Fox Point / East Side Little League: League FAQs

Saturday, December 29
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can my child play in the league if we don't live on the East Side or in Fox Point?
Q. Can my child play if s/he is only 4 years old?
Q. What is the age range of the children on a team?
Q. How much does it cost to register?
Q. Do I need to provide a birth certificate to register my child?
Q. I provided the league with a birth certificate last year, do I need to provide one again?
Q. My child was born in another state how can I obtain a birth certificate for him/her?
Q. The registration fee is a financial hardship for me, are there scholarships available?
Q. I don't want to sign-up online, is there another way?
Q. Does my child need to attend the tryouts?
Q. When and where are the tryouts?
Q. Can my child play on the same team as his/her friends?
Q. When does the season start and end?
Q. How many times a week do the teams play and practice?
Q. Where are the games and practices held?
Q. Who are the coaches of the teams?
Q. Who umpires the games?
Q. What if my child is unhappy on his/her team?
Q. Does every child get to play during the games?
Q. I would like to help coach, how do I sign up?
Q. Can my child play in the league if we don't live on the East Side or in Fox Point?

A. At least one of the child's legal guardians must reside within the league's boundaries in order for the child to be eligible to play. If you live outside of our boundaries your child is eligible to play in another Little League. The FPESLL lies within the area bounded as follows:

  • Eastern boundary - Seekonk river
  • Northern boundary - Providence/Pawtucket city line
  • Southern boundary - Narragansett Bay
  • Western boundary - Interstate 95

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Q. Can my child play if s/he is only 4 years old?

A. Children under the age of 5 and over the age of 12 are not allowed to play in the league. Your child's age is based on his/her age as of April 30th, 2009. There are no exceptions to this rule as these age restrictions are strictly mandated by our insurance carrier. Proof of age is required at registration.

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Q. What is the age range of the children on a team?

A. FPESLL has 4 divisions of varying ages. The divisions and their age ranges are as follows (age as of April 30th, 2009):

  • T-Ball ages 5 - 7
  • AA ages 7 - 9
  • AAA ages 9-11
  • Majors ages 9 - 12

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Q. How much does it cost to register?

A.The registration fee schedule is as follows:

  • Online or mail-in fee is $60 per child thru January 31st, 2009
  • Online or mail-in fee is $70 per child starting February 1st, 2009
  • Walk-in fee is $75 per child.

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Q. Do I need to provide a copy of my child's birth certificate to register my child?

A. Yes, or some other form of government issued proof-of-age (passport, certificate of adoption). Baptismal certificates, Certificates of Blessing, Hospital Certificates, etc. are NOT acceptable.

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Q. I provided the league with a birth certificate last year, do I need to provide one again?

A. No. We make a photocopy of each birth certificate and keep it on file. You only need to provide us with one when you register your child for the first time

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Q. My child was born in another state how can I obtain a birth certificate for him/her?

A. Little League Baseball® has partnered with Vital Check, an online service, to provide a means by which you may order your child's birth certificate online. See the Vital Check website for details.

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Q. The registration fee is a financial hardship for me, are there scholarships available?

A. Yes. The league offers a no-questions-asked scholarship to any family that requests one. We ask that you fill out a very brief form attesting to your child's need for the scholarship. The scholarship forms are available either from the Registration Forms section of our website, or at the registration desk at tryouts.

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Q. I don't want to sign-up online, is there another way?

A. Yes. You may print out a mail-in registration form by visiting the Registration Forms section of our website.

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Q. Does my child need to attend the tryouts?

A. Yes. We expect that every child will attend at least one of the two tryout sessions. For the younger children (ages 8 and under), the 'tryout' session is really just a meet-and-greet session where the coaches will greet the children and run them through some very low stress drills. This is a chance for the coaches to get to know your children and a chance for us to introduce some baseball fundamentals in a fun, low-stress way.

For the older children (ages 9 and up), the tryout session is a chance for them to be evaluated for possible selection to a Major League team. Any child (9 and up) who wishes to be considered for possible Major League selection MUST attend at least one of tryout sessions.

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Q. When and where are the tryouts?

A.Click here for the full tryout session schedule

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Q. Can my child play on the same team as his/her friends?

A. If your child is playing in our T-Ball division (ages 5-6) we will make our best effort to accomodate requests for your child to be placed on a team with one of his/her friends. We do not honor (or accept) friend requests for our other divisions because the team selections in those divisions are aimed at providing competitive balance between the teams.  We want to avoid the situation where honoring friend requests might tip the balance of the teams and adversely affect the quality of the experience.

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Q. When does the season start and end?

A. Team selections will be announced within a week to ten days following the last tryout session. Typically, coaches hold their first practice during the first week in April (weather and field conditions permitting). The season ends on Friday, June 13th.

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Q. How many times a week do the teams play and practice?

A. The first 3 weeks of April are used for practices only. Typically, coaches will run 1 or 2 practices per week (fewer for the younger children). Usually, this means 1 practice on Saturday and one practice on a weekday. Practices run about 1 hour for the younger children and between 1.5-2 hours for the older children. The practice days and start times vary from team to team.

Regular season games begin with Opening Day on April 18th. At that point, weekday practices end because each team will play twice a week (Mon-Fri) and have one practice on Saturday. All games are on the weekdays, and the games begin at 5:30 p.m. and typically last 1 hour for the younger children and 2 hours for the older children.

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Q. Where are the games and practices held?

A. The location of the games and practices vary depending on the age of the child. T-Ball (ages 5-6) and AA (ages 7-8) hold their games and practices at the Session St. field complex located directly behind the Jewish Community Center on Elmgrove Ave. AAA and Majors hold their games and practices at the Gano St. field complex which is located on the Power St. Extension off Gano St. (adjacent to the Gano Mart parking lot).

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Q. Who are the coaches of the teams?

A. All of our coaches are unpaid volunteers. About 90% of those volunteers are parents of current players. The remaining 10% are either past players themselves or parents of graduated players. We are very proud of our volunteer coaches and they all work hard to make our league safe, fun and educational. Every volunteer (coaches, umpires, board members) must submit to a thorough background check that includes cross checks of felony and sex-offender databases in all 50 states.

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Q. Who umpires the games?

A. T-Ball and AA games are umpired by the coaches of the teams involved. Games in T-Ball and AA are intended to teach the players the fundamentals of the game and therefore are not goverened by strict adherence to all baseball rules.

Major League and AAA games are umpired by a combination of volunteers and paid upires who have no association with the teams on the field (in other words they are not coaches or parents from either team). For many years we have been extremely fortunate to be able to draw volunteers from the local community to help with umpiring. It is often a thankless job and we are proud of the care and commitment that our umpires have shown over the years.

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Q. What if my child is unhappy on his/her team?

A. Fortunately, this situation does not arise very often. Your first course of action should be to speak with your child's coach. It is important to us that the children have fun and alerting the coach to a problem is probably the easiest way to resolve it. If the coach is unable to help, then you should speak with your child's Division Director. The Division Director (there is one per division) is always available either in person, by phone, or by email to field questions and concerns. Finally, as a last resort you can always contact the President of the league.

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Q. Does every child get to play during the games?

A. Yes! Our playing policy is dictated by our parent organization Little League Baseball®. Little League has strict guidelines regarding playing policy that are designed to ensure that every child plays at least some portion of every game. As a league, we try to keep our team rosters to a minimum size in order to maximize the amount of playing time each child receives.

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Q. I would like to help coach, how do I sign up?

A. You have two options, you can sign-up at one of our two spring tryout sessions or you can call our league Secretary, Eric Schultz at 273-0983.

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