North City Youth Baseball League

Our family has now been through two seasons at North City Youth Baseball. We have had a good experience and made some good friends. The competition level is good. There is a mix of travel ball, rec ball, and beginner experiences so all are welcome. The fields are always in fantastic shape. There are two locations: Mt. Etna and Hickman fields. They are only about 10 minutes apart and access to both facilities is easy. There are 2 fields for each division (1 at each location). This assures that there there is always field availability for practices and games can be completed at a reasonable time. Of course like all Youth baseball, this league is run all by volunteer parents and relies on fundraising. There is a good Fall Ball program that caters to more instructional clinics with local college coaches and players help out. The philosophy of the league is to have players prepared with the tools and skill set to make any high school baseball team after being coached and participating at North City. The graduated base/​pitching distances from age group to age group is a benefit to player development. Shetland (4−6yrs) begin on a tee for the first half of the season and move to a manual pitching machine the second half. This manual machine does a good job at letting the kids get used to live pitching with the consistent location and speed of the ball and reduces the fear of the ball. This continues to Pinto (7−8yrs). Though the pitching machine in Pinto is an electric wheel. The fields are wired for it, so there isn’t a cord draped across or anything. Live pitching from the players begins at Mustang (8−9yrs). By this time the players have had plenty of experience at hitting from the consistency of the machines. North City has a very good track record of success in post season tournament play. North City participates in a Memorial Day tournament as well as All Stars that is sanctioned by Pony Baseball. North City also hosts a Thanksgiving tournament during the holiday break that concludes the Fall Ball season. All in all — is it perfect — no. But I challenge you to find a program that is. Our experience has been better than friends playing in alternate leagues and we are happy at North City. We plan to have our two kids complete all levels as «Lifers» — which they get special jacket if they do. After checking into alternative leagues, we are happy we chose North City.

This is more of an inquiry or a plea for a review. I have done some preliminary research, saw a game or two, but have no first hand knowledge of the league. Everything that I have read or heard has been good. My conversation with a league official was informative. The real question is should I register my kid in North City Pony or Tecolote? He will begin Shetland this year, and I’m wondering which league is the best for competition, how it is run, and coaching standards? Any help?