The Parksville Royals Baseball Club is proud to announce winterball plans for the 2022 season. 

***IF YOU REGISTERED FOR FALL BALL IN SEPTEMBER, YOU DO NOT NEED TO RE-REGISTER FOR WINTERBALL***

REGISTER HERE

We will once again be conducting in-door workouts at Arbutus Meadows.  The costs for the operators of Arbutus Meadows, notably insurance, have drastically increased and they have been forced to pass those costs down to us.  As a result, Arbutus will not refund the Royals in the event our sessions are cancelled due to changes in the Provincial Health Authority’s COVID guidelines.  We are working closely with Arbutus Meadows to manage our exposure here and appreciate their efforts to maintain such a great facility for youth sports.

We have managed to reduce the fees for Winterball (coaching and in-door facility rental) from the 2021 amount.  Fees are payable via e-transfer to parksville.royals.baseball@gmail.com in two equal instalments of $300 due on January 8 and February 5 respectively.

The Royals intend to field a Senior team, a Junior team, and two Bantam teams in the spring.  We have coaching in place and plan to finalize rosters for each team in late March. 

Rapsodo!  As a result of the generous support of Royals alumni & the Dave Wallace Legacy Fund, the organization has purchased the Rapsodo pitching training system.  The coaches plan to integrate its use throughout the Winterball sessions and into our full pitching program.

We are very excited to bring this training system into our plans.  While we are one of very few high school programs in the country to adopt Rapsodo, it is in widespread use at the college and professional levels.  We felt that introducing the system would enable our players to better understand their pitch mechanics and reinforce our goal of measured and targeted skill improvement.   

Any questions, please contact:    Mike Parlow 250 954 7850

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The Parksville Royals Baseball Club is a registered non-profit society that provides youth in our community with the opportunity to have fun playing baseball while competing at the highest level.  The Royals are run by a volunteer executive board striving to enhance the quality of life in the community through youth sports.  The program offers three teams: Senior & Junior for grades 10-12, and Bantam for grades 8 & 9.

The Parksville Royals have become an institution in the North Island over the course of their 27 year history. A founding member of the internationally famous BC Premier Baseball League, the Parksville Royals provide an opportunity for youth aged 13-17 to excel at their chosen sport as well as learn sportsmanship & fair play.

In 2021, six of the seven graduating players went on to realize their dream of playing college baseball.  In fact, over the course of the team’s history, no fewer than 94 players have used the Parksville Royals as their platform to professional and college baseball.  From Springwood Park to the Major Leagues and places in between, the Royals organization is proud to help Island youth achieve their baseball goals & dreams.

The Royals strive to give players the necessary development so that they are capable of competing at the next level - specifically college or university baseball.  With that objective in mind, we will always stress the importance of school and putting your best effort forward in the classroom. You cannot play baseball at the college level if you are academically ineligible.

We expect commitment from the players to the Royals program and provide an environment where players develop as people by interacting positively with new teammates and coaches.  The organization endeavours to promote and create an enthusiasm for the game of baseball in our community.

Playing Time Policy

What constitutes reasonable and fair playing time can be an emotional and divisive issue for parents, players, and coaches. This reflects the tension between two fundamental goals of the Royals Baseball program; 1) our emphasis on player development and 2) the necessity of preparing our graduating players to compete at the college level.  

Preparing our players for the college game requires instilling a competitive drive as college players who do not compete do not play. A Royals Coach must have the tools and flexibility needed to encourage the competitive spirit in his players. The allocation of playing time is a legitimate way to motivate hard work, discipline, positive attitude, focus, and game performance.

However, the balance between skill development, playing time, and competition is not the same at every level of Royals Baseball.  Skill development is a higher priority with the youngest team than it is with the oldest team.  This means that playing time on the younger Royals teams, while not equal, will be more evenly distributed than it is with the older Royals teams whose players are approaching graduation into college baseball.

The Bantam team is a crucial step in the high-performance development path of Royals Baseball. The Bantam Royals compete in the fiercely competitive PBL Bantam Prep League.  Players should still play regularly, though there is an understanding that the playing time will start to be earned, and more disparity may occur than at previous levels. There may be players on this team that self-select as “pitcher only” and their playing time will be reflected accordingly. Roster size is generally 14.

The Junior team strives to compete strongly in the JPBL and at the same time should still be viewed as a developmental team that feeds players up to the Premier level. The team will carry a larger roster than the bantam team and is more likely to have multiple “pitcher only” players. Roster size is generally 15-17.

At the Senior level, there are many more variables that play into the determination of playing time as Premier players are close to reaching college eligibility. The Senior Coach will need to use playing time as an incentive to encourage behaviours that are required of a player both on and off the field. Off-field training and conduct become much more significant factors. More players are considered “pitcher only.” There will generally be a larger roster on the Senior team than on any of the other teams, and competition for positions must continue throughout the calendar year. That said, players who have been named to the Premier team should have the opportunity to play and to earn playing time accordingly. Roster size is generally 16-18.