New City Generals Host MLB Pitch, Hit and Run Competition Sunday

The New City Generals are set to host the MLB Pitch, Hit and Run Competition this Sunday, Apr. 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia.

“We’re always looking for ways to keep our players active around baseball and ways to keep other players around the game,” said Wayne Meda, New City Generals director, manager of the 10-and-under Blue Team and coordinator for the Pitch, Hit and Run Competition.  “I think this would be a great way to get the word out there and to get all the players, Little League players, our players and whoever is out there who wants to compete a place to go and win a spot.”

This is one of 4,000 local tournaments happening throughout the country in association with Major League Baseball.  Sunday’s competition is the first of four rounds in which children will compete through local and sectional competitions to reach the team championships, to be hosted at Yankee Stadium or City Field for our region. 

Players will be working for the ultimate prize of an all-expenses paid trip for them and one parent/guardian in order to compete in the National Finals at the 2011 MLB All Star game.  The winners from the finals will be awarded trophies and create memories that will last a lifetime.

The tournament is open to girls and boys from the ages of 7-14 who live in the  area.  Participation is free, however, participants need to bring a birth certificate to register as they will be competing against children within the same age bracket.

Meda said the event will be a fun-filled day in which children get to hone their skills and have fun as they strive for excellence in a friendly and supportive yet competitive atmosphere.  For the spectators and players who are waiting to compete, there will be food available and some baseball-themed activities, including a dunk tank.

“The hope is that a lot of the kids will play in groups, so they’ll have their buddies there and, rather than just compete and leave, they’ll hang around and they’ll watch and they’ll cheer for their friends and just make it a real fun place to be," said Meda.  "There’s no charge to the kids, so come, enjoy, take part and hopefully somebody will score well enough to move on.”

Meda and the rest of the New City Generals board are excited for the event and for the opportunity to provide this opportunity for Rockland.

“It’s exciting for the organization, it’s exciting for the kids of New City and the surrounding areas that participate in this and we’re proud to bring this to New City and to Clarkstown and Rockland,” said Meda.  “Hopefully we get a great turnout and we can build on this in future years and it only makes the baseball that our children in this area are able to play even better.”

Travel teams

The New City Generals is a travel baseball league that fields teams from ages 7U-13U.  They also field a team at the 16U age group as well.  All of their teams participate in a variety of leagues throughout Rockland and New Jersey.  They had their inaugural season last year in which eight teams, for a total  of 160 players, participated.  This year, the Generals are building on that success with 12 teams, for a total of 160 players.  As of this year, the Generals primary home field will be at Albertus Magnus High School.

The travel baseball program allows children to play baseball throughout the region and through the summer — long after local Little League competition ends its traditional spring regular season. Children in Little League competition play teams within their own league for the regular season, and then play teams within Rockland County for in All-Star and district championship games.

The New City Generals say they field teams that play at a very competitive level. However, the league says it differs from other travel leagues in that it does not discourage players from participating in Little League. Organizers of the New City Generals include parents who participate and support New City Little League.

 “We truly believe it’s all about the kids,” said Meda.  “If they like to play baseball, then give them a place to play and an opportunity to play throughout the summer and it doesn’t need to be that difficult.”

It is precisely this attitude that trickles down from the board to the team managers and their players, Meda said.  Managers undergo a training process to ensure that this mindset is pervasive throughout the organization. In addition to instruction on league philosophy, they receive baseball training and physical training in a series of clinics.

Clinics and physical training are not just for the coaches, but the players as well.  The entire process begins in the fall with training, evaluation and placement.  The players then begin training in January in a series of winter clinics for the spring/summer season, which begins on Memorial Day weekend  at the Hackensack Memorial Day Tournament.

“We  have a fully comprehensive evalutation process that starts in the fall,” said Meda.  “We have a relationship with Hard Ball New York, which is a professional baseball training facility in Elmsford. Their coaches and their professionals do on field evaluations with our players in groups of about 10 players.  They do a lot of drills, they watch them hit, field, pitch and spend a good few hours on the field with them.   Their evaluations are provided to the directors and managers, who make team selctions on those evalutions plus other factors.”

This process has yielded some excellent teams for the Generals. In last year's opening day tournament, the Generals 7U team finished second place competing in the 8U division to make them the "shining stars" of last year's inaugural season.

“It was a bunch of 7 year olds playing 8 year olds, and they just moved through the competition to the finals and they were defeated in the finals, but it was quite the accomplishment for a group of 7 year old boys, so those were our shining stars from last year,” said Meda.  “Keeping in mind that we were a first-year organization, I think we really blew right past our goals for last year in that we were able to field so many teams when we didn’t think we were going to be that big and a lot of the kids were new to travel baseball.  So just getting their teams on the field and competing and growing the organization was an accomplishment in it of itself.”

After an outstanding opening season last year, In this 2011 season, the Generals are optimistic as they look to build on last year’s success.

“This  year we hope to have some more competitive teams at different levels,” said Meda.  “By adding new players at different levels, we’ll now be competing in different leagues at different levels, so we’re optimistic that they’ll be more competitive in those divisions because we had a better selection process because we had more players to choose from.  So, we expect to have better performances on the field and just to continue to grow, but, like I said before, at the end of the day, if our kids are playing baseball throughout the summer and they’re enjoying themselves, that’s really the ultimate goal.”