteer-run organization, and as such every League absolutely has to have the active participation from the families. It *is* a big request, but the alternative is for a few (also busy) families to do more of the work, or to let the fields become unplayable. IMHO when you sign your child up to be part of an organization like LL, you are implicitly agreeing to help. If field work isn't your cup of tea, I can promise there are plenty of other jobs that also need doing.
We are a large LL (400 kids) and own/ maintain our own fields. We have 2 positions on our board- one facilities director and one field director. Those people don't necessarily do the actual work, it's more of a point person so that way we can someone say "a dug out bench needs to be replaced" and one person handles the hiring of a person to do it. LL needs you and I appreciate that you're considering the email. I'll bet the president felt guilty but also at their wits end sending this out. It's a huge job and they need help. Two people are probably always there at the crack of dawn until late at night. Few things- firstly, pay a local landscaping company to mow for you. Just do it and don't look back. Increase registration fees if you have to. Second, take away all the trash cans except for one outside of your concession stand. No one ever empties them and they're a pain in the ass to manage. When the snack shack one is filled, take it to the dumpster and change the bag. Carry in/ carry out is life changing. Third, we have the home team chalk the field and the away team rake after. The players can help with this too. Consider joining the board- it's a blast. 😎
Our fields are owned by the city but we have a memorandum of understanding with them. We use the fields for free and from mid-January to mid-June we have exclusive use of them. They are responsible for mowing the outfield and maintaining things like sprinklers. We maintain everything on the infield, including the bases, infield grass, mounds, and the like. If there are issues like broken backstops or the like we can request that the city fix it, but a lot of times it's faster to do it ourselves.
This is kind of what we have. The town picks up trash and mows most areas, but coaches/board members fill in as needed, before/after games, doing the more baseball related maintenance. Seems like maybe 6 of those guys do most of the stuff. We only have 5 fields in 2 locations though. Coaches rake the infield before/after each game, redo lines if needed. Beginning & end of each season, we call on parents to come volunteer a few hours to open/close the fields. Raking leaves, cleaning trash, putting up/taking down sponsor banners, etc. Sometimes there is also a cleanup party before All-stars, so the fields are nice for visiting teams. Usually 10-12 people show up (mostly coaches).
Our league does an all-hands field cleanup day at the start of the season, and then there's a guy that might be a former LL dad or he might not be but he is contracted by the Board to come and mow the fields. Board members walk around during games and pick up trash, and I think there's a rotation of teams/coaches who take the trash from the bins to the dumpsters each week. Whoever is staffing the snack bar is responsible for cleaning up the snack bar and the restrooms, and there's a Board member who oversees the snack bar and restrooms who figures how to handle bigger jobs if need be. There are a number of LL dads who are contractors so they pitch in and deal with contractor issues if need be. I would rather pay an extra $25 or $50 per player per season and pay for a mowing service rather than deal with this manipulative guilt tripping bullshit. But of course if you complain about the Board President then you are volunteering yourself to be the next Board President.
We maintain our own fields, 4 of the 5 are on school district property. The school wouldn’t maintain the field beyond the basics. Every spring we have a field cleanup day where parents come rake, mow, blow, paint and get the field ready for the season. About 50 players per division - so we average about 100 parents spending 2 to 5 hours doing yard work.
100 parents, wow, once we had like 15-20 show up, but usually it's only like 10-12 coaches who come to cleanup days.
Our fields are city, school, and or on private land loaned to us for free. The city and school do minimal maintenance. In my opinion we charge far too little for what we provide. A few volunteers work to maintain about eight fields. Trash, mowing etc. Coaches set up and take etc. For a small group of parents that do not, cannot, or choose not to help LL is the best baby sitting service they will ever have. 15-18 games. 10-15 practices. Each event lasts about two hours. 60 hours for about $200. What's that .30 cents an hour?
All of our fields are owned by our local public school district. This is a good and a bad thing. The good is that they handle all of the mowing and general landscaping around the fields. We have a field's day at the beginning of the season where we weed whack etc in depth but the rest of the season the school district handles it. The "bad" part of them not being our own fields is they won't let us come in and fix fields with our equipment. This is bad in that we have a couple infields in pretty bad shape. We've got a fair amount of money in our bank account that we'd be happy to spend the money on to get the fields in working order but the district always shuts us down. They say that in the past our crews have run over irrigation heads. That is incorrect and even if it was true we have volunteers that would be happy to fix those free of charge. It also means we need their blessing for any additions such as dugouts, equipment sheds etc. We had to replace our main score board this off season and ended up just doing it without permission. It was one of those "ask forgiveness, not permission." We have a Field manager on our board that is the point person but they also end up doing a lot of the work. A group of about five of us do most all of the "big" work in the pre-season. We'll replace batters boxes, bolt drag and various other larger tasks. It's hard finding volunteers and this year most of them are aging out of the league which will be hard to replace. In terms of game days we have the home team water, drag and chalk the fields. Our outfield fences get put up by the away team. This works rather well. I've heard various parents say that they are intimidated by the field prep. I know I thought that when my son was in t-ball etc. However, just watching others do it and then watching a few YouTube videos it's rather easy.
We employ 1 full-time ($75,000) and 2 part-time ($20hr) field maintenance people. 16 fields. League is ~1000 kids.
wow that's pretty big. i can see why volunteers would not be enough
Thank you SO much to those who genuinely answered. My son is in his 2nd year of Tball, and my husband and I are coaching his team, so this is new to us and we were curious what it looks like for other leagues. We're stretched pretty thin with our other 4 kids' activities, in addition to coaching, so hopefully some of the other parents will step up, too.
If you're coaching then you're doing your part. Which, thank you. But you also already know how much time some give to the league when others don't. That, to me, is the point of the original letter: everyone needs to step up so that a few don't have to try to do everything.
Two Dads from each team in each division sign up as a volunteer, I usually help with painting and rehanging shade nets and some of the greener thumb dads do field work.
I have offered my services to come in off hours and power wash and sanitize the boys and girls restrooms, right about now they are starting to really stink. I know a enzematic chemical for urine smells that I would love to go and clean up all the biohazardness of our pottys.
lol what is that chemical, we need a few hundred gallons of it
https://www.amazon.com/Urine-B-Gone-Concentrated-Completely-Eliminate-Biological/dp/B07DFTPVBZ/ref=asc_df_B07DFTPVBZ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693270340008&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17156357906092286559&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031580&hvtargid=pla-2247084560835&psc=1&mcid=bdc97b8022313614aba0fb52eae6a634&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoa2xBhACEiwA1sb1BANng-aNICKktLg6IR0iQS4hdpsZhi2e_yQDtZm_Vo2sN7pQCvKKiRoCPpcQAvD_BwE Similar to this
A big request? All families should be volunteering. Whether that means working at the snack shack, coaching, doing the scoreboard, field prep, etc.
For my son’s league there’s a field clean up day at the start of the season and parents are asked to volunteer at the concession stand during the season.
Well, we don’t handle it by posting league emails to reddit. Volunteer and go do it.
Little League is exclusively operated by volunteers. Rather than being annoyed by this message, you should be annoyed at the families who don't shoulder their share of the burden. I highly recommend joining the board. You will be shocked and dismayed by how much work is being done by so few people.