Metro Softball - Secretary Emails 08-09

Happy New Year!!! This is my first newsletter back for 2009 and what a New Year it’s been ay! The weather has been awesome and I hope you all managed to get a break and are refreshed and ready for the run into the end of the season.

A huge congratulations has to go to our newest

New Zealand

representative – Beth Stavert. Beth is a member of our U17 Girls team and Premier Women’s squad and has just been named in the New Zealand Junior White Sox team to travel to

Australia

to play in the Friendship Series in July. Good luck for the series Beth, we know you will have a great time.

Our Premier Women were in action at the Doreen Dalton Tournament this weekend, so there was no game for them and of course our youngest members of the Club aren’t back in action until this week. I’m sure they are champing at the bit, to get back on the diamond.

Team photos will be taken at the Clubrooms from 6pm on Wednesday 25 February. We will be purchasing the smaller photos this year and the photographer has managed to keep the price down to $15 each. There is a five photo minimum purchase for each team. Please make sure your coach/manager has advised me that your team does want a photo and I will prepare a timetable for the night and get it out a week beforehand. No private cameras are allowed. Players to wear clean, tidy uniforms and no cleats to be worn in the clubrooms.

I will be sending out the Club trophy nomination forms soon. If you’d like to nominate someone for the Club Trophies, you are more than welcome to fill the forms in and get them back to me no later than Wednesday 25 February. These will be discussed at the Committee meeting the following night, so any entries received after Wednesday 25 February will not be accepted.

The next Player of the Day/Player of the Month presentation will be Saturday 28 February from 6pm.

There will be a private function down at the Club on Saturday 14 March, so the clubrooms will be closing at 6pm (sharp) that night.

Prizegiving this year will be held on Sunday 22 March – juniors from 3pm, seniors from 6pm – down at the Clubrooms. Please make sure you keep this afternoon free.

I know it’s a bit early to be talking about the end of the season, but we will have two Committee positions becoming vacant at the next AGM (in June/July). Unfortunately I will be stepping down as Club Secretary and Brendon Rau will also be stepping down as Treasurer. Therefore we are looking for a new Club Secretary and Treasurer. Now is your chance to put your hand up and help out your Club. If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare a week, then please let myself or Brendon know. The busy time for the Club Secretary is around registration, but other than that it’s only a couple of hours a week and similarly it’s busy for the Treasurer when the end of year accounts need to be prepared, but other than that, it’s not a huge commitment. The club needs good people who are prepared to help out and join a really motivated and friendly Committee. Please give this some thought and let us know asap if you are interested.

That’s about it for the week, I look forward to seeing you down at the Club soon.

Another fabulous weekend in terms of weather and results. Our results for the week were:

Congratulations goes to our Premier Women’s team who played in the inaugural Bev Smith Tournament at Howick yesterday and narrowly lost to Marist in the final. Well done girls, you played an awesome tournament and there were some huge hits. Megan Farrell also managed to pick up the award for Top Pitcher and Top Batter – so an awesome weekend for the girls!

Congratulations also goes out to Jenny Williams from our Premier Women’s Team who got a late call-up for the Auckland U19 representative side.

Don’t forget to put the 20^th of December in your diary for our next Player of the Day/Player of the Month celebration down at the Club. It will kick off at the normal time of 6.00pm and we’ll aim to have you out of there by 6.30pm. It’s not a huge time commitment and it’s a real shame if the players aren’t there to receive their awards.

Also don’t forget that most teams are playing on the 20^th of December – it’s really late I know, but that’s the way the ASA have planned the draws. Also the seniors will have a game on Saturday 17 January. Jason and I will be away in Nelson with the U19 Auckland Representative team from the 8^th-14^th of January, so if you think you’re going to have any issues with not having enough players for that weekend in January, you’d better let me know now so that I can default the game. Don’t forget any late default fines (ie., after Thursday of the week of the game) will be charged to the team involved. And I’d prefer not to get panicked cellphone calls in Nelson!

Well I think that’s about it for now. I hope you all have a great week and look forward to seeing you at the club soon.

What an awesome weekend, the weather was fantastic, our results were great and we had an awesome function on Saturday night. Our results for the week were:

There were some fantastic results above and I really have to mention our Premier Women beating … well to be honest, not just beating, but KILLING the Auckland Championship winners Ramblers by 10 points to 2!!! Fantastic results girls, we’re very proud of you!!!

It was FANTASTIC to see so many people down at the Club on Saturday night for the HorseRacing function and Player of the Day/Month. It was a little disappointing that so many of the Players of the Day/Month weren’t able to be there. Remember you can’t get your prize if you don’t turn up.

Our HorseRacing Evening was a lot of fun (and did I mention that I won the first race!!!). There was plenty of betting, yelling and screaming with some very high-spirited auctioning action going on (especially for one family who shall remain nameless, but if you were there, you’ll know who I mean!). Thank you so much to everyone who attended and supported this fundraising event. A big thank you to our U15 Red parents who supplied the food for Saturday night – it was awesome and if any team wants to do the same for the next Player of the Day/Player of the Month function on Saturday 20 December, please get in touch with me now.

Just a reminder that if you’re a pitcher or catcher and you want some excellent tuition from our current White Sox pitcher – Megan Farrell – make sure you get down to Metro on a Wednesday night for some one-on-one coaching from Megan. Bring all your gear and be ready to go from around 6pm – depending on traffic Megan is usually ready to go from about 6.15pm. There is no charge for this tuition, so make sure you get down there and get some tips from one of NZ’s top pitchers.

On a very sad note I need to let you know that Stephanie Thompsen a former Metro Premier Women’s player passed away on Sunday at the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington. A lot of our long-time Metro people will remember Stephanie and her father Warren who was a long-time Metro supporter and friend to many. Our thoughts go out to Warren and his family at this very sad time.

I’ve had a call from a lady by the name of Kimberley Lunn who needs our help. She is involved with a church group who is collecting second hand softball gear to give to two families who are in desperate need of help. One of the families is new to New Zealand and the other family has five foster children. The children of these two families are softball mad evidently and they were hoping to make up a couple of Xmas packs for these families and wanted to know where they could get some cheap second hand gear. The children range in age from 5 up to teenagers. I think that this is something that we (Metro) as a club can get behind and help with. If you have any second hand softball gear sitting around the house not being used, please bring it down to the Club on either Thursday or Saturday this week and we can make a combined donation from the club. This would be a really great thing to do – let’s get behind this and try and make these two families Xmas a bit happier!! Any queries, give me a call on 0272 175 994.

Well I think that’s about it for the week. Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you down at the park soon.

Well it was a beautiful day down at Metro yesterday and we had some awesome results:

You may have noticed that we’d been struck by a team of high-class graffiti artists this week, however instead of making a hell of a mess they managed to decorate the Metro home dugout with an awesome looking “M”. Thank you to our “mystery” graffiti artists it looks awesome!!

Not long now till our HorseRacing Evening, make sure you speak to the Manager of your team to ensure you get a horse for the big night – Saturday 29 November from 6.30pm. It will be an awesome night. Our Division 4 Men and Women are both playing down at the park that day at 1.30pm, followed by our Division 3 Men at 3.30pm, so come on down, watch a good game of social softball and then join us in the clubrooms for our HorseRacing and Player of the Month night. Remember if you’ve been named a Player of the Day for the last month, you need to be at the clubrooms to claim your certificate and goodies. Each coach will also name a Player of the Month and you must be there to claim your prize. The night starts at 6.30pm, but you will be able to purchase food from 5.30pm. One of our teams will be cooking up meals to sell as a form of fundraising and I hope to let you know the menu shortly. So come along watch a game of softball, have some dinner, take part in the HorseRace Evening and watch our Players of the Day and Month get their prizes – it will be an awesome day/night.

Congratulations go to our Metro Softball players who have been named in representative teams in the last week:

Under 13 Boys “A” Auckland Representatives – Cameron Bearman, Dimitri Morunga

We are awaiting the announcement of the U15 sides and will let you know the results hopefully next week.

Well I think that’s about all for now – hope you all have a great week and look forward to seeing you down at the Club soon.

10th November 2008 - Weekly Results Week 1 & 2

I’m sorry for the lack of weekly newsletter for the start of the season, my home computer spat the dummy and we’ve only just managed to get it back and get ALL your email addresses re-input into the machine. Don’t ya just love technology when it works!!!

Anyway it’s been a great start to the season for everyone I hope and it’s good to see everyone out on the diamonds around the city. Here’s our weekly results for Week 1 and Week 2:

Week 1:

U6 Rockets vs United White – 24 all draw.

U8 Sharks vs ??? – 24 all draw.

U10 Tigers had a bye.

U12 Red vs Otahuhu – 22/15 loss.

U13 Red vs United – 34/0 loss.

U14 Black vs United – 6/2 win.

U15 Red vs Magpies – 14/1 win.

U15 Black vs Drury – 28/0 loss.

U17 Boys vs Drury – 8/19 win.

U17 Girls vs Ramblers – 9/1 loss.

Div 4 Men vs Ramblers – 14/0 win (Mercy Rule).

Div 4 Women vs Bears – 9/4 win.

Div 3 Men vs Glenora – 9/1 win.

Div 3 Women vs NZSS – won by default.

Premier Women vs Ramblers – 1/0 loss.

Week 2:

U6 Rockets vs Ramblers – 33 all draw.

U8 Sharks vs Ramblers Choppers – 27 all draw.

U10 Tigers vs United Red – 34/19 win.

U12 Red vs Marist White – 11 all draw.

U13 Red vs Ramblers – 26/2 loss.

U14 Black vs Southern Braves – 24/1 win.

U15 Red vs Ramblers – 9/0 win.

U15 Black vs Pakuranga – 33/2 loss.

U17 Boys vs Bears – 7/2 win.

U17 Girls vs Marist Red – 10/2 loss.

Div 4 Men vs Marist – 10/5 loss.

Div 4 Women vs Southern Braves – 19/4 loss.

Div 3 Men vs Ramblers – 17/0 win.

Div 3 Women vs Otahuhu Black – 12/5 win.

Premier Women vs Otahuhu – 11/5 win.

Well there’s some awesome results there and I hope everyone is enjoying their softball this year.

Thank you so much to everyone for paying their fees and for getting birth certificates etc in on time. I really appreciate it.

We had a bit of a disastrous weekend on Weekend 1. Firstly our kitchen lady Kellie moved house on the Friday and managed to fall from the top of a set of stairs to the bottom and was rushed to hospital and didn’t have her cellphone or my phone number to let me know – so if you wondered why there was no food or the clubrooms was shut most of the day, that was why.

Secondly the Black Sox were supposed to have a training session down at Metro on the Sunday. After half the committee getting down to the park at 8.00am to get the diamond ready, we found out (by accident), that they’d made other arrangements and weren’t turning up. Unfortunately they failed to tell us this, so I apologise to those people who came down to the park expecting to see the Black Sox and all you saw were some of our Division 3 Men training – not quite as exciting I’m afraid.

On to upcoming events – our first ever Metro Horse Racing evening will be held down at Metro on Saturday 29 November from 6.30pm. We will combine this with our first (for the year) Player of the Month/Player of the Day celebration. If you’ve been named a Player of the Day during November, you will receive a certificate and some goodies and your coach will name a Player of the Month, who will receive a certificate and a little something from the committee. You MUST be at the Clubrooms to receive your certificate and gifts – if you are not there, you will not receive anything. Absolutely everyone is invited – grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers sisters etc.

Horse Race Evening – Saturday 29 November, 6.30pm at Metro Clubrooms

1. You have two horses per team to sell at a cost of $20 each. The purchaser of the horse is allowed to name it anything they want and I need the name of the horse, the owners name and $20 cash per horse by Saturday 22 November so that this information can be included in the printed programme for the evening. If you own a horse and your horse wins a race, you win an $80 dividend.

2. You need to nominate a jockey for your horse, who will wear a coloured bib and take part in the race.

3. On the night, all horses in each race are auctioned again. Everybody, including the owner has the opportunity to purchase that horse. If that horse wins, you will receive 2/3’s of the auction pool as a dividend as well.

4. After the horses are auctioned, the TOTE is open and punters can bet on which horse they think will win. This is only open for 5 minutes.

5. The race is started by the throwing of two dice. One for the horse number and one for the number of steps they take. Some races will have two or more laps, some will just have one.

6. The race will finish when the leading horse lands exactly over the finish line.

7. Once we have a winner the $80 dividend is paid to the original owner of the horse, the auction dividend is paid to the winner of the auction of that horse and the TOTE is paid out to the winning punters.

This is a family-friendly function and there will even be a juniors race – so make sure you come along and support the club. This will be our only major fundraising event for the year, so we really need your support. It will be a great night. The bar will be open till late and one of our teams will be providing fabulous cheap meals for you to purchase, so come along and make a night of it. It will be great to see you all there.

Well I think that’s about it for now.

I look forward to seeing you down at the Club soon

27 October 2008 - Start of the Season

We're in the final countdown to the start of the season now and I'd like to welcome all our new players and families as well as welcome back to our returning players. Weather permitting we'll see everyone on the diamonds this Saturday. Couple of things to remember:

The ASA website for draws is www.softballauckland.org.nz. Look on the left hand side under draws, select your grade and then your team. However I wouldn't be checking the draws until late Thursday as they are bound to change this early in the season.
Fees - must be paid no later than this Thursday if you want to play this weekend. I'll be at the club from 5.30pm till 7.00pm for those people who need to pay their fees still.
Birth Certificates - same as fees. I must sight the original and sign the copy this Thursday night if you want to play this weekend.
U13 Camp - there is a camp and U13 trial for children on Sunday 2 November at Fowlds Park. A similar format to last year except pitchers and catchers will be trialled prior to the camp beginning. The cost is the same as last year - $20 and this needs to be paid to me on Thursday night between 5.30pm-7.00pm. I need to have the money and names to the ASA the next day. Anyone wanting to get involved needs to come down to the club and register their involvement this Thursday. All players must bring a ball, a pen and lots to drink and eat. Pitchers and catchers need to report at 8.30am and all other players attending the camp need to report at 9.30am. The day will go through until at least 4.00pm.
Black Sox Training - the Black Sox will be having a training session down at Metro on Sunday 2 November between 9.30am-1.30pm. Everyone is welcome. There will be time for autographs and photos at some stage during the day. We'll also have a sausage sizzle and drink station set up, so make sure you bring some money. The bar will be open from 1.00pm for anyone wanting something a little stronger than softdrink!
Horse Racing Evening - our major fundraising event this year will be a Horse Racing Evening held on Saturday 15 November down at Metro (time to be confirmed shortly). Each team needs to sell two horses for $20 each and we need as many people to come along on the night as possible. This is a child friendly event and there will even be a Junior's Hurdle race. It'll be a fun night and a great way for you to help support our club. As I said earlier absolutely anyone is invited - friends, relatives, whoever - just get them down to Metro for a great night. See your team manager if you want to purchase a horse for the night!
We are having the Secondary Schools Inter-School Competition down at Metro on Monday and Wednesday nights for a couple of months before Xmas, therefore we will not be able to use ANY of the park between 4-6pm on Monday and Wednesday night. I know this isn't a huge training night and most people work anyway, so if you are wanting to train on Monday or Wednesday night, you will need to do it after 6pm.

12 October 2008 - Pre Season Newsletter

Well there's not long to go now till the start of the season (Saturday 1 November) for most people, however our Premier Women are already in action and have played two games. Their first game was last Saturday when they took on Marist and they narrowly lost this game in a TEN INNINGS tie breaker 5/3. Although unfortunately I was in Tauranga at the Tauranga Classic, I was receiving text updates every couple of minutes. The girls played amazingly and it was a fantastic start to the season for them. We took on our old foes Waitakere Bears yesterday and unfortunately we went down 4/0, however again the girls fought courageously and should be very proud of themselves.

We have our Coaches and Managers meeting on Thursday 16 October which is where your team's management will receive their gearbags and uniforms and a pile of other information. I'm sure if they haven't been already, they will be in touch with you soon after this meeting.

Important dates to remember:

Tuesday 28 October - first date you are allowed to train on the park (other than the skin diamond).

Thursday 30 October - last date for new junior players (and unfortunately some previous players) to bring their birth certificate or passport to the club (along with a photocopy) so that I can sight the original document and sign the copy and send the copy off to the ASA along with the team registration. Your Manager will be in touch to make sure that you are going to be able to do this before 30 October. If a player doesn't have an ASA number or a birth certificate lodged with the ASA, they will not be able to take the field until this is done.

Sunday 2 November - the Black Sox will be training on our skin diamond this day and it would be a great opportunity for the children to come down and see these guys train. There will be opportunities to meet the guys, get autographs and have your photos taken with them. I am just waiting on confirmed timings, but make sure you put Sunday 2 November in your diary and come on down to the Club and see our World Champions in action. We will also have a sausage sizzle - so make sure you bring some money to help fundraise for the club. I will send out more information closer to the time.

Saturday 15 November - Horse Racing Evening - this is our major fundraising event for the year. Unfortunately most of the fees you pay to us, we pay on to the ASA, so we need to fundraise to try and keep the club up and running. Please make sure you note this date down in your diary and encourage as many people as you can to attend. Without funding we can't pay for the Player of the Month prizes, end of year trophies etc that your children receive. Please help support us by attending this function.

3rd August 2008 - Registration

As promised, please find attached the registration form for the upcoming 2008/2009 season. Please fill this in asap and return it to me, either by email or by post to Julie Langlois, 18 Fairford Avenue, Henderson Heights. Please note that all fees must be paid at the time of registration, please see page 2 of the document for information on fees and how to pay this season.

You can also register in person and pay your fees on one of the two dates below, down at the Clubrooms:

Tuesday 19 August 6.30pm-7.30pm

Wednesday 20 August 6.30pm-7.30pm

New tee-ballers and first time junior players for the Metro Softball Club will need to provide a copy of their birth certificate or passport, along with the original birth certificate or passport to the Chairman of Metro Softball at the time of registration so that he can authenticate and sign the copy to prove that it is a true and accurate copy of the birth certificate or passport (this is an ASA requirement and must be completed for all new junior players to the Club).

We will be looking for players, Coaches and Managers for all grades from U6 Tee Ball through to our Reserve Grade Men this season, so if you are interested, or know anyone who is interested - please let me know or feel free to pass this email on to them.

The registration process will take up to 4-6 weeks, after which time your Coach/Manager will contact you with details of your team, training days etc. As with previous years, the first games will not be until the weekend after Labour Weekend, apart from Reserves and Premiers, who start playing at the beginning of October.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

2nd August 2008 - Club News

It is with great regret I have to advise you that our Chairman Barry Noyer has had to resign his post as Chairman (due to work constraints). Barry has been our Chairman for close to five years and has seen the club through some tough times. He will be sorely missed on our Committee, however we aren't losing him from the Club as he will be playing in the new Division Four mens side which Jason is getting together this season. On behalf of the Committee, players and supporters Barry, we'd like to thank you so much for all your hardwork and assistance over many years. The Committee elected a new Chairman at it's meeting on Thursday night and I'd like to advise that Jason Langlois is now our new Chairman. As you all know Jason is no stranger to the Metro Committee or Club having played for the Club for over 30 years.