We received many comments
about the fields, restrooms and other facilities used by the Rochester Youth
Baseball program. This week we will attempt
to give everyone more insight into these areas.
NEW BATTING CAGES FOR
2014!
The big news is that we
received approval by the state to build an additional equipment shed and a set
of covered batting cages at the RBC complex.
We hope to have this area ready for our opening day in May 2014. The cost of the building and new cages will
be completely funded by RYBA. This is an
example of how we are using your fees to continuously make improvements to the program.
FIELD MAINTENANCE
RYBA does not own any of
the fields used for our program. All the
fields are owned by either the City of Rochester, School District 535, or the
State of Minnesota. The city is in
charge of maintenance at the Park and Rec fields, and although we are allowed
to do routine upkeep, there are strict rules that prohibit us from applying
weed killers and pesticides or filling in low areas with dirt. We do work closely with the Park and
Recreation department to secure fields for use by our house and travel teams
and we have first right to these fields on our assigned nights. The fields at the Rochester Baseball Complex
are owned by the State of Minnesota and are under the care of the Rochester
Community College during the men’s baseball and women’s softball season. Our RYBA staff does help maintain these
fields and you will often find our field crew hard at work on these fields
during the week, especially during tournament weekends.
PORTABLE RESTROOMS
We often receive questions
and complaints about the lack of portable restrooms at the city and grade
school fields. This is especially common
with kids involved in the K-3 program. Please
be aware that the timing of portable restroom placement for the summer is
controlled by Park and Rec for City owned fields and by Rochester School District
535 for the public school fields. 535 will not allow placement of outdoor portable
restrooms at any school until the school year has officially ended. This is usually in the second week of June. Park
and Rec controlled GAME fields have potties placed by the first week in May. Unfortunately RYBA does not have any
control over this policy.
Our best recommendation for
avoiding accidents by your little leaguer is for parents to make sure all
players, especially the younger children, go to the restroom before coming out
to games and practices.
If you have any additional
questions, ideas or suggestions about these issues please contact an RYBA board
member.
Mike Gozola
RYBA Director of Fields
gozola.mike@rochesterbaseball.net