Baseball Director

Tom Thiessen

Welcome to Dakota Baseball!  We are pleased to provide a program that focuses on skill development for all ages, combining competitive play and sportsmanship in a fun baseball environment.

Age categories for Dakota's baseball program are as follows:

• Rally Cap – Players born in 2005 or later
• Rookie – Players born in 2003 or later
• Mosquito – Players born in 2001 or later
• Pee Wee – Players born in 1999 or later
• Bantam – Players born in 1997 or later
• Midget – Players born in 1994 or later

Please note that spring registration will take place March 6, 8 & 10th at Dakota Community Centre.  Registration times are available via the following link http://www.dakotacc.com/information/spring_registration.htm

General Program Information

The baseball regular season starts first week in May and generally concludes at the end of June.  Teams that are eligible for the playoffs and subsequent city championships continue playing in July.

All Dakota baseball players are required to bring their own baseball glove and batting helmet to games and practices.

Rules, field dimensions, and information regarding coaching certifications, pitch counts, etc. are detailed in the Baseball Manitoba Handbook, available at the following link: http://www.baseballmanitoba.ca/handbook.php.

The Dakota Baseball Program focuses on principles of Fair Play.  From a program perspective, this ensures that we will do our best to see that:

1. All children are given the same chance to participate, regardless of gender, ability, ethnic background or race;
2. Winning is kept in proper perspective;
3. Coaches and officials are capable of promoting fair play as well as the development of good technical skills.

All baseball parents are required to sign the Baseball Parent Code of Conduct at the start of each season.  A copy of the document is available here.

Upcoming Tryouts - Mosquito 'AA' and PeeWee 'AA'

Dakota will host tryouts for Mosquito ‘AA’ and PeeWee ‘AA’ teams at Burland Field during the following dates/times:

• Mosquito Tryouts – Saturday, April 14th, 2012, 10:00am to 12:30 noon
• PeeWee Tryouts – Saturday, April 14th, 2012, 1:00 - 3:30pm
• Potential rainout dates will be April 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st as needed.

Players will need the following equipment:

• Glove
• Batting Helmet
• Athletic Supporter
• Cleats (optional)

Upcoming Tryouts - Bonivital 'AAA' BlackSox

Dakota C.C. is a member club of the Bonivital Minor Baseball Association, which is holding its annual ‘AAA’ BlackSox tryouts (PeeWee, Bantam, and Midget age groups) at the University of Manitoba Indoor Soccer Complex during the following dates/times:

• Date 1 – TBD
• Date 2 – TBD
• Date 3 – TBD

There will be a $40 tryout fee (cash or cheque payable to Bonivital Baseball).

Playing Fields

Dakota is part of Bonivital Minor Baseball, and games are played throughout the region. Home games for Dakota teams are played at the following locations:

• George McDowell School (Rally Cap and Rookie teams)
• Highbury Field (Mosquito teams)
• Burland Field (Pee Wee and Bantam teams)
• Whittier Park (Midget teams)

Batting Cage/Practice Facility

Until a permanent practice field/batting cage is set up on site, Dakota Baseball will be offering a temporary batting cage, located at the community centre in outdoor rink #2. The batting cage is available from May to August.

Coaches

We are most grateful for our volunteer coaches and administrators, who dedicate countless hours to Dakota Baseball.  Thank you to Terry Couvier, VP of Summer Sports, and to all of Dakota’s head coaches for 2011 (as follows):

Rally Cap:  Darryl Bruce, Jeremy Dunton, Greg Giesbrecht, Dean Hinther, Kevin Lagace, Tom Thiessen

Rookie:  Luc Jubinville, Philip Kaleta, Dave Morcom, Monte Scholz

Mosquito ‘A’:  Stu Brown

Mosquito ‘AA’:  Rick Gareipy

Pee Wee ‘A’:  Rick Doig, Chris Powell

Pee Wee ‘AA’:  Steve Fouquette

Bantam ‘A’:  Dan Debreuil

Bantam ‘AA’:  Aime Grenier

If you are interested in volunteering as a coach or manager in 2012, please contact Tom Thiessen at