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San Juan Bautista will host in-person free registration for its new Junior Giants baseball teams on May 1 at the Community Hall, hoping to sign up the approximately 120 kids needed to make the league possible. Almost 70 players have registered online since the program’s launch on April 1.
“We’re almost halfway through the registration period,” said Recreation Coordinator Caitlin Brady. “We are holding this event to get as many kids as possible. Sometimes it’s just better to register with somebody there to talk to you about it.”
The San Juan teams were previously an offshoot of the Hollister Junior Giants league, but that city’s budget constraints forced the creation of the new league.
“The city talked to their recreation department about cutting all the expenses that were not Hollister-related,” Brady said. “They are still doing Junior Giants for them, but they wanted to cut the expense of handling it for San Juan.”
She said the Hollister Recreation Department has been helpful and communicative, but logistical problems slowed the process of locating last year’s players.
“Junior Giants always give leagues the contacts of the people who played before,” she said. “But since we are new, we didn’t have that list. They sorted it out and got those to us, so we’re reaching out to get more of our returning kids back.”
Longtime coach Michael Ponce said the Junior Giants are giving San Juan a little leeway on the minimum number of players but he thinks it might not be needed.
“We had 110 players last year,” he said, “and we’ve consistently had around that number for the last four or five years. We hope to get a few more people at the in-house signup.”
Junior Giants is a free, non-competitive league, which Ponce said makes it a good choice for any kid as a summertime activity.
“You don’t necessarily need to be great at baseball,” he said. “We just want people to come out and have fun with us. The more the merrier.”
Ponce said the program also tries to instill essential ideals in its players, such as no bullying.
“That’s our goal,” he said. “Every week we have a word such as teamwork, leadership, integrity, and confidence. So it’s not only a baseball program, it’s a children’s program to help them become responsible adults.”
In-person registration is available on May 1 from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the San Juan Bautista Community Hall, located at 10 San Jose Street. Bring a smartphone, tablet or laptop to complete the registration on-site.
Participants can also register online for the three team age groups:
- T-Ball Baseball (ages 5-6)
- Minors Baseball (ages 7-9)
- Majors Baseball (ages 10-13)
Online registration is also available for volunteers and coaches, as well as for youth volunteers (ages 13-17). For more information or to volunteer, contact Brady at 831-833-5755 or recreation@san-juan-bautista.ca.us.
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