Question: Who is eligible to participate in the Middle School Program?
Answer: players must be
- Attending or in the district of our 3 primary Middle Schools (River Bend, Seneca Ridge, and Sterling)
- AND in 6th, 7th or 8th grade
Eligible players may tryout and may be selected for a middle school team. Preference is given to kids in 8th or 7th grade over the kids in younger grades when considering players of the same capability level.
Question: Which local little leagues are participating in the Middle School Program?
Answer: Assuming there is sufficient participation, each LLLL team will play a schedule consisting of teams representing middle schools located within the boundaries of Central Loudoun Little League (CLLL), Loudoun South Little League (LSLL), and Dulles Little League DLL), in addition to the other teams located within the LLLL boundaries.
Question: Which middle schools are participating in the Middle School Program?
Answer: LLLL teams will represent River Bend MS and Seneca Ridge MS. The league hopes to get enough interest to field a team for Sterling Middle School. Private school, home school and Sterling Middle School students (if there is not numbers to support their own team) not enrolled at River Bend or Seneca Ridge will be asked to try out for one of these two schools. The league will determine which school and will communicate this to those impacted.
Question: When will the tryouts for the Middle School Program be held?
Answer: Tryouts will be held at the end of the Fall season and in January or February before the season starts.
Question: What will the roster size for each team be?
Answer: Each team is expected to carry a roster of at least 12 players. Rules are different when the teams have 15 or more players, and so determinations are made by the coaches based on ability to meet the playing rules based on the size of the team and the capability of the players that would be added to the roster. Rosters have been between 12 and 16 players in the past.
Question: When will games be held?
Answer: Games will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from April through early June. There may be exceptions to this schedule when working to get makeup games in.
Question: What are the time commitments for the Middle School Program?
Answer: It is expected that each player is available to participate Monday and Thursdays and is capable of traveling within Loudoun county to attend the games.
Question: My player is currently on a travel team. Will my player be able to continue playing travel baseball if he/she plays on a middle school team?
Answer: Yes. Representatives from each of the leagues involved in the middle school program are speaking directly with the coaches of the local travel teams to try and ensure cooperation. The middle school teams might also provide players with the opportunity to gain additional experience playing a position that might not be their primary position on their travel team.
Question: Will there be an additional cost to participate in the Middle School Program?
Answer: An additional fee may be required from each player who makes his/her respective middle school team in order to cover the cost of higher quality game and practice uniforms. In addition, umpires represent a more significant cost on the 90 foot fields, and the fee will help offset that cost.
Question: Will a player that does not make their respective middle school team be required to play in the Juniors/Seniors Division this Spring?
Answer: No, signing up and/or attending a middle school team tryout will not obligate the player to participate in the Juniors/Seniors Division if they do not make their respective middle school team. While LLLL would certainly encourage such participation, it is not something that will be mandatory. Any players that are not selected for a middle school roster that decide to participate in the Juniors/Seniors division can register separately for those divisions and will be entered into the Juniors/Seniors division house league draft.
Question: Who is coaching the middle school teams?
Answer: Coach selection will take place prior to tryouts. If you are interested in coaching a middle school team then please contact the Coach Coordinator.
Question: Will participating on a middle school team make my player eligible for District All Stars?
Answer: Players in the Seniors, Juniors and Middle School leagues will be eligible to be selected to play on Little League District All Star teams appropriate to the Little League age as long as all other Little League eligibility requirements are met (e.g. meeting minimum games played requirements).