Hi Calgary West Little League (CWLL) Families, season's greetings and here's to another great year of baseball ahead. With 2020 just around the corner, we wanted to share a few important updates on the upcoming Spring season.

Spring Registration - New Website & New Majors Division

We have a new Team Snap based website under construction (behind the scenes) with a more streamlined experience and improved registration that integrates with roster deployment following evaluations. The new registration system opens January 1st, so make sure you take advantage of registering early before fees increase (click here to access the system). We are planning for the website to be fully revamped some time before evaluations commence in February.

For the 2020 season, CWLL has received approval from Little League Canada to create two Major divisions comprised of all registered 11 and 12 year olds. The intent is to improve player safety, social-emotional experience and developmental skill for our players. By arranging age groups and skill levels closer together, the projected outcome of this shift is that CWLL players will have a more meaningful baseball experience. More information will be provided with Spring registration and evaluations.

Need Your Help - Casino Fundraisers in January

We have the opportunity to earn more over $85k for our League in January at our Elbow River Casino fundraisers, but we need your help to make it happen:

• Cal West's AGLC Casino - Sunday January 19, 2020 and Monday, January 20, 2020; our Association could earn approximately $70K from this event to benefit equipment and uniform replacement for our players. Click here to sign up
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• Little League District 8 Casino - Monday, January 27 and Tuesday, January 28, 2020; funding received (~$70k) benefits programming for all four member leagues in Little League for South Calgary, and District 8 is requesting each league to help provide ~ 12 volunteers or more. Click here to sign up.

There are many volunteer positions including back-ups still required for these events. On the job training and meals are provided. Please do your part and put in a shift for us!

Changes to the CWLL Board & Executive

With 2019 coming to an end, CWLL would like to take a moment to recognize Kevin Gerla for his contributions and dedication to the League. At our November Annual General Meeting, Kevin formally announced his resignation from the President role after 5 successful years (click here for more).

I'm very excited to be the new President of Cal West, taking over with so much momentum and success from Kevin's term. Taking on the President's role was something I've always been interested in but the opportunity presented itself earlier than I was expecting. I'm looking forward to building on our 50 year foundation of success, fun, and competitiveness with the following as top of mind for our league:

• Inclusive and growing for all ages and abilities
• Competitive alternative for teenagers to remain interested playing beyond Majors
• Continuing to be a sustainable, fiscally responsible volunteer organization

I've been a coach in Cal West the past 4 years, and was the Rookie Ball Division Coordinator last year with my wife, Alana. We have three young boys at home - the older two have played Cal West ball since Blast Ball and we are pretty sure we have over a decade of Little League ahead of us! I grew up playing Little League in Red Deer and having some of my fondest baseball memories traveling during summer for All-Stars. I played competitive baseball through my thirties and co-founded the Calgary Wolfpack (FMBA) in 2007. Baseball is my favourite sport to watch, play, and coach. Being President of Cal West is an exciting extension of my own baseball career and allows me to apply my career skills in management and engineering in such an important volunteering capacity. I'm looking forward to meeting you all in the years ahead - please take a moment to introduce yourself if you see me around the ball diamonds.

There were many other appointments and position changes to our CWLL Board and Executive at our 2019 Annual General Meeting held on November 26th (click here for our list of members). We now have the largest volunteer body in CWLL noted over the past 15 years, which will tremendously help with managing the upcoming season while also working towards longer term opportunities to continue growing and improving the League. A big thank you to our CWLL Board and Executive for their previous and ongoing service.

We always need more help to provide an excellent baseball experience - please don't hesitate to reach out to the Board if you have an interest. We will look to form subcommittees for items requiring additional attention and help beyond the day-to-day league stuff. There are also many occasional / ad hoc opportunities to pitch in that require no prior experience, including the January Casinos.

Best wishes to you as we close out 2019!

Chris

Chris May  | President

Calgary West Little League

e. president@cwll.org  |  w. www.cwll.org