For decades, Sunrise Little league has been the official Little League of the Connetquot community, unfortunately it is not the only baseball and softball organization operating here. This makes Connetquot unique from its surrounding towns, and also leads to many families being misinformed or just not knowing that there is only one official Little League in Connetquot. Connetquot has traditionally had great baseball and softball players, so it is confusing that we have not had a strong Little League program for all of these years. The fact that there are several organizations running baseball and softball programs in the Connetquot community has caused our Little League program to suffer. Our Little League is where Connetquot kids should play baseball and softball with their friends and kids they will be with through high school. All volunteers in Connetquot Little League reside in Connetquot, not in other towns, and have the interest of Connetquot families and kids as their number one focus. This experience should be about the kids, not the adults and not an agenda of any sort.
At the conclusion of last year's season, the board of Sunrise Little League decided the change the name of the organization to match our surrounding towns and Connetquot Little League was formed.
Our goal is and always has been to expose the children of Connetquot to Little League baseball and softball and teach them good sportsmanship and the skills to play the game and be good teammates. These skills are just as important as the drills that are also taught to get better at the actual game. Little League baseball and softball is a recreational program. We are NOT travel baseball or softball and never will be. Travel has its place for elite players and there is nothing wrong with playing travel. Elite players play both Little League and travel at the same time. If you watch the Little League World Series on ESPN, most, if not all of those players also play travel.
We are a completely volunteer run organization. Our only goal is to cater to the kids of Connetquot! We do not make a profit, we do not pay any coaches, volunteers or board members for their time, and we do not use registration fees for other ventures. All fees are used for items to run the league such as uniforms, equipment and fees for umpires and Little League which provide endless opportunities for the children of Connetquot.
There is no greater feeling in sports than to represent your hometown or school in a tournament or competition with other towns or schools. Little League provides this opportunity via the Little League international and state tournaments that are played at the conclusion of every spring season. Sunrise has participated in these tournaments in the past, but with very little success. The reason for this is not the lack of effort or desire, but a lack of players. When the community pool of players is split across several organizations, that pool is diluted, which is why we have not been successful in the past. Last year was a turning point, however. We fielded the most competitive major division baseball team in many years, and advanced further than we have in as many years. This was because we had a small influx of additional players that did not know about this tournament. We have been trying to actively engage with the community to spread the word and not have kids miss these exciting opportunities to represent Connetquot!
We are the ONLY official Little League organization of the Connetquot community. We must abide by the strict rules and guidelines of Little League International in order to provide the safest environment for the children of the Connetquot community.
This includes strict background checks of all volunteers, the safety guidelines set forth by Little Leagues of America, as well as strict age and bat regulations to protect all of the players.
All major and minor division baseball and softball games have umpires that follow the official Little League rulebook when calling games. Those cost of these umpires are included in the registration fee.