Sponsor Lunch at KS on the Keys

Hello 60+ League Players, Spares and Scorekeepers
Our first sponsor lunch has been set at the KS on the Keys restaurant (1029 Daze St. in the South Keys Shopping Centre) for Tuesday, May 27. Please tell your Team Captain at your game on May 20 if you plan to attend. This will allow the restaurant to plan for the numbers coming.
If the Team Captains are unable to reach Chris Fraser at the RA Centre on the 20th, then please contact him with your numbers by email at vpsocial.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com on the same day.
Spare players and scorekeepers are also welcome and if you do want to come please email Chris at the address provided above by Tuesday May 20 unless, of course, you did confirm with a Team Captain.
Please come out and support our sponsor.
Thank you
Peter Atkinson, President

Week 1 Update

The sun was shining, the fields were freshly lined, and the enthusiasm was high. How fortunate and blessed we are to be able to enjoy a sport we love at our time of life and to socialize with so many wonderful, equally-minded friends!
Those were my thoughts as we launched the 60+ Mixed Slo-Pitch season.
Although it was a long opening day for some of our teams which played doubleheaders, the games seemed to proceed without any major glitches.
Thanks to all our captains and members of the Executive who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this a successful day. In particular, special kudos to:

• Ken Kroeker for facilitating the informative Umpire and Pitching Screen Clinic;
• Ron Fedoruk, for maintaining our website and created our schedule;
• Chery Ferguson, our departing treasurer, for ensuring all league fees were promptly collected and all bills paid;
• Dan Stankovic, our Secretary, for putting in untold hours during the preseason to create our player data base and secure our league insurance; and
• Malcolm Bruce, our VP of Operations, for facilitating our team selection process and coordinating all on-field arrangements

I am pleased to announce that we have a new league treasurer – Maureen Feagan has graciously stepped forward and volunteered to fill this important position on the Executive.

All team shirts were distributed yesterday. If you were absent from the first week of play, your captain will have your shirt for you next week. I am aware of a couple of anomalies with shirt sizes. If you received a shirt that is not the size you ordered, please inform your captain.

Finally, I wanted to thank Al Richman and the other members of Al’s Diner who, following their games, went for lunch to their sponsor’s restaurant. This was not only a great way to build team camaraderie at the beginning of the season but as well a terrific way to thank Al’s Diner owner Al Ayoub for sponsoring a team in our league. Needless to say, Al Ayoub was very pleased and impressed by this wonderful gesture of support.

May 6 Games Rescheduled

The choice between Double-headers Tuesday vs. adding games Wednesday was clearly in favour of Tuesday.  However, some of the comments included were:
– nobody wants to be one of the four teams playing a split on Tuesday,
-it’s too early in the season to be playing double headers
-why not split the make-up games over a couple of weeks
The taking all this into account, the new schedule for May 6 games will be:
                                           Date,     Time         D#
Chances R @ K & S   –  May 13   – 11:00   – D#4
Law & Ords @ Cdns   – May 20    – 11:00  – D#4
Defalcos  @ Boomers – May 27   -9:30     – D#4
Pontiac Bakery @ Myers- May 20  – 9:30 – D#4
Al’s Diner v Hometown-     May 13 – 9:30   – D#4
Crete-Ryan @ Royal Oak – TBD – June 24  or 12:30 one of the May/June dates
The Printable format of the season schedule will not be updated.

President’s Remarks at Opening Breakfast

Volunteerism
Volunteers have been the foundation of our league since its beginning and are
critical to its on-going operation.
We need people to ‘step forward’ to help out:
• Treasurer Vacancy
• On-field help: umpires, batting practice coordinator for July and August, sponsored lunches helpers, etc.
• Looking ahead, both the current Secretary and President will be stepping down in fall, creating two more vacancies on the Executive

‘Thank You’s’
• To those on Rules Committee
• Ron Fedoruk – website and schedule
• Ken Kroeker – Umpire, Captains, and Pitcher clinic on May 6
• Doug Humphries for agreeing to coordinate the Tuesday morning batting practices at Hampton Park for the months of May, June, and September.
• Two new sponsor’s – Al’s Diner and Sens Foundation (Boomers); We also acknowledge, with thanks, our continuing sponsors: Chances R, Crete-Ryan, Defalco’s, Hometown, KS on The Keys, Law & Orders, Myers Orleans, Pontiac Home Bakery, and Royal Oak.
• Past Exec Members: Daryl Leach (VP Social), Chery Ferguson (Treasurer), & Robin Boyd (President). Each was presented with a gift card.

Communication Protocols
• Website has the for schedule of games, League Handbook (including rules of play), Email addresses for Exec members, and updates/news
• There will be emails from the league to all players and scorekeepers
• There will also be emails from captains regarding inclement weather and last-minute updates. Your captain is the person you should approach with questions, suggestions, and concerns.

Schedule
• There are 21 weeks of play – May 6 through September 23
• There are 12 teams grouped in two divisions;
• There are 6 games per week – three at 9:30 am and three at 11 a.m.
• We are using Diamonds 2 and 3 throughout season; Diamond 1 will be used in May, June, September, and Diamond 4 in July/August
• There are 16 weeks of regular season; each team plays all teams within its division twice and teams in the other division once
• There are 5 weeks of playoffs, beginning August 26 – a 4-week round robin followed by final games
• All games are on Tuesday mornings with the exception of two Wednesday games – July 2 (Canada Day is a Tuesday this summer) and June 25 (RA diamonds not available Tuesday, June 17)

First Day (May 6) Considerations
• Captains will have a waiver form for all players to read and sign; You must sign in order to play; important note: Our league provides liability insurance; info on how to obtain accident insurance from Slo-Pitch Ontario (SPO) is available on our website
• Umpire/Captains/Pitching Clinic will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Diamond 1; The start of late morning games will be delayed until 11:30 a.m.
• Our team shirts will not be ready in time for the opening week of play on May 6. Our captains to coordinate colours for games on this day ie. home teams wear white; visitors wear coloured shirts.
• A gentle reminder that the RA Centre is a smoke-free environment; no smoking is permitted, including in the parking lot or the playing fields.

Opening Breakfast

Hello fellow ballplayers.

Our season is scheduled to start on the first Tuesday of May, if the fields at the RA are ready.  We are planning to hold our annual opening breakfast on Tuesday April 29 from 10:00 am to noon at the Royal Oak Centrepoint restaurant at 117 Centrepointe Drive in Nepean. Spares and scorekeepers are welcome.

The cost of the breakfast will be $18.00 per person.  If you plan to attend, please send an e-transfer of $18.00 to our Treasurer at treasurer.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com.  Include your name in the e-transfer message, so we know who the payment is coming from. If you want to attend the event and prefer not to pay by e-transfer, please contact the League’s Treasurer by email to set up an alternative payment method.

Please confirm your attendance by Friday April 25.  To reserve your spot, rsvp to our VP Social at vpsocial.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com, so we can provide the restaurant with the number of people expected.

Thank you.
Peter Atkinson, President

Drafting new players

Hello All

I would like to first thank you for registering to play in our 2025 Slo-Pitch season.Our League’s central principle has always been on supporting and encouraging the participation of active ‘seniors’ in a safe and enjoyable environment.

Our registration process this year has been successful. We have enough full time players to, once again, support a 10 team and even close to a 12 team league. By reaching 12 teams, we will be able to allow even more seniors the opportunity to play and make it easier for Team Captains to manage their teams without overburdening them with too many players. A 12 team league would also be easily handled in terms of scheduling games.

I am asking everyone to speak to friends, neighbours or family members who might be interested in playing in our league this summer. You can direct them to our website (https://ottawa60plusslo-pitch.ca/) for more information. If there is someone who might be interested please ask them to send a message to ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com. We will deal with collecting their information (e.g. emergency contacts, phone numbers etc.) later.

Thank you for your help:
Peter Atkinson, President

Registration Deadline March 14

Hello All

If you have registered to play this summer in our 60+ League and have paid your registration fee, you can ignore this email. Scorekeepers do not have to pay a fee. You may also get multiple emails with the same message. I still need to clean up our email lists on Google Groups.

If you have not, this is a reminder that the deadline is March 14. Please note that you need to still pay the fee by March 14 to be registered even if you have indicated earlier that you are returning.

I am looking forward to the start of the 2025 season (and the end of winter).

Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.
Dan Stankovic, Secretary
secretary.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com

2025 Registration is Open

Hello League Players

We are introducing a more streamlined registration process this year. First, rather than asking for the same information that has already been collected and entered into our database, we are only interested in any changes in your personal information that may have occurred since the end of the last season. Second, the registration process will consist of only email communications as opposed to completing and returning registration forms. Signed waiver forms will still be required but this will be accomplished at the ball diamond when you come to the first game.

Please note that as a result of increased rental fees imposed by the RA Centre, we are required to increase our registration fees to $95 from $85 in 2024. This is the League’s first fee increase at least since 2018.

 It is very important therefore, that you respond to this email by March 14, 2025 if you are planning to return and if so, if you want to remain full time or part time players. If you don’t reply, we will assume that you will not be returning. If you are returning as a full-time player, please be sure that you can play at least 2/3 of the season. If not, then please consider joining as a part time player.

Please email your response by replying to this email  (ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com).

It is also important to indicate in your email response how you will pay the registration fee – by internet etransfer or by cheque. More detailed directions are provided at the end of this invitation. Please make payment by the March 14 deadline. We can only register you once payment has been received.

In your email response, please also only include any changes to last year’s registration form which could include address and phone number changes, changes in your health condition that you think, your future team captain should be aware of, any change to your CPR status if you indicated as such last year, and any changes related to your emergency contact (name, address, phone number). If you are not sure if there are changes, include the information anyways.

If you wish, you can indicate if you want to be matched up with another player such as scorekeepers, spouses/partners and nearby neighbours and if you have a preferred position in the field that is different from last year.

A couple of footnotes: 1) we are hoping to expand to 12 teams this year which appears to be feasible based on the number of players we had for 10 teams in 2024 and the number of additional part-time players who would have liked to play full time. So, it is important to reply to this invitation by March 14. 2) We will be asking for volunteers to be Team Captains and Umpires after our registration is completed and we know who is coming back.

I look forward to seeing all of you back on the ball diamond this year and to another fun, successful 60+ slo-pitch season.

Peter Atkinson, President

 

Attachment: Directions for Fee Payment (Full Time Players Only)

(Please note that Chery Ferguson has kindly returned as the interim Treasurer of our League.)

If Payment is by Cheque:

Please make cheque payable to Ottawa 60+ Slo-Pitch League and mail to Ottawa 60+ Slo-Pitch League, 6084 Willowbark Drive, Orleans, Ont. K1C 5T8. If you intend to hand deliver an envelope with the payment to the Treasurer’s address, please advise Chery by email (treasurer.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com) before doing so as there is no mailbox at the house.

If Payment is by Interac E-transfer:

Please send to treasurer.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com

If you have previously sent money to the treasurer and still have the above receiving email as your “Payee”, there is no security question or answer required as the League account has an automatic deposit. In the MESSAGE Box, please identify the name of the player who is registering for the 2025 season to ensure the monies received matches up with the registering player.

If you have not yet set up the League’s treasurer’s email as a “Payee” with your bank, you may have to include a security question and answer. Please use the following for the Security Question: “position on field” and as the Security Answer: “shortstop” (excluding quotation marks). Once this is entered and you proceed to create the e-transfer, a message will indicate that an automatic deposit has been set up for this “Payee”. Also make sure the treasurer’s email is entered accurately as the Payee. In the MESSAGE Box, please identify the name of the player who is registering for the 2025 season to ensure the monies received matches up with the registering player.

5 Pin Bowling

Hello fellow ballplayers.
As Vice-President of Social for our league, I look forward to working with the Executive team to make 2025 a fun year of friendly competition.  Speaking of friendly competition, I’d like to organize a fun event before the slo-pitch season starts.  Let’s meet for 5 pin bowling at Merivale lanes on Tuesday February 25 at 11:00 am at 1916 Merivale Rd in Nepean.
The cost for bowling is $8.00 per person, plus $3.50 to rent bowling shoes.  For more information on the Merivale Bowling Lanes see their website at : https://merivalebowlingcentre.com/
If you are interested, please send a message to vpsocial.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com and I will put you on the attendees list.
Please confirm your attendance by Sunday February 23.  Friends, spouses and family members are welcome to attend.  I look forward to seeing you at Merivale Lanes on February 25.  And stay tuned for other pre-season events.
Thank you
Chris Fraser

Response to Survey Results

The Executive has read and discussed the results of our recent survey and is committed to an improvement plan which will focus on the following:
1. Working closely with the RA Centre to improve the playing conditions ie. infield grading, outfield evenness, fencing repairs, dugout conditions, and cleanliness and servicing of portable washrooms.
2. In consultation with the Rules Committee and team captains, reviewing and modifying (as required) the team selection process to ensure better balance.
To date, the RA has been formally notified of our specific concerns regarding playing conditions and a follow-up meeting requested.  As well, our league president has met with the presidents of the two other Ottawa area senior slo-pitch leagues, and together, they are organizing, for March, a new player orientation and evaluation session.  By evaluating new players, we hope to ensure better balancing of teams.