Subject: WBSA 14U Travel Softball Team and Tryouts Information

Attention neighboring Fairfield County 14U softball families:

The Wilton Baseball and Softball Association (WBSA) invites you to participate in tryouts for our 2018 14U travel softball team.  The team is sponsored and staffed by the WBSA, an organization that has been supplementing Little League baseball and softball programs for both Wilton and non-Wilton players as an operating non-profit since 2001.

Our first tryout date will occur Tuesday, August 29th, 530-730PM at the Middlebrook School on School Road in Wilton. 

An additional tryout date may be added should we receive notice of a significant number of conflicts.  WBSA coaches will be in attendance to run and score the tryouts using 14U softball tryout criteria that have been in use with the WBSA for years and are available to any one interested.

As you consider a host of travel softball options for the new year which begins with the August tryout season, we believe there are some unique properties that our families appreciate about this team, and that we think you will as well.  They are:

1. Competitive.  Given skill levels of the players we expect in attendance from Wilton and neighboring towns, we believe we will be starting from a talent base of strong players with a good amount of prior little league and/or travel ball experience.  Our aim is to win against strong Western CT area travel competition anchored by those teams listed with the FCSFL.

2. Superbly coached with strong emphasis on skill-building.  WBSA maintains a staff of paid softball coaches all with prior coaching and playing experience on up to the collegiate level.  A specific staff will not be named at the time of the tryout but will be assigned from the WBSA staff.  Credentials of the current staff can be viewed on the WBSA website at  Wilton Baseball & Softball Association, Inc.

3. Bridge to high school ball.  This team has a special mission to bridge players from competitive 12U play to any interest they may have to play for their local high school teams by the time they reach 9th grade.  Most players will be drawn from an 8th grade age group as a result.  We found that in speaking with many of the neighboring towns, we were all in the same boat - typically a core group of players exists who will graduate from the 12U program, but not enough for any one town to field a team.  By gathering these skilled players graduating from 12U teams in the area, we can keep growing their skills and maintain the experience of competing as a team.

4. Travel "Light".  We think your priorities will be similar to those we've heard from our parents elsewhere in the WBSA program and in neighboring towns - tremendous interest in the game, having fun, building skills and competing to win, but concern about the sacrifices of time for both parent and player to fulfill the obligations of a full tournament travel program.  Like the full tournament programs, the season for this team will begin with winter workouts on select February and March dates, and then move into competition in April, May and June, with the possibility to integrate play as a combined town Little League/Districts team.  Also like tournament teams, July will feature intensive play with games or practices scheduled approximately five days per week that month.  Unlike these programs, we won't be travelling especially far for any tournaments and will likely limit to approximately three for the entire season, with individual team matchups taking the majority of the schedule.  Total non-Little League games scheduled will be around 25-30.

5. Good kids and good families.  The WBSA and the families, players and sponsors that support it are a fun, friendly and welcoming bunch.  Just because we are located in Wilton and carry the town name doesn't mean you will be any less a member of the team family coming from one of our neighboring towns.  We have enjoyed our games with you bounded by town lines.  Here is a chance to play across those borders. 

6. Centrally located with good field access.  In fact, a team based in Wilton is a convenience for most communities in western Fairfield County.  Our location is central and we will be practicing and playing on a range of fields in town under our control or that we have access to that for most are no more than a 15-20 minute drive away.  We have a range of high quality indoor and outdoor practice and game facilities around the town to hone our skills.

7. Good value.  Full costs are not known yet, but similar to our other travel teams, the cost of team participation alone will be less than full tournament teams, and of course related travel costs (not typically considered in any travel team's budget) are less as well.

Note that depending on the makeup of this team, the total turnout, and the number that make the team, there could be possibilities for a team that also doubles as a little league team, a little league or travel A and B team, and perhaps even one that accommodates the high school season schedules.  We won't know any of that until we see who shows up at the tryout, their skill levels, ages, numbers, and their town of residence.

Thank you for your attention to this message.  Please indicate your interest to attend the tryout and information session on August 29th by contacting Domenic Rauccio, WBSA President at  , or John Kelly at  .  We will do our best to answer supplemental questions you may have prior to the tryouts via these contact points as well.