Dear OBA Pony Families,

Welcome to Pony Fall Ball!  As the Pony Commissioner, I am looking forward to a productive fall season.  For some of you, this phase of your child’s OBA experience will mark the first time they will have professional coaching.  This crew of coaches has perennially done an outstanding job, and we are very fortunate to have them as part of OBA.  The focus of Fall Ball will be on conditioning, strengthening, and skills development.  As an “old-timer” OBA parent and former coach, manager, and Bronco Division Commissioner with three sons who came through OBA, I strongly feel that the Pony program is one of the best experiences in our baseball program. The Pony coaches do an excellent job at conditioning and working with the boys to optimize technique, which is very important to prevent injuries.  Fall Ball is the time to improve baseball skills and I.Q., it is not meant to be overly competitive with games every weekend. To this end, there will be two tournaments: September 24-25, Battle of the Bay in Martinez, and October 22-23, Smashing Pumpkins in Walnut Creek and Martinez.  The coaches will determine which players will be invited to play in the tournaments, and there will be an additional fee of approximately $50 per player per tournament.  We are currently planning on fielding one team in each age group but will consider entering a third team depending on coach availability and player interest—stay tuned, more to follow on this possibility.

While Fall Ball is not a requirement for Spring teams, the fall season will also serve as a way for the coaches to evaluate players for the Spring teams.  Practices will focus on batting practice, bullpen and conditioning.  The weekend practices will likely include scrimmages among the 36 players currently enrolled. 

Our practices will run September 6-October 27.  Practices will be held at Sportsfield A (big Pony field by gravel parking lot) during the week, and the Wagner Bronco field on Saturdays from 2-4 pm 9:00 to 11:00 am.  The 8th graders will practice on Tuesdays from 4:15-6:15pm at Sportsfield A, while the 7th graders will practice during same time on Thursdays.  Saturday practices will be combined 7th and 8th graders, currently at Wagner Bronco field.  I will update you if we are able to secure Wilder Field on Saturdays, but field availability has been a challenge in the last few years due to the growth of soccer teams who also compete for field space and time in our area.

If you have any concerns, comments or questions, feel free to email me at hieuballmd@yahoo.com.  We look forward to a terrific Fall season!  Thank you for your participation in the OBA Fall program!

--Hieu Ball