Survey Results: Member Attitudes, Preferences and OpinionsSurvey conducted at ENYTB Kick-Off Meeting, Jan 27 and 28, 2007.There is unanimous (100%) or near unanimous (94% or higher) agreement that all of the MAJOR SERVICES (8) provided by ENYTB are essential to virtually every member’s overall satisfaction with the League. Valuable feedback was also obtained in regards to the refinement of ENYTB's new "Triple Play" July Madness Tournament Package. The results for each major service follows: (1) INFORMATIONAL SUPPORT - 100% agree (including 82% who strongly agree) that it is very important that the League has representatives available to provide club reps with prompt answers to all questions throughout the entire pre-season, regular season and post-season. (2) ENYTB’s NEW LEAGUE REP/CLUB REP SYSTEM - 100% agree (including 72% who strongly agree) that it is reasonable for the League to require each club to designate a primary contact (club rep) to serve as the middle man between its teams and the League for satisfying all informational needs in either direction. NOTE: Secondary to items 1 and 2 above, we asked clubs/teams if unlimited direct support for each of their team managers and coaches was important enough to them to pay extra for. This was the only question in the entire survey that elicited three very different responses. One-third said yes, though only 13% strongly felt that way. Another one-third said no and the remaining on-third was neutral or had no opinion. In keeping with ENYTB’s policy of customizing each member’s entire League experience, any club/team that wishes to obtain a PREMIUM Level of Service for its managers and coaches, should contact me to make arrangements.(3) ACCOUNTABILITY - 97% agree (including 82% who strongly agree) that all League members should be held accountable for their actions i.e., all ENYTB deadlines and rules, including those related to conduct and sportsmanship should be enforced by the League. Moreover, everyone believes it is the League’s responsibility to promptly and fairly, according to League rules and consistent with League policies, resolve disputes that arise between fellow members.(4) PLAYER PROTECTION - 97% agree (including 82% who strongly agree) that the League should provide members with "roster protection". Only 50% agree that "residency-based protection" is important (including 27% who strongly agree). NOTE: Virtually everyone who believes that it is important that the League recognize residency-based player protection also believes that it should provide roster protection. However, that is not true the other way around i.e., only 50% of those who believe roster protection is important, also believe that residency-based player protection is important. Respondents who felt this way, were neutral towards residency-based protection, rather than opposed to it. It appears ENYTB’s current mix of limited residency-based protection and close to ironclad roster protection (there are limited exceptions) accurately reflects the attitudes of its members.(5) CUSTOMIZED PROGRAM - 100% agree (including 79% who strongly agree) that it is very important that ENYTB’s regular season program provides teams with customized play i.e., breakdown of each age level into competitive classifications and fully customized team/field scheduling for each team.(6) LOCAL HOSTING OF SANCTIONED TOURNAMENTS - 94% agree (including 73% who strongly agree) that the League should host sanctioned tournaments. Members are clearly willing to pay for the cost of hosting these tournaments, to avoid the substantial cost of traveling to distant cities to play and miss additional time from work. (7) ACCESS TO SANCTIONED TOURNAMENTS - 79% agree (including 70% who strongly agree) that it is important that the league provides every team with a realistic chance to qualify for berths in sanctioned national championship tournament series. 18% were neutral or had no opinion. One respondent strongly disagreed (unidentified). Of those with no opinion or neutral, almost all were either new members or participants in the younger aged divisions or both. Thus, it is safe to conclude that virtually every team, where ENYTB is their primary or only League, wants to have their games count for something i.e., the chance to qualify for sanctioned tournament play. NOTE: ENYTB’s affiliation with multiple national sanctioning bodies is expected to provide ENYTB teams with about 90 sanctioned tournament berths in 2007. That is about 50% of expected team registrations. (8) ALA CARTE REGISTRATION - 70% agree (including 39% who strongly agree) with the statement that ala carte registration is important to them. Another 27% was neutral or had no opinion. Again, one respondent (new member) strongly disagreed. The question arises as to why 27% would be neutral or have no opinion on this member-friendly aspect of ENYTB’s program. The only thing I can posit is that the respondents in this group tend to register for all available programs/tournaments and the question read, “even if it were to cost you a little bit more to register for everything.” This points out a flaw in this kind of survey - each member’s response is from his own club’s or team’s perspective, not from the perspective of the League as a whole. Thus, while nearly 3/4ths of the League agrees with this policy and derives significant benefit from it, a significant minority is neutral towards it because it has no perceived direct benefit for them.*********************************************************(9) The remaining questions have to do with filling the July “gap” with tournament play i.e., the “Triple Play” July Madness tournament package. (A) SHOULD THE LEAGUE EXTEND SUMMER PLAY THROUGH THE END OF JULY - 70% agree that early to mid-July is too early to shut down, including 42% who strongly agreed. 21% had no opinion or were neutral and only 5% strongly disagreed (two respondents). Clearly, there is a demand for more baseball after the sanctioned tournaments end. (B) SHOULD THIS EXTENDED PLAY BE COMPRISED OF TOURNAMENT PLAY THAT GUARANTEES EACH TEAM A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF GAMES OR JUST PLAY EXTRA GAMES - 76% agree that it should be tournament play, including 52% who strongly agree. 18% had no opinion and 6% strongly disagreed.Clearly, there is a strong preference for late season tournament play over meaningless games. It should be noted that members also strongly prefer that these late season tournaments include formats consistent with ENYTB regular season play i.e., separate tournaments (divisions) that provide competitively matched opponents.(C) TO ENSURE TOURNAMENT RELIABILITY, REGISTRATION FOR THESE TOURNAMENTS SHOULD BE CONDUCTED ALONG WITH ENYTB's REGULAR LEAGUE REGISTRATION (APRIL 1) - 81% agree with this statement, including 44% who strongly agree. 13% had no opinion and 6% strongly agreed.Clearly, there is widespread support for early registration if that will help to ensure that these tournaments can be better planned and more reliable. (D) SHOULD THE REGISTRATION FEE FOR THESE LATE SUMMER TOURNAMENTS INCLUDE THE COST OF PRIZES OR SHOULD THEY BE FOR FUN ONLY? 70% agree that all ENYTB sponsored tournaments should include team trophies and player awards/prizes, including 36% who strongly agree. 24% had no opinion and 6% disagreed. Clearly, there is widespread support for tournament prizes.We also surveyed member opinion on the specific format of the two ENYTB sponsored tournaments included in the “Triple Play” package - the proposed Division/League Championship (DLC) tournaments and the Last Man Standing (LMS) tournaments.(E) DLC - 67% agree that ENYTB should sponsor the DLC as proposed, including 52% who strongly agree. 30% had no opinion and 6% had no interest. (F) LMS - 67% agree that ENYTB should sponsor the LMS as proposed, including 45% who strongly agree. 18% had no opinion and 15% had no interest.Clearly, there is widespread support for both proposed tournament formats. It should be noted, that although the overall survey results for the DLC and LMS are similar, in many instances, individual respondents indicated a strong interest in one tournament but not the other.

RULE 89 - HOME AREA EXEMPTION FOR ROSTER PROTECTED PLAYERS is applicable to any player, including 13 year olds, who played for a franchise other than his home area franchise in the prior year. Rule 89 states, "Any protected player residing in the franchise area of a new member or an existing member that is active in his natural age division for the... read more

There is much confusion over the roster protocols of ENYTB and its various sanctioning bodies. This article provides members with a comprehensive presentation of these protocols as well as ENYTB''s requirement (new in 2007) that ALL teams must have at least 9 players on their ENYTB roster eligibility list prior to May 15 or be disqualified from eli... read more

Looking for players? Check our FREE AGENT Board at Tools > Free Agents.Club Reps and team managers/coaches can add players to the free agent board either when they release players from their current roster or by clicking the direct link on the upper right hand corner of the FA Board. See a player you might like? Contact him and when the tow of you ... read more

For the same reasons given for expanding the format of the PONY Sectional tournaments at 13U-14U-15U, ENYTB will purchase an extra berth in the NABF Regional Championships at both 14U and 16U, and allow teams in the 13U/15U age divisions to compete for them: 1. A separate regular season competition open to 13U Gold and Silver teams only, for a bert... read more

Since 1999, ENYTB's main program offering at 13U/15U has been AABC. But, as was discussed in both sessions of last weekend's annual Kick-Off meeting, the AABC program at 13U and 15U is not a good idea for teams lacking the financial wherewithal to travel across country at their own expense.1. AABC's entry-level tournament at 13U/15U is comprised mo... read more

fryes@nycap.rr.comAll requests (definition of any terms, rules, policies etc.) will be added within 48 hours. You may view the Glossary now by going to League Info > Glossary. I added several pages of content today.

ACTIVATION - Both new and returning clubs need to activate their teams with their League Rep or the League Office as early as possible each year, preferably before our annual Kick-Off Meeting. NOTE: Any Club Rep that has not been contacted by his League Rep by Jan 8 can contact me to get activated and to obtain his League Rep's name and contact inf... read more

For those of you already thinking about next year, rest assured ENYTB is busily preparing for its 12th consecutive record-breaking season.On Saturday, NOV 11, ENYTB's new Executive Committee held its first meeting and discussed plans for the upcoming season. Details of the 2007 League program will be unveiled at our annual ENYTB kick-off meeting, w... read more