Georgian Bay Minor Softball League

Good Afternoon.. So lots of folks are checking in to see if anything has changed since our last post and sadly the answer is no. Some sports are doing registrations, just in case they can pull something off last second but at this point the GBMSL is not. Under the red zone restrictions it states "Team sports must not be practiced or played except for training (no games or scrimmage)" As of today the #'s of new cases is not falling so the chance of moving to a different zone... likely isn't real great. If things change in the near future for the better we will reassess but even if we make it all the way to green restrictions still apply from a max of 50 players in a league, which would be 3 to 4 teams with no physical contact. Not sure how you tag a player out without touching them? So there is still a lot of unknowns it seems. In a typical year most centers would just be wrapping up their final registrations now, we know it is discouraging but our hands are tied and there is nothing we can do about it. Sorry for the lack of good news, sadly it's just the same old news again, Keith Scheduler GBMSL

Happy New Years all! Here's a little update on where we stand at the moment as we see lots of folks visiting the page and likely looking for some kind of news. ...In a typical year some centers would already have registrations going for the upcoming year. I talked to Roy (President) yesterday to get his thoughts and it was felt that we should at least share something even if the news wasn't really much worth sharing! As you know we are currently in a total Ontario lockdown and it will last for the next month. Vaccines are starting but a long way off for those of us outside the essential services and seniors homes. Sadly at this point we have no prospects as we look forward to the current season. We are dependent on the Ontario government allowing gatherings large enough to comprise a team. Local governments would have to open fields and facilities so that we could use them and Softball Ontario and OASA would have to sanction things so we could buy insurance. Currently none of this is a reality at this time. We do remain hopeful that something can happen, even if it's a last moment rushed version of our season but that cannot happen until all the above issues are resolved. Stay tuned, remain hopeful and stay safe and as I was reminded yesterday...This too will pass! Yours in baseball, Keith, Scheduler/Past Pres. See more

Good afternoon all! Would just note that if you are trying to contact your community in regards to your 2020 registration refunds, etc. please do not do it through this page. Everyone connected to the league gets a notice about a page post and have to go in and read it when it has nothing to do with them. Please contact your community directly, most of them have facebook pages or websites with contact info, Thanks so much, All the community contacts & Executive with facebook!

Wyevale Tribe players This was not an easy decision to make, but please see the previous post regarding cancellation of our GBMSL season. Please do not contact us. Sorry, but Donny and I have over 100 families that we need to refund. I will be starting refunds on Monday and will contact families as I get to each one. This decision was just made this afternoon, so we... I mean I (inside joke for those of you who know Donny Woods) need to figure out over the weekend the best way to do this. Thank you for your understanding.

**COVID-19 Update** We hope that all of our baseball families are staying safe during these unprecedented times. It is with great disappointment that we have to announce that due to the extension of emergency measures and the cancellation of insurance coverage for the league and teams that we will not be in a position to run a season in 2020.... We realize that this will be a great disappointment to many that were looking forward to the season. We share in your disappointment and trust that this decision was not made lightly and weighed greatly on every community contact. We encourage you to contact your community directly to understand their plans for any refunds for registrations already received. Please exercise patience and understanding as we all navigate this situation. The league will continue to monitor the situation during the summer and may look at running some kind of limited program as we deem appropriate. Also, for those players that are in the Midget age group and playing their final season of minor ball we will be taking this under consideration for possibly extending age groups for the 2021 season. Stay safe and we hope to see you on the diamond soon! GBMSL Executive & Community Contacts

Wyevale Tribe Registration update We currently are accepting registrations by email, but I am not going to accept any email transfers at this time. With the closure of outdoor recreation amenities I don’t want to accept any more money that I may have to refund should the league not be able to continue this season. We will post an update towards the end of April once the league has made a decision. Thanks! And stay safe!

2020 update- So after some discussion in past day and after reading the responses from the communities that replied to our questions we want to share the following plan of action- We as a league will not make a decision to cancel or move forward until April 30th. This date will give us time to either have a season even if it is a couple weeks shorter or if the covid-19 distancing is still in force with no clear end in sight we will consider a full season cancellation.... That said if we do decide to proceed on April 30th centers must be prepared to submit their teams and registrations at that time, we will not have time at that point to wait for a center to complete their registrations. At this point we acknowledge that we have no idea as to what April 30th will look like but we do know that if we are not prepared to start scheduling on that date then there will be no season. There will be no penalty to a community that has no teams to register however if centers have teams to register and we can move forward on that date we will with whatever teams exist at that time. We may be forced to eliminate some tournaments/events or even reduce playoffs but that will be dependent on the number of teams playing and community availability as things come back online. We should emphasis that we are all bound by what the province allows and whether our own communities have returned to normal with facilities being open to use at that time. Stay tuned, stay safe and stay away :) Roy Patenaude- President Carl Luoma- Vice President Keith Chapman- Scheduler/Past Pres.

Update 2020, Communities are continuing registration in their town even though walk in registrations are not happening for good reason. We have not at this point changed anything in regards to season start so participating centers need to work towards our April 16th registration date. We will continue to monitor the virus situation and will post accordingly, even if we have to shorten the season it is our plan to proceed if at all possible, all for now, Keith Chapman- Schedul...er Carl Luoma- Vice President See more

I was reading with interest some of the comments in regards to daylight savings time on posts out there and was surprised with the number of negative opinions in regards to it. So I got thinking about our ball programs and how they would survive if we didn't have daylight savings. Typically it is getting dark in our summer games now around 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. with exception around the longest days of the year where you might get to 9:30. If we lost that hour there is a good cha...nce that would be unable to use any of our ball diamonds at all to play as we do now. It would be dark by 8:30 and most cloudy evenings or early and late summer games we might make it to 8:00 p.m. if we are lucky. So for all the naysayers out there, daylight saving time allows youth to play outdoor sport on fields without lighting, this could apply equally well to soccer programs, football, whatever. It's not as some of the quotes state that we think we are making the day longer, obviously that's not true, but we are extending the light in the evening hours making programs sustainable. Anyhow, just saying, not trying to start a debate but good food for thought!! Keith See more