If you have a boy or girl aged 6-12 who is interested in joining the Celbridge Bobcats Youth Baseball Club, a good first step is to get in touch with us to express your interest. This is helpful as it will help us to answer any questions you might have. With baseball not being widely played in Ireland, there are usually lots of questions from parents when they first sign their child up.

Experience level

There is no experience needed. Most of our current players joined with zero knowledge of the game, and we are very used to accommodating this. Believe it or not, the vast majority of our players are Irish born and raised, and there is not a reliance on foreign or American players.

Your child’s age

The age of your child (from the perspective of Baseball Ireland) is determined by their age as of January 1st of the current year. This means you could have a child who is currently 7 as of May, but was only 6 on January 1st, or a child who is currently 13 as of May, but is 12 by Baseball Ireland’s standards.

Training location and times

Before signing your child up, we recommend trying out a few trainings first to make sure he or she likes it. We train outdoors from early April until Early September at the back corner of Willowbrook Park (next to Aghards playground). Trainings are on Friday evenings from 6:00-7:30. This allows for a good mix of fielding, batting, and games. Safety is a top priority for us, and all of our coaches are Garda vetted and have completed a Safeguarding 1 course.

Equipment

For new players, all you need is a water bottle and a rain jacket in case the weather doesn’t agree with us. The team supplies all other equipment such as baseball glove, bats, balls, and other training equipment. If your child decides after playing a full season (or even less) that they truly love it and want to stick with it, then we highly recommend buying a baseball glove and even a bat of their own. This will allow them to play at home outside of training and playing times if they want to.

The playing season

The Irish youth baseball season runs from May until September, with games played on Sundays, typically from 2:00-3:30 for Coach Pitch and 2:00-4:00 for Little League. Sundays can be a challenge for some parents, who may already be stretched thin trying to get kids to other sports such as soccer and/or GAA. If you can’t make it to every game, this is completely understandable, but ideally players would be able to commit to attending at least some of the games.

Within the Irish youth league, there are teams in Ashbourne, Portmarnock, Clondalkin, Shankill, and Belfast, and we play about 10 regular season games, along with Blitzes scattered throughout the season. We only make the trip to Belfast 1x every year, and play a double-header up there rather than travelling up twice during the season. We are a small, but tight-knit league, with the focus on the kids having fun and getting as much playing time as possible.

Our Coach Pitch and Little League teams

We have two teams, one Coach Pitch (ages 6-8) and one Little League (ages 9-12).

There is a very big difference between the two teams, with Coach Pitch playing on a slightly smaller field dimension and also only hitting balls pitched by his or her coach. If your child isn’t able to hit the ball after 3 pitches, the coach then switches to the tee so that your child is guaranteed to be able to get the chance to hit the ball every time he or she is up. There are no strike outs in Coach Pitch league, and coaches are positioned on the field with the players to ensure they all know what is going on.

Our other team is our Little League team for players aged 9-12, which consists of older players who mostly pitch to each other and try to strike out the batting team’s players. This is, without a doubt, the part of the game that kids are drawn to the most. Every player, regardless of experience level, gets a chance to bat and make an impact in the game.

Another element of the Little League level of play that the kids like is that they are able to steal bases when they successfully get on base, with the fielding team’s catcher trying to defend against this.

Do get in touch with us to find out more about how your child can join up with the Celbridge Bobcats.