General Questions
Where should I look for information about NBSA
NBSA aims to keep our organizational participants informed with the most up to date information possible. NBSA updates the organization through direct emails, Facebook, NPR, NBSA Website, and other advertising avenues. During the season, head coaches will inform players directly through a communication platform that they have selected, but it is usually Team Manager or direct email.
Who should I contact if I have a specific question
If you have a specific question, please review the FAQs section of the NBSA Website to see if those answer your question. If that doesn’t help, you can email NBSA at [email protected]. Please note that turnaround time on an email response can be 2-3 days depending on availability of our volunteers.
Does NBSA offer refunds?
1) Registration cancelled before registration closes – Full refund (less website processing fee $3)
2) Registration cancelled after registration closes but before uniforms ordered – Full refund (less $25 NBSA fee and website processing fee $3)
3)Registration cancelled after registration closes but after uniforms ordered – Full refund (less $65 NBSA fee and website processing fee $3)
4) Registration cancelled after games have started – No refunds
Registration
I can't sign in and/or can't reset my password
NBSA uses the SportsConnect (Blue Sombrero) application to manage our registrations for recreational and travel leagues as well as our coaching volunteers and umpires. You may need to reset your password due to a platform upgrade. Please try to use the email that you have used in the past.
If you seem to be having trouble logging in (and have never registered on the site before) try recovering passwords for any email you may have used. If you are still having problems you can find FAQs and contact information for SportsConnect at https://sportsconnect.com/support/ or you can communicate directly with NBSA by sending an email to [email protected].
When do sign-ups begin?
Recreational league registrations typically start on January 1. Registration will officially end in mid-March. NBSA does accept late sign-ups until April 1st if leagues have availability, but a late fee of $25 will be added to the registration cost after registration close.
How do I know which league is right for my child?
We use the nationally recognized cutoff date for boys. Girls leagues are based on current school grade. In addition, we allow players born between May 1 and Aug 31 to play with their grade in order to participate with their classmates if they desire (players outside age range can request playing current grade). If in doubt it is usually appropriate to select the lowest level league that your child qualifies for.
My child is an excellent player and I would like him/her to “play up”.
If your child is destined for the Major Leagues, congratulations, you are 1 in 3.2 Million. Talent however, is not a valid reason for changing leagues. NBSA has researched the proper league levels for all of our young players. Given the addition of our allowance for players to play with their current school grade, no other “play up “requests will be approved by the NBSA Board.
When do leagues start?
This varies from year to year based on the timing of Northville public and private school spring breaks and the availability of playing fields. In general, we try to notify coaches by the first week of April and form teams by mid-April. For most leagues, practices typically begin in Mid-April with the seasons concluding before the 4th of July.
How will I be notified about my assigned team?
Once the league commissioners have notified coaches of their rosters, the coach will send an introductory email with team details directly to the players. Team assignments can also be viewed within your registration account. If you are registered but haven’t been assigned to a team yet, please be patient as league commissioner’s work through the process and place you on a team. We aim to notify everyone of their team by May 1st.
What days are practices and games?
Each league varies based on field availability, coaches’ requests and league design. Most Leagues will play two days per week with an additional day for practice. Some leagues also hold mid-season and end of season tournaments that usually span a weekend.
Can I request a particular team?
The younger age groups Rookie-T, T-Ball, Coach-pitch and Machine Pitch allow for players to request one friend to play with. These leagues are instructional in nature and are intended to teach the fundamentals of the game. Starting in H-League, players will enter a draft to form teams. Requests to play on particular teams are available to coaches during the draft, but cannot be promised in efforts to effectively “balance” the teams. Volunteering to coach is an excellent way to have some influence over the players selected for the team. Exception: NBSA does allow for siblings in the same league/age group to play together.
How do I make a friend request?
During the registration process, simply make friend request while registering. The number of friend requests is limited to one friend request, because it gets very difficult for our league commissioners to set rosters if players request more friends than that.
Can I change my comments or friend request after I have registered?
Yes, registration data can be updated or verified after you have registered until teams are formed. Simply log into your account and select the edit button (pencil/paper icon) under the participant’s name. In the details section, scroll to the league year / team and change the comment. Please note you must hit the save button after making changes or they will be lost.
How do I register to volunteer if I didn’t volunteer during player registration?
When you register your player participant, the registration system will prompt you to volunteer during the process. Simply select volunteer role desired and fill out the volunteer registration. Please note that volunteer registration will save even if you don’t finish player registration.
How do I register to volunteer if I didn’t volunteer during player registration?
Simply login to your account and you will see a volunteer tab on the left side of the webpage. Once you click that tab, you can navigate to the desired league and volunteer. Please email [email protected] if you have any issues.
How do I find/edit my volunteer registration account?
Once you are logged into your account, you will see a volunteer tab on the left side. In this section you can sign-up for new volunteer roles or select the edit button (pencil/paper icon) to edit an existing volunteer role.
My family has multiple accounts, can we merge them into one account?
Yes, please email [email protected] the email addresses of the accounts you want to merge and which account will become the new primary account. Please note that once accounts are merged there is no way to recover old accounts, but all data will be stored in the primary account.
Recreational League Schedules
Why can’t NBSA schedule leagues to play on the same day of the week?
NBSA strives to streamline schedules but depending on the number of players and teams formed we may not have enough fields to keep leagues on the same night each week. We will attempt to play most league games on same night, but there will be exceptions
Why do some teams practice more than others?
NBSA leaves actual practice schedules up to our coaches for each team. NBSA does recommend a team’s practice outside of game time, but each team may decide to practice more or less. Field availability is fairly given out to the coaches.
Roster Formation
How does NBSA set House Baseball Rosters?
NBSA strives to create leagues and teams that enable players to have fun while developing their baseball skills. In our experience, a younger player’s enjoyment comes from playing with their friends and classmates while competition becomes more important as players progress. For this reason, NBSA sets teams by friend requests for machine pitch and below. Older teams are built through a draft process with every registered player assigned to a team.
Why does NBSA allow stacked teams?
NBSA does everything it can to ensure that team rosters are put together fairly. In leagues that are formed by friend requests and classmates, it is possible that some teams are more skilled than others. We encourage coaches and parents to remember the purposes of the younger divisions though and focus on player development and learning, not wins and losses. We also remind coaches that sportsmanship matters.
Why weren’t all friends placed on same team?
NBSA tries its best to honor all friend requests, by placing friends on the same teams in younger leagues and asking coaches to consider friend requests while drafting in older leagues. There are times when friend requests cannot be honored based on draft results or other player friend requests. The best way to get your friend request is to ensure both friends request one another.
Fields
Why aren’t there restrooms at all the fields?
NBSA partners with Northville Parks and Northville Schools to use the fields that we play on and in some cases, we are not able to ensure bathrooms at every field.
I am interested in helping out, but cannot commit to being a head coach.
The NBSA is a volunteer-based organization providing opportunities for our 1400 + ball players. We are always looking for volunteers to help out with our program. Please consider being an assistant coach. You are also invited to attend one of the NBSA board meetings held the last Monday of each month, throughout the year, to volunteer for other assignments.
Why can’t you add me to my request as a late addition?
While we would love to honor every late registration or request, in order to provide the best experience for our players, we do need to enforce a registration cutoff so that we can form teams and order uniforms before play begins. We do often offer a waitlist in case space opens on a team but can’t guarantee a roster spot for any registrations after the posted cutoff.
Why do travel teams get all the field uses?
The recreational program is actually given priority for field assignments. Our coordinators work diligently to ensure the recreational program has adequate fields for all games and practices for all of our age groups. Our travel teams are then given remaining field openings as they request them. Unused recreational practice slots are made available to travel teams.
Travel
How do I sign my child up to tryout for a travel team?
Baseball and Softball Travel teams are formed in the late summer and fall for the following spring season. The tryout dates (typically between July 15 and August 15) are listed in the travel section of this site. Login into or create an account on nbsaonline.org to register your participant for the correct travel team tryout.
How can I find detailed information about travel teams?
Please refer to the NBSA Travel team Policy