FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT REGISTRATION

HOW WILL TNC COMMUNICATE THAT REGISTRATION IS OPEN?
TNC will communicate open registration opportunities through email and content posted on its website and social media accounts. Current participants may also receive text or verbal reminders from your current Coaches or Team Parent reminding you that registration has opened. If you missed the posted registration deadline, you may have an opportunity to place your child on a waitlist.

Please visit http://www.facebook.com/tncbb to “Like” our Facebook page for these important updates.

WHEN AND HOW CAN I REGISTER MY CHILD?
Open Registration dates for the Spring Season will be published on the website no later November 1 and Open Registration dates for the Fall Season will be published no later than July 1.  Parents should complete the online registration form to expedite the registration process; however, several in-person registration events will be held. The dates of the in-person registration events will be posted on the website, social media, and emailed to active registered TNC website users.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT THE CORRECT AGE DIVISION IS FOR MY CHILD FOR THE FALL 2022/SPRING 2023 SEASON?

Your child will be assigned to the correct age division after you enter the child’s date of birth during the registration process. If you are a returning participant, the eligible age division program will show beside their name on your main account homepage. It will say, “1 Program Available” Eligibility for an age group is based on our charter's age division cutoff date and not the date the season or program begins. Therefore, participants in the fall season will remain in the same age division for the spring season. 

A child’s safety and proper development is our top priority. Therefore:

Children who have less baseball experience and skills, or those with birth dates close to the cutoff date are never permitted to “play down” in a lower age division.

Children with more baseball experience and skills may be permitted to "play up" in a higher age division. Please read those guidelines HERE


MY CHILD BARELY MISSES THE AGE CUT-OFF DATE; CAN HE/SHE PLAY UP/DOWN SINCE THEY ARE SO CLOSE TO THE DATE?
No. Regardless of what the league cut-off date is, some children are going to barely miss it, and these dates are not flexible. There are no exceptions. The league cut off date is April 30.


WHEN DOES MY CHILD MOVE UP TO THE NEXT AGE DIVISION?
The league year begins in the fall season, and that is when players will move from one age division to the next, if they are age eligible. For example, if your child is 10 years old this Spring, but will turn 11 years old before April 30 of the following year, then they will move into the 12U league during the next fall season.

WHAT PAYMENT METHODS ARE ACCEPTED
Cash, check, and credit cards are all acceptable forms of payment.

WHAT DOES THE REGISTRATION FEE COVER?

All participants will receive a jersey, hat, and an award at the end of the season.

The registration fee also covers the league’s charter fees, liability insurance, and other operational costs (e.g. field chalk, clay, umpires, equipment, etc.)

Due to the up-front costs related to facilities, fields, equipment, uniforms, administration and insurance, etc., once a player is registered, no refunds, for any reason, will be issued after the refund deadline which will be published on the website and payment made for one season cannot be credited/transferred/applied to another.

*A child is not considered to be registered unless the registration fee has been paid in full prior to that season’s first scheduled skills assessment date.

DO YOU OFFER A SIBLING DISCOUNT?
Yes, the registration fee will be discounted $20 for each sibling of the main registered participant.  This discount is available for siblings only, and is not available for cousins, friends, or those living in the same household unless a foster/adoption/guardianship document is provided that a shared parent is a legal guardian for all children listed in the household. 

WHAT SHOULD I BRING TO AN IN-PERSON REGISTRATION?
The full registration process can be completed online; however, if you are unable to upload a birth certificate online or complete the online registration process, you may attend of the many scheduled in-person registration events. It is not necessary for you to bring your child to registration, and you may have someone register your child on your behalf if you will not be available to attend one of the registration opportunities. If you are registering in-person, you must bring your payment in full and your child’s birth certificate. 

* Players returning from previous seasons who have a birth certificate on file, will not be required to provide a birth certificate again.

* A child is not considered to be registered unless the registration has been paid in full prior to that season’s skills assessment event.

WHY DO YOU NEED A BIRTH CERTIFICATE?
Town ‘N Country Baseball abides by our charter’s birth date verification process required for all league participants. We must be able to verify that the date of birth entered during the registration process matches the date of birth on the birth certificate so that your child is in the correct age division. 

DOES MY CHILD HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SKILLS ASSESSMENT?

Participants in the 4U age division do not require a Skills Assessment.

Participants in the 6U-16U age divisions will be required to attend the mandatory skills assessment. The assessments are used to evaluate each players skill levels which allow us to balance our teams. 

If a child wishes to be considered to "play up", he or she must be registered and participate in their assigned age division first and meet the minimum criteria to be assessed in the older age division. Read the play up guidelines HERE

MY CHILD HAS NO BASEBALL EXPERIENCE, BUT WANTS TO PLAY BASEBALL. CAN HE/SHE PLAY AT TNC?
Absolutely! No prior baseball experience is necessary. We are recreational baseball and welcome all players of all skill level and ability. In every age group there are players at all levels of play. Our Balanced Team philosophy and the team selection process is setup to distribute the talent pool across all recreational baseball teams.


CAN WE REQUEST TO PLACE OF TWO OR MORE PLAYERS TOGETHER ON THE SAME TEAM FOR CARPOOLING OR OTHER HARDSHIP REASONS?

In order for TNC to practice a fair and consistent ‘Balanced Team’ philosophy, there are only two reasons that TNC will allow placement of two or more players on the same team: 

1. The players are siblings who are in the same age division. Siblings are defined as children who have at least one parent in common through birth or legal guardianship. Documents will need to show at least one parent/legal guardian in common.
   
   
2. The players are the sons or daughters of the Team Manager or Assistant Coaches assigned to that team.

Requests, that meet the above criteria, must be made by email [email protected] no later than the first skills assessment date.  Due to the administration involved in drafting teams, requests made via email after the skills assessment, will not be honored. 

While we encourage carpooling, there have been too many cases where parents or coaches have abused the carpooling and hardship issue so we won’t honor these types of requests for team placement. This will keep the balanced team system honest and reliable.

CAN I REQUEST TO SWITCH TO ANOTHER TEAM DUE TO PERSONAL SCHEDULING CONFLICTS, TRANSPORTATION OR OTHER PERSONAL ISSUES?
There will be no change requests permitted once the teams are drafted. The game interlock schedules are created with several other parks included. It would make it difficult to create a fair interlock schedule if every park came to the interlock meeting with special scheduling requests.

Unfortunately, there is always the possibility that siblings may have games at the same time and they may be held at two different locations–we are unable to accommodate requests to adjust the schedule or for children to switch teams to resolve scheduling conflicts.  If you are a single parent or a family where one parent may not be available on game days, we recommend you do not register multiple children (who are in different age groups) in our programs to avoid disappointment due to scheduling conflicts.  Refunds will not be issued because families cannot, or will not, adjust their schedules for practice or game times or because the league will not accommodate a specific coach/team request or car pool request. 

Due to the up-front costs related to facilities, fields, equipment, uniforms, administration and insurance, etc., once a player is registered, no refunds, for any reason, will be issued after the refund deadline which will be published on the website and payment made for one season cannot be credited/transferred/applied to another.

DO YOU OFFER LATE REGISTRATION?
In order to meet the uniform vendor’s deadline for delivery, teams are formed immediately after Skills Assessments are completed, usually within 24 hours. If you missed registration and would like your child to be placed on a Wait List, please click on the Wait List link if/when it is available on the registration page.  You will be contacted and offered a late registration opportunity if a spot becomes available on an age-appropriate team. We often have a Wait List in all age divisions, so registration is always a first come-first come basis. We encourage our families to register early!

DOES MY CHILD NEED TO HAVE PERSONAL MEDICAL INSURANCE TO PLAY AT TNC?
While TNC maintains a general liability insurance policy, it is recommended that all participants be covered under a personal medical /accident insurance policy. It is not required to provide a copy of this.

You may be asked to provide proof of coverage if your child is elected for an All Star team at the end of the Spring Season.


NEXT READ: Skills Assessment