dcbaseball.org
dcbaseball.org is a local grassroots,
501c3 nonprofit organization of concerned citizens and businesses in the District of Columbia Metropolitan area whose purpose is to increase
youth participation in the sports of baseball and softball. Since 2000, dcbaseball.org has been communicating various issues, problems, and barriers of the city’s youth to the citizen
stakeholders, local and federal officials, and the business community of Washington, DC. This organization has also provided instructional training programs for youth in the form of
clinics and workshops to numerous DC youth as well as provide resources (equipment, uniforms, etc.) to DC Public School and Babe Ruth summer league teams.dcbaseball.org strives to provide a higher quality infrastructure for DC youth in the sports of baseball and softball, which includes fields and facilities development, “year-round” training programs, quality coaching, uniforms, and equipment.
City-Wide Needs and Priorities
Coin-operated indoor batting cage facility
There is a tremendous untapped demand in the District for public, coin-operated batting cages. Such facilities currently exist in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs that surround Washington DC. District based teams find them-selves having to drive outside of DC in order to access practice and training time at batting cage facilities. A batting cage facility can create positive exposure to youth we serve as well as parents and community leaders.
Currently in the district you have a lack of programs geared towards teen-aged youth and this is also where we see the largest decline of interest in baseball and softball among youth in general. This facility can provide a venue for after school programs and an easier accessible location for DC based teams to practice indoors. Profits from the coin-operated batting cages can be re-cycled into the day-to-day operations of the facility and possibly help provide resources for DC based teams.
Public School teams lack batting cages, pitching machines, practice mounds and equipment storage units
Most DCPS middle, junior high and high schools that run a baseball and/or fast-pitch softball team lack adequate training facilities both indoors and outdoors. This contributes to the lack of quality training equipment as well. The most effective way of using funds would be to provide batting cages, protective “L screens”, pitching machines, practice mounds and most importantly adequate storage units for this equipment. These tools will help any team practice on basic fundamentals of hitting and pitching regularly. Not only will this provide better training for these student-athletes, but also show support for the youth and help raise the interest level and participation in both sports.
Help DCIAA baseball and softball teams from losing ground
The DC Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) operations have few staff and little resources, especially in the areas of baseball and softball. One of the simplest examples can be found by going to the DC Public Shools (DCPS) website. There is no information about DCIAA on the DCPS website. There are no schedules, game times, filed locations, directions or notifications of cancellations or programming changes. dcbaseball.org would like to aid in providing the above information on our newly launched website. This will create a partnership between our organization and DCPS/DCIAA and provide information to the public.
You also find that the relationship between the DC Dept. of Parks and Recreation and the DCIAA is very limited. Lack of adequate field maintenance during baseball/softball season is one issue that is effected by the lack of communication between these two government entities. In turn, the city's youth baseball/softball community suffers in keeping up to date with surrounding areas.
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