St. Peters Athletic Association

Parents Right to Know

St. Peters Athletic Association (SPAA) is a not for profit, independent youth baseball/softball association that is not affiliated with the city of St. Peters.  We have a full time administrator and a full time administrative assistant, 3 seasonal field workers, 2 seasonal concession people to fill our stands, approximately 100 seasonal umpires, and up to 20 volunteer board members.  SPAA was home to almost 4300 youth baseball and softball players in the 2007 season, which made up 314 teams.

The SPAA rulebook may be found on the web at www.spaa.com.  Any rules not covered there will be governed by NSA (for girls) or Major League Baseball (for boys).

SPAA will not tolerate any kind of alcoholic beverages or pets being brought into Strehl Field at anytime or any of the City parks near the baseball field areas while we hold the permits. You will be asked only once to remove it from the premises and then your team will forfeit the game or the police will be called if you refuse or have to be asked a second time.

The use of intoxicants or tobacco products, in any form, is prohibited from the playing field and/or dugout area by players, coaches, managers, fans or league officials.  Penalty for the first offense will be a warning; a repeat offense will result in ejection.  Please keep this in mind if you are helping coach your child’s team.

We play our games on the following St. Peters city owned fields: Brown Road, Sports Complex, and Old Towne, all located in the Old Towne St. Peters area; Shady Springs located behind the YMCA at Cave Springs; at Woodland Park located off of St. Peters/Cottleville Road and Ohmes Road; and at the SPAA owned, Strehl Fields, located at 6000 Highway N, next to the Batting Cages. “AA” teams for boys may also have a game or two in Lake St. Louis. 

Regular scheduled games will mainly be played on weeknights. However some regularly scheduled Saturday games are possible.  Play will begin around the middle of April and continuing through the end of July or possibly as late as August 15.  Make up games will be scheduled primarily on Saturdays or Sundays.  Weeknight games will be played at 6:00 PM or 8:15 PM with weekend times varying.  6, 7, and 8 year olds will not be scheduled for 8:15 games on weeknights.  No games will be scheduled Sunday, May 11 due to Mothers Day; between Saturday, May 24 and Monday, May 26 due to Memorial Day; and Sunday, June 15 due to Fathers Day.  We will also not schedule games on whatever day is chosen as the SPAA Cardinal night.  All days not listed above will be open for league games to be scheduled on them.  NOTE:  This does include the Friday nights before holidays.

All SPAA players in uniform and their coaches will receive free small team sodas from the SPAA concession stands immediately following their game.   

Baseball and Softball are summer sports and SPAA will not be canceling games due to the heat.  Living in St. Louis, we may never complete the season if we were to cancel due to heat.  When it is hot, be sure your child has had something light to eat before they go out to play and be sure they are well hydrated.  Cool rags are also a great help in the heat.  It is your responsibility as a parent to monitor your child during these games and remove them from the game if you deem it necessary.  On extremely hot days, SPAA umpires will allow extra water breaks for defensive players if an inning(s) is unusually lengthy.  Coaches are responsible for making this request to the umpire.

Children are allowed to play up in age but they may not play down with out a written statement from their doctor stating the reason they need to play down and approval from the SPAA board of directors. There is however, a three month grace period.  Please call the SPAA office for further information on this.  We will be allowing children who reach the age of 6 on or before December 31, 2008 to play in the Pee Wee I age group. The actual cut off is July 31, 2008, however, we are allowing a 5-month grace period. The children who fall within that 5-month grace period are not allowed to play up to Pee Wee II or above, they must stay in Pee Wee I. If you have any questions on this please call our office at 636-397-3149.

Once your child has signed a roster, they may not sign a roster with another SPAA team for the current season until they have been properly released from the originating team. To do this, a roster revision form must be filled out and signed by the parent, manager, and the home association. If the manager chooses not to release your child, you may bring this to the SPAA board of directors and if we feel there is just reason, we can release your child. Once this has been done, your child may begin looking for another team. HE/SHE/YOU MAY NOT TALK TO ANOTHER MANAGER OR TEAM UNTIL PROPERLY RELEASED.   If you do so, your child could be suspended from the association. By the same token, no manager may “kick” your child off of a team once they have signed the roster without your written permission (the signing of the roster revision form). Each manager has a roster revision form, or you may call our office to obtain one (397-3149).

No manager is to approach a child that is rostered on a different SPAA team for the purposes of playing in a tournament.  The manager is to go to your child’s manager and get his written permission for your child to participate with their team before they approach you or your child.  Failure to do so may be considered a recruiting violation and the manager and player may be suspended from SPAA.

If you wish to place your child on a different team for the following year you may do so providing you have not already signed a roster with a team for the following spring. You may select a new team one of the following ways. You may watch the paper for tryouts or at registration you may ask that your child be put on a new team forming. The new teams are all children of the same age who either do not have a team to play on or who wish to change teams.

Each player must have played at least one inning of defense by the completion of the third inning and must be permitted to play a minimum of 3 defensive innings out of a full 7-inning game unless he/she is being disciplined. Your child may choose not to play and at that point his/her manager shall notify the opposing manager that the child is out of the line up. However, once they miss a time at bat they may not re-enter the game.   The manager has the right to bench a child for disciplinary reasons. You have the right to know why your child is benched. 

In case of inclement weather, please do not call our office to find out if a game or practice is still going on as scheduled. The managers have a rain out number that is for managers only that will give them this information. This number is NOT FOR PARENTS/PLAYERS to call so please do not ask the manager for the rain out number. The SPAA web site is www.spaa.com.  We encourage all parents and players to check this site for field conditions.  Check with your manager to find out what your teams system for rainouts will be.  There is a sports line bulletin board that can be used for a minimal charge per month that is absolutely wonderful.  Have your manager check into this service.   

Schedules will be on the SPAA web site (www.spaa.com) once all managers have picked up their schedules.  We will also post the reschedules from rained out games. 

St. Peters Athletic Association is very proud of our managers and coaches. Very few people know the time and effort that a manager puts into his team. All of this time is done on a volunteer basis with little or no recognition. Please be considerate of your manager and coaches and most of all remember why we are here to play ball.............FOR THE KIDS!!!!

Each team finishing 1st or 2nd in their division will be receiving awards. We do not have an awards night. Once the awards are done we will be notifying the managers and they may pick them up at our office and distribute them to their team. 

SPAA will offer several nights for teams to have their picture taken.  Teams are not required to have their pictures taken by our photographer.  They may set up something on their own if they wish.  Pictures will be delivered to our office and the managers will be notified when they are here.

Each manager has been given health forms for each player on his team. SPAA does not mandate that you fill this out, but we do encourage you to do so. The managers will keep these with them at all games and practices in case of an emergency in which you are not around.

SPAA is looking for umpires. Interested people should reach the age of 14 before April 1st. Umpires must attend clinics, field day, and pass a written and field test. Pay ranges vary, depending on age and experience. There is an incentive bonus for those who do more than 25 games per year. For more information please contact our office at 636-397-3149.

SPAA will not tolerate any verbal abuse, whether before, during, or after a game, toward our umpires.  Anyone approaching an umpire on the premises of the ball field for the purpose of instigating a verbal argument shall be subject to ejection, and possible suspension, as seen fit by the home association.  Managers, Coaches, fans (including grandparents, aunts and uncles) do not have the right to express unsportsmanlike comments to the umpire(s) for umpire decisions made.  Please call the SPAA office (397-3149) should you have any serious issues with an umpire and allow us to handle it. 

SPAA will have a night at the Cardinal Game again this year.  Each team should have one person in charge of coordinating this event.  There will only be so many tickets to issue, therefore this will be done on a first come first serve basis.  Managers will be given a flyer in March to give to each parent that will outline the process more in depth.

We will also be offering a SPAA Night at the Rascals game again this season.  More information on this will follow at the winter managers meeting. 

If there is any accommodation or adaptation you are requesting for your child to be able to participate in the baseball/softball program offered by the St. Peters Athletic Association, you are required to advise the Administrator of such a request in writing no later than February 4, 2008.

If your child plays any games up at Shady Springs Park, you should park in the Shady Springs parking lot only.  People parking in the YMCA lot, that are not members of the YMCA, will be ticketed and possibly towed.

Any problems you may have that you and the manager cannot work out may be brought to our attention in writing. Our address is 19 Main Street, St. Peters, MO. 63376. 

PARENT PARTICIPATION FOR CONCESSION DUTY

Teams in the SPAA are required to participate in our concession stand work, which will amount to approximately 12 - 15 hours of duty. These hours may or may not conflict with your league schedule.  It is up to the teams to check out any conflicts as soon as you get your schedule.  The way this works is as follows:

Your hours will be in a row as much as possible. Your team may choose to “buy out” of concession duty. To do this we must be able to secure another team or group of individuals to work your duty for you. The cost of this is $300.00.

Each team should assign one person to be in charge of picking up the moneybox, opening the stand, closing the stand, and returning the moneybox. We will give them a book that will walk them through everything from unlocking the door to closing up at the end of the night.  A board member will also be only a phone call away to help.

You must have one person be your “field commissioner”.  This person will hand out the game balls, score cards, and umpire equipment to the umpires before each game, turn on the lights if applicable, and roam the fields during the games.  If any situation should arise they may call the board member immediately.  You must have 4 workers at all times during your teams duty and 1 field commissioner.  There will be a board member on call at all times that you may call if you have any problems.

IF YOUR TEAM IS INTERESTED IN WORKING EXTRA DUTY AS A FUND RAISER PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE.