This past weekend, while I was lugging fence posts, dumping concrete, and attempting to install level stockade fencing in my backyard, I took a moment to drift into my comfort zone – baseball! I thought to myself – “How would I start and run a youth baseball tournament here in Rhode Island?” It was a nice distraction, brief as it may have been, from a tiresome activity which I was clearing overmatched against. Maybe you or someone you know is a league director or league volunteer and thought the same thing about organizing a youth baseball tournament in your city or town? And feel that the job of starting, organizing, fundraising, scheduling, and running a tournament is something you are overmatched for. Let’s do something about that as a community – The Rhode Island Baseball Community through my newest online venture, The Baseball GOALS Project.

I have been to, written about, and shared stories of many, many wonderful Rhode Island youth baseball tournaments over the years. The epic photos, the stories, the charity and money raised for important causes, the community pride, the parents pacing and cheering and crying tears of baseball joy, inviting other baseball families into your home town to compete on your home field – just priceless. The preparation of a youth baseball tournament starts months prior to the first pitch. The organizational meetings, the vendor calls, the emails to sponsors, the registration forms, the umpires, the baseballs, the T-shirts, the hats, the hamburgers and hot dogs, the trophies – I am sure I am missing something and I would like you to help me fill in the gaps. Your experience is as priceless as those memories from the Jaxon Marocco, the Urwin Tournament, The Sally Eddy, the Christopher Andreozzi, the Joe Charrette, the Warwick City Series, the Scott Grace Memorial, the Providence Mayor’s Cup, and many others.

For the next few weeks heading into 2023, I want to create a fictional Rhode Island youth baseball tournament, non city/town specific as possible, to use as a sort of blueprint for new and incoming volunteers to use as a guide. So, let’s start at the very beginning. Before any fields are lined, before any announcers position the microphone to say “now batting,” before the teams are picked, before the first sponsor banner is hung on the dugouts. What is the very first step of the process of organizing a youth baseball tournament? Send me an email at ribaseballexperience@gmail.com and tell me what you did, what your league did first. It can be as simple as a brainstorming session after a league game or a phone call to a trusted league official. After I get a few responses, I will post the results and then ask the next line of questions in the process. And when we have all of the steps in the process figured out from start to finish to first pitch, I will post the entire process for you to share with your league or to download and share with new Rhode Island Baseball Community Members. And I will give credit to whomever wants it and keep names quiet for those who wish remain anonymous. Here is a contact form for you to use as well:

Thank you in advance for all who participate. I am really looking forward to your responses. Conversely, I am really not looking forward to finishing my fence project.

The Baseball GOALS Project is learning a new skill, discovering a new talent, helping a community member to manage a league, learning how to be a better person through community involvement. GOALS spelled out is – Get Out And Learn Something. Look for more articles featuring the Baseball GOALS Project this fall and winter right here on the Rhode Island Baseball Experience website and on social media.

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