The Carillon Sultans of all ages are ready to kick off another season and co-president Louis Cote couldn't be more excited.
"We're really excited the way the weather has been going here," Cote says with a smile. "The ball diamonds are drying up in the majority of the communities and we're hoping to get outside earlier than normal, instead of just being in the indoor facilities."
It's going to be another very busy year for Carillon Minor Baseball as Cote breaks down how many teams will be involved this season. "Typically, there are around 100 teams between all the age groups. The more organized league play starts at the U11 level, we're usually around the 30 team mark at that level. Then it sort of goes down as kids get older, U13, U15, U18, they start to find other interests and a little less focus on the sport starts to happen. But, it's right around 100, that's what we'd have."
Cote says it's been building throughout the years. "We really hit a spike around four or five years ago. We were on a pace where every year we were going up 10% to 20% and the last couple of years, after COVID, those years were an outlier, but we've hit an amount we're comfortable having with the size of our communities and the amount of baseball facilities we have in the area."
On top of the various older ages, Cote is perhaps most proud of the program for the younger ball players. "There's a Rally Cap program basically in every community, that's for kids that are seven and under. The program is sponsored by the Toronto Blue Jays. So, the kids get some neat stuff out of that program and it's really well organized. There are great coaches, learning the skill and enjoying the game. After that, it goes to the U9 level which is called Grand Slam, it's very exciting in those games, there are only six players on the field and it's coached-pitched, so there is lots of activity, lots of opportunities for players to hit or field. The Rally Cap and Grand Slam programs are community based, so people are not driving a long way to be playing games, they don't have to leave their community to play."
As they go up in age, Cote says there is more travel but they have the players and parents best interest in mind when it comes to making the schedule. "What we try to do with the local leagues is we use geography to set up our schedule. You won't be seeing Beausejour driving out to Vassar on a Wednesday night. We try and keep the travel to around 20 minutes or half an hour."
Looking broadly over the Sultans programs, Cote says expectations are high. "At the local level, it's important to get as many kids playing baseball as we can. The focus is on participation, lots of activity on the field and we've made a lot of rule changes to the game of baseball, especially at the lower ages to encourage activity. For example, those six player Grand Slam games, the U11 game actually hits off a tee after ball four, instead of the old merry-go-round we had when I was a kid. It gets kids excited about baseball and builds their skill level, that's the goal with community baseball. It goes to another level with the high performance stuff."
With so many players and teams, Cote says the challenges are there for minor ball in the Steinbach area. "Field availability is always an issue, there isn't enough ball diamonds in the area. The problem with that is you can't all of a sudden build another diamond on year, you need to have planning in communities but if ball diamonds could be on the forefront for that, it would allow for more kids to play the game. Right now, we have to be very structured to fit everything in."
Registration is on now but time is running out, but Cote says it's very easy to get all signed up. "Head over to our website, Carillon Minor Baseball Association - Home, it's very easy. We have the list of every community's registration contact, so you can reach out, register and ask some questions."