1. What is travel baseball? NCYBA offers Cal Ripken travel teams for ages 7-12, for players interested in more competitive baseball. Our teams participate in Empire State Baseball League (ESBL) and ENYTB (Eastern NY Travel Baseball)
2. How far do you travel? Typically our teams travel around the capital region, within an hour of our fields. Teams can choose to travel further for games or tournaments.
3. When is the travel season? NCYBA Travel runs from September through July and includes fall ball, winter workouts, spring ball and spring/summer tournaments.
- Winter workouts generally occur in February and March.
- With the exception of evaluations, there are generally no baseball related activities in August, November, December or January.
- We do request that travel families try their best to not travel during the season as it creates issues with completing scheduled games. However we do understand this is not always possible and ask that if it is not, please alert your team manager as soon as possible.
4. Do travel players have to play rec? All NCYBA travel players are required to play rec baseball. This is to ensure the strength of our community program, as well as to give players the opportunity to play with different ages and abilities in a less stressful environment.
- Players are encouraged to attend all rec games and if too many are missed it may effect the players eligibility to continue playing travel.
5. How many teams are there? NCYBA strives to field two teams at every age 7-12. Realistically this is reliant on interest. When possible we will field a third team at any age, or if necessary we may only field one.
- Player age is based on the Cal Ripken rules and age chart.
- Each age will have Bison Blue (A), Bison White (B), and when applicable Bison Black (C) teams built considering players skill. Each team will play appropriate competition for their skill level.
- NCYBA’s goal is to offer as many opportunities to play as possible. Unfortunately we can not guarantee that all players who are interested will make a team. This is limited by the number of players on a team as well as the volunteers available to manage and coach teams.
- Generally teams will consist of 11 players. It is at the manager’s discretion to carry 12. In some cases teams will only have 10 (which will be approved by the Travel President or Vice President).
6. How are teams picked? Players are evaluated by three basic methods, travel team play, rec team play, and evaluation day performance.
- Depending on the age of the player, and their experience in the program, the various methods are weighted differently.
- NCYBA allows team managers the opportunity to choose their teams based on the criteria given. The travel league President and Vice President do not choose teams (other then their own when applicable), and are available as independent advisors to managers during the process.
# Who needs to attend 7U evaluation day? 7U evaluations will only be held if the number of players registered requires it. In which case all interested players must attend. Failure to attend could exclude a player from the opportunity to play. Reasonable opportunities to make missed evaluations will be considered.
# Who needs to attend 8U, 9U and 10U evaluation day? All interested players, failure to attend could exclude a player from the opportunity to play. Reasonable opportunities to make up missed evaluations will be considered.
# Who needs to attend 11U and 12U evaluation day? All interested players except returning 10, & 11 Bison Blue players and returning 11 Bison White players, which will be confirmed by their manager prior to evaluation.
- These players do not need to attend evaluation, unless requested, due to their length of time in the program and experience with their coaches.
- These players are heavily evaluated based on their travel and rec performance as observed by the Bison Blue Managers, and their performance at evaluation day will not effect their managers review of their skills.
- Managers at each age are also in communication with each other regarding player development and skill. Bison Blue managers are aware of potential players who may be in a position to move up and communicate often with Bison White managers to review and discuss player performance.
- Bison Blue players can be moved down if their performance no longer meets the level of their team’s or if a player not currently on the team has surpassed them in ability. Team managers will discuss this possibility with any player in this position.
- All interested players other then those excluded above must attend. Failure to attend could exclude a player from the opportunity to play. Reasonable opportunities to make up missed evaluations will be considered.
7. What happens on evaluation day? Generally evaluations test fundamental baseball skills including: fielding (outfield and infield), hitting and pitching.
- Players move through each skill and are evaluated by independent coaches not associated with their age group.
- Players are rated on a scale of 0-4, and when necessary additional notes are added.
- Evaluation sheets are collected by the Travel President and Vice President, calculated, and given to the appropriate managers for review.
- Evaluations are not available for review by parents or players, and are only one part of the overall evaluation of a player.
8. Can my player "play up"? While it occasionally happens in the younger divisions of our rec league, playing up in the travel program is extremely rare. For a player to be considered eligible to play up they must show considerable skill above all other players in the age group, and they must not displace a properly aged player. Exceptions may be made to create an age combined team, where the higher age is used for team classification.