SCLL - Space Coast Little League
Donation protected
Hello, my name is Raj Balkaran, President of Space Coast Little League, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. Our league was formed during the days of the great American space race during the late 1950's, facilitating youth baseball for the children living or attending school in City of Cape Canaveral, City of Cocoa Beach, and Patrick's Air Force Base Florida. We take pride where we live in - pristine beaches with great natural recreational activities. Many of us consider it the best little city in the whole wide world. We have earned a few achievements as one of the largest beachside leagues with 200 players in 2004, winning 2007 Major District and 2008 Junior District 22 Championships. We even have a record that the Cocoa Beach Sea Lions won the 10 year old championship in 1962. More recently, we were runner up in the Spring 2015 Major Division District 22 Championship with a 22-2 record.
However, much has changed over the last decade or so. Our league and high school athletics have experienced a sharp decline in youths interested in traditional sports. We are still trying to figure out why this has happened. More working parents, kids in after care, the smartphone, good waves at the beach. Could be a combination of factors. Whatever it is, I just cannot let one of the greatest sports in the world die off in these cities. It is impacting our community, high school sports and the development of our kids. We are the only feeder youth program among 750 children in age group 4-12 for Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School and it's absolutely necessary that we maintain a viable and effective youth league.
So what did I do ?
In the fall of 2011, I stepped in to a board room meeting as a parent that never played the game -but one that wanted to save it. We managed 1 fall ball team consisting of my son age 6 playing with others as old as 11. We did what we had to do get baseball going again. Through this process, I have learned the hard way, that operating a non-profit, much less a baseball/softball league is not easy at all. It is difficult, requires plenty of dedication, free time, volunteers and family support. It became more difficult when you can only rely on 4 or 5 volunteers.
You see, this is my kids league. All 3 of my children have played in it. It is also the league to approximately 600 elementary school aged kids. With 2 other die hard parents sharing a common goal to keep the league alive, we hung in there starting out with only a thousand dollars in our bank account. We embarked on a mission to rebrand, to rebuild and reposition our league as one that is fun, one that is affordable, and one that will keep smiles on the faces of kids while developing them into well rounded citizens through the little league baseball and softball program.
Over the last 4 years, the league has operated extremely lean. We purchased only what was necessary for teams to keep them safe. We negotiated with the cities to support us and assist us with cost of maintenance; we exposed our league with a new logo, new website and new custom jersey (since wearing a Yankee jersey didn’t help pay our bills!). We managed to get scholarships to help families that have financial hardship to have their kids play. More importantly, we reduced the cost to parents fto have their kids play baseball for only $50.
That $50 includes a full uniform- jersey, pants, belt, socks and baseball cap with SCLL logo to promote the league. A couple practices and 1 game per week, starting in Febriuaty and ending in May. Not a bad deal , but it is barely enough to pay for maintenance and cost to replace equipment that is now between 5-10 years old.
In prior years, we are able to raise between $2500 - $3000 in fundraising and sponsorship. In 2015, we managed only $650. This was mainly due to our fundraiser being rained out (Friday Fest) or porrley promoted venues (no fault of our own). What we did generate was barely enough to cover investment in goods, insurance, fees and services for these events. We also had the misfortune of having 4 businesses not submit their promised donation of as a team sponsor (collectively $800).
Where are we?
We managed 7 teams with 68 players in the Spring 2016 season. Today, we have 55 players playing Fall Ball 2016. That is the largest number of players ever for fall. We have earned the respect of all other District 22 Leagues, sending our T-Ball, Rookie, Minor and Major division teams to play 40 minutes way. And each time those kids put on a Space Coast jersey and cap, I knew they were brimming with pride to play and represent our city. That is how we count our wins - with every player wanting to go out there to play some ball.
So we have turned a corner. We anticipate that we will come close to 80-85 kids and 9 teams if we keep registration low at $50 per player in Spring 2016.
I have been working with many of the teams – from T-Ball up to Minors. I have initiated a more formal baseball program at our local elementary school to donate 12 baseball mitts, bats and Tee in an effort to build a T-ball/Machine pitch program. I intend to donate all the equipment that no longer meets Little League standards to a Little League in Brazil who lack funds for their own league. I’m hoping to bring in 4 retired Major League Baseball players to give our kid a hitting and pitching clinic. Players from the Mets and Expos.
I want baseball to survive where I live for the kids.
I want to feed in the best possible athletes into Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School.
I want to create the desire for kids to dream to be a baseball player again.
In an effort to keep cost low for parents at $50, and preparation for more kids and teams playing baseball/softball at our parks, I ask for your donation so that the league can :
1. Continue to purchase game baseballs and guarantee a 'game' ball for each team player ($40/dozen)
2. Purchasing of portable hitting nets for our Cape Canaveral Ball Park (no batting cage) ($100)
3. Purchasing 6 bat racks ($20 each)
4. Purchase of fencing to protect our batting cage from vandals at our Cocoa Beach Ball Parks - broken into Summer 2014, partially boarded up with a steel door kicked in. ($1500)
5. Purchasing repair equipment and new netting for our batting cage at Cocoa Beach Ball Parks- never replaced since 2004 ($2800)
6. Purchasing (2) L-Screen pitching screen (our 10 year old finally rotted away) ($150 ea)
7. Purchasing of 24 baseball mitts ($500) for local elementary start-up programs.
8. Purchasing of (3) tees (standard to Tanner Tee style ($150)
9. Purchasing of 4 new pitching rubbers and home plater for pitchers to warm up. We have to build this; we do not have currently on 2 fields. ($300)
10. Purchasing of a 2 new Blue Flame mechanical pitching machine to compete with other leagues (rusted out) rookie division ($150 ea).
Please visit our website www.spacecoastlittleleague and our Facebook page www.facebook.com/SPACEOASTLL and see what we do.
Please consider a donation of any amount.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about our league and how we plan to make difference in kids that live in Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral and Patrick’s Air Force Base Florida.
However, much has changed over the last decade or so. Our league and high school athletics have experienced a sharp decline in youths interested in traditional sports. We are still trying to figure out why this has happened. More working parents, kids in after care, the smartphone, good waves at the beach. Could be a combination of factors. Whatever it is, I just cannot let one of the greatest sports in the world die off in these cities. It is impacting our community, high school sports and the development of our kids. We are the only feeder youth program among 750 children in age group 4-12 for Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School and it's absolutely necessary that we maintain a viable and effective youth league.
So what did I do ?
In the fall of 2011, I stepped in to a board room meeting as a parent that never played the game -but one that wanted to save it. We managed 1 fall ball team consisting of my son age 6 playing with others as old as 11. We did what we had to do get baseball going again. Through this process, I have learned the hard way, that operating a non-profit, much less a baseball/softball league is not easy at all. It is difficult, requires plenty of dedication, free time, volunteers and family support. It became more difficult when you can only rely on 4 or 5 volunteers.
You see, this is my kids league. All 3 of my children have played in it. It is also the league to approximately 600 elementary school aged kids. With 2 other die hard parents sharing a common goal to keep the league alive, we hung in there starting out with only a thousand dollars in our bank account. We embarked on a mission to rebrand, to rebuild and reposition our league as one that is fun, one that is affordable, and one that will keep smiles on the faces of kids while developing them into well rounded citizens through the little league baseball and softball program.
Over the last 4 years, the league has operated extremely lean. We purchased only what was necessary for teams to keep them safe. We negotiated with the cities to support us and assist us with cost of maintenance; we exposed our league with a new logo, new website and new custom jersey (since wearing a Yankee jersey didn’t help pay our bills!). We managed to get scholarships to help families that have financial hardship to have their kids play. More importantly, we reduced the cost to parents fto have their kids play baseball for only $50.
That $50 includes a full uniform- jersey, pants, belt, socks and baseball cap with SCLL logo to promote the league. A couple practices and 1 game per week, starting in Febriuaty and ending in May. Not a bad deal , but it is barely enough to pay for maintenance and cost to replace equipment that is now between 5-10 years old.
In prior years, we are able to raise between $2500 - $3000 in fundraising and sponsorship. In 2015, we managed only $650. This was mainly due to our fundraiser being rained out (Friday Fest) or porrley promoted venues (no fault of our own). What we did generate was barely enough to cover investment in goods, insurance, fees and services for these events. We also had the misfortune of having 4 businesses not submit their promised donation of as a team sponsor (collectively $800).
Where are we?
We managed 7 teams with 68 players in the Spring 2016 season. Today, we have 55 players playing Fall Ball 2016. That is the largest number of players ever for fall. We have earned the respect of all other District 22 Leagues, sending our T-Ball, Rookie, Minor and Major division teams to play 40 minutes way. And each time those kids put on a Space Coast jersey and cap, I knew they were brimming with pride to play and represent our city. That is how we count our wins - with every player wanting to go out there to play some ball.
So we have turned a corner. We anticipate that we will come close to 80-85 kids and 9 teams if we keep registration low at $50 per player in Spring 2016.
I have been working with many of the teams – from T-Ball up to Minors. I have initiated a more formal baseball program at our local elementary school to donate 12 baseball mitts, bats and Tee in an effort to build a T-ball/Machine pitch program. I intend to donate all the equipment that no longer meets Little League standards to a Little League in Brazil who lack funds for their own league. I’m hoping to bring in 4 retired Major League Baseball players to give our kid a hitting and pitching clinic. Players from the Mets and Expos.
I want baseball to survive where I live for the kids.
I want to feed in the best possible athletes into Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School.
I want to create the desire for kids to dream to be a baseball player again.
In an effort to keep cost low for parents at $50, and preparation for more kids and teams playing baseball/softball at our parks, I ask for your donation so that the league can :
1. Continue to purchase game baseballs and guarantee a 'game' ball for each team player ($40/dozen)
2. Purchasing of portable hitting nets for our Cape Canaveral Ball Park (no batting cage) ($100)
3. Purchasing 6 bat racks ($20 each)
4. Purchase of fencing to protect our batting cage from vandals at our Cocoa Beach Ball Parks - broken into Summer 2014, partially boarded up with a steel door kicked in. ($1500)
5. Purchasing repair equipment and new netting for our batting cage at Cocoa Beach Ball Parks- never replaced since 2004 ($2800)
6. Purchasing (2) L-Screen pitching screen (our 10 year old finally rotted away) ($150 ea)
7. Purchasing of 24 baseball mitts ($500) for local elementary start-up programs.
8. Purchasing of (3) tees (standard to Tanner Tee style ($150)
9. Purchasing of 4 new pitching rubbers and home plater for pitchers to warm up. We have to build this; we do not have currently on 2 fields. ($300)
10. Purchasing of a 2 new Blue Flame mechanical pitching machine to compete with other leagues (rusted out) rookie division ($150 ea).
Please visit our website www.spacecoastlittleleague and our Facebook page www.facebook.com/SPACEOASTLL and see what we do.
Please consider a donation of any amount.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about our league and how we plan to make difference in kids that live in Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral and Patrick’s Air Force Base Florida.
Organizer
Spacecoast Max
Organizer
Cocoa Beach, FL
