What is included in my registration fee?

The fee you pay at registration includes a twelve game season (ten games in fall), a team shirt, and team hat. The rest of the uniform is the parent responsibility.

Does NEO provide trophies for all the teams?

No. NEO only provides trophies to all of the T-ball players (5 & 6 year old) regardless of their team record. 4-year-old T-ball players each receive a medal. NEO also awards trophies to the league championship teams in the Pinto, Mustang, Bronco, Pony and Colt levels. There are no trophies awarded in the fall season.


What is the difference between spring and fall seasons?

The spring season consists of twelve games. These games are played in a competitive fashion. This means that the coaches of each team are playing to win their respective leagues.

The fall season consists of ten games. These games are played in an instructional fashion. This means that the coaches of each team are there to teach your child more about baseball rather than to emphasize winning the game. The fall league is especially important when your child is moving up to a new level.


How does each of the levels break down by age?

NEO uses July 31 of the current year to decide which level your child will play. For example, if your child will turn five or six by July 31, 2012, he/she is put in at the T-Ball level. Pinto covers ages seven and eight. Mustang covers ages nine and ten. Bronco covers ages eleven and twelve. Pony covers ages thirteen and fourteen. Colt covers ages fifteen and sixteen. NEO also has a four-year-old T-Ball league. When you sign up to play a fall season, the level at which you are placed depends on your child?s age on July 31 of the following year. The fall season is played to prepare your child for the following spring season.


How much playing time is my child required to get?

One of NEO?s main objectives is to insure that every child gets to play. That is why every team bats their whole line-up regardless of the skills or abilities of your child. Every player is required to play in the field at least two innings and your child must enter the game by the second inning. Every coach is aware of these requirements and should see that they are followed.


What if I have a problem with my child?s coach?

First, see if you can talk out the problem with your child?s coach. If that does not solve the problem, then you need to discuss the situation with one of your child?s league Board Member. The Board Member are appointed by the NEO Baseball President to handle matters such as this. The home phone number of each Vice-President is listed in the program and posted on our web site. You can call them or look for them around your field. There will be an NEO official at every game. The majority of the time the problem is handled at this level. In rare cases, the NEO Baseball President may need to get involved. In either case, the situation will be handled.


What kind of background is required to be a team manager or coach?

Anyone interested in being a coach is required to fill out a volunteer application form, which asks for detailed background information. This information is used to determine whether a person qualifies to coach a team. A criminal background check is done on each applicant. If any criminal history were found, this would disqualify that person from being a coach. NEO suggests that everyone should first try being an assistant coach before taking on the responsibility of being a head coach. The NEO Board of Directors must approve all coaches prior to being given a team. All approved coaches must be certified through a training class. NEO encourages each potential coach to have at least a basic understanding of the game of baseball and a desire to teach the game. Each coach must love kids and understand regardless of the win-loss record, having fun is the primary objective.


Once I am approved as a manager or coach, what are my responsibilities?

As a manager, the responsibilities of that team fall totally upon you. The manager is in charge of everything from what color pants the team will wear to the number of practices the team will have to the batting order of his/her players. The manager is required to know and follow all Pony and NEO rules. As a manager or coach, you are required to work on the field in which your games will be played. This includes work prior to the start of the season as well as preparing the fields before each game. The cleanness of your team?s dugout after your game also falls upon the manager. Making sure your team has concession stand workers is another very important duty. The manager is also responsible for communicating with each of his players regarding any changes that might come up during a season. These changes may include rainouts of games, changes in game times, changes in practice times or any other information that needs to be passed on to the players and their parents. To be a successful manager or coach, you must have plenty of time. The job can be frustrating, but the rewards that you get will make the job worth it.


Do NEO officials get paid?

No. All officers, board members and baseball/softball officials are volunteers. Each of these men and women spend many hours through the year working to make our kids and our community a better place.


Who keeps the field areas and bathrooms clean?

It is the responsibility of each of us to help keep our park clean. Unlike many city parks, where city workers keep the fields maintained and the trash picked up, NEO is solely responsible for this job. It is the NEO members who must arrive early or stay late to see that everything is cleaned up. Each of us as parents can and should help in maintaining the cleanliness of the field areas. Anything you do to help in this area is GREATLY appreciated.


What can I do as a parent of my son or daughter?s team?

Get involved. That is the biggest help you can offer your team?s manager. There are many opportunities throughout the season when your team?s manager will need your help. If every one of the parents on a team just helped in one area, then no one parent would be overloaded. Everyone is busy, but for your kid?s sake, step up to the plate and help.


What is the Business Manager?s job?

The primary responsibility of the Business Manager is to aid the team manager with obtaining a team sponsor and assisting with the NEO fundraiser. Other duties may include drink and snack scheduling, uniform lettering, and organizing the end of season team party.


Where does NEO get its umpires?

In January of each year, the NEO Board of Directors decides which outside vendors will be used for the upcoming year. Outside vendors include umpire associations, uniform suppliers, official photographer, and fund raising ideas. In the 2002 season the umpires were employed by the Texas Umpire Association or TUA. If you are interested in working as an umpire, please see any NEO official or any umpire.


How do I join Northeast Optimist Club?

If you feel that you would be an asset to our organization, please ask any NEO member and they can get you an application for membership. Each potential new member must have a sponsor, which may be any current member. Your application is brought before the Board of Directors for approval. There is a one-time application fee of $30.00. Currently, the annual membership dues is $60.00, which is prorated your first year based upon which month you join. Our Optimist year runs from October to September. Being a member does have some advantages. The club holds monthly meetings where the organization?s business is discussed. These dinner meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month at the NEO clubhouse. All current members can nominate and vote to elect the Board President, Board Members and Softball & Baseball Presidents for the coming year. In order for this organization to continue to grow and strive for the future, it needs new members with new ideas.


How is my son or daughter picked for their team?

NEO baseball and softball uses an open draft method to form the teams each season. If you are a returning player to the league in which you played the previous spring season, then you remain on that same team. If you are moving up to a new league, then you are in the draft for that league. Prior to the beginning of each season, a draft is held. All coaches of that league draw numbers to decide which coach will pick first. The coach that draws the first pick can select any older player who did not play the prior spring season. The coach who drew the second pick goes next and so on until all the older players are chosen. Each team is allowed to have six older kids. If all the older kids return from the previous spring season, then that team?s manager would not have a pick in the older kid?s draft. If only four return, then that coach would pick two older kids in the first two rounds of the older kid?s draft. The coaches then redraw picks for the younger kid?s draft for that league, then that becomes the manager?s second round pick. If there are siblings on the team, then this is the manager?s automatic third round pick. This process of picking kids from a draft list continues until all kids are picked. Some people request to have their son or daughter on the same team as one of their friends. This is called rideshare. It is NEO?s policy that any one can request to rideshare with someone else, but the request does NOT have to be honored by a team manager. A manager that drafts a child who has requested a rideshare must use his third round pick in that age group to pick up the other child. If a manager from another team wishes to break up the rideshare, the manager would need to draft that other child prior to the first manager?s third round pick. Rideshares are usually always honored for the fall leagues.


Is there any way to have my son or daughter, who is a returning player, put back in the draft if I am unhappy with his or her previous team?

Generally speaking, the answer is no. NEO?s team drafting procedures are designed to give each manager as equal a change as any other manager. By allowing a child to be put back in the draft, would disrupt the team?s makeup and could cause some teams to be unequally balanced. NEO has been playing baseball for 60 years and the current draft policies are all put in place for a reason. In the past, managers have tried many different tactics in order to stack their team with talented players. These rules are designed to give every manager and child as fair an opportunity as possible. NEO does realize that problems do happen where returning to your previous team would not be an option. In that extreme case, NEO asks that you contact the Softball or Baseball President and explain your problem. The President will then explain your situation to the Board of Directors, who will vote whether or not to allow your child to be put back in the draft.


Why does NEO have fundraisers and do I have to participate?

NEO has a fundraiser in order to have enough money to run the organization. Registration fees alone do not come close to paying for all the expenses incurred each year. NEO is not city subsidized. Every improvement or purchase must come from the funds raised either through registration fees, fundraisers, sponsorships, or concession stand profits. NEO also does many other things outside of baseball and softball through out the year. When you register for the spring season, you have the opportunity to buy-out of the fund-raiser if you wish not to participate. There is an optional fundraiser for the fall league.