Dear CCLL Families and Friends,
The last 16 months have been difficult for everyone, and as an organization Culver City Little League admittedly didn't handle very well the challenges that the pandemic brought our way. But with this message we want to announce that this is a new year, and that this is a new Board of Directors: a freshly-elected group of dedicated volunteers who understand the need for -- and who are committed to honoring -- the essential values of regular communication, organizational transparency, and overall accountability. Most of all, we are committed to doing everything in our power to bring the best possible baseball and softball experiences to the children and families in our community.
In the spirit of that commitment, we have been working doggedly over the past several months to bring fall baseball back to Culver City. And in the spirit of that transparency, we want you to know that there have been many obstacles along the way. Chief among those obstacles has been our struggle to procure adequate field space for fall practices.
As you may or may not be aware, Culver City Little League is one of the few local youth baseball organizations without title to its own facilities. We rent our fields from the city, and as such we are ultimately subject to the city's priorities where field allocation is concerned.
Unfortunately, and in spite of our best efforts, the city's priorities this fall have not included the provision of any field space that can reasonably be considered adequate for baseball practice. This has included a complete lack of access to our traditional complex of fields at Bill Botts...where Culver City Little League has been operating since 1956, but where adult sports have regrettably been given precedence this year, from October through Thanksgiving.
While we are understandably dismayed at the apparent lack of value placed by our Parks Department on youth baseball and softball in our city, we didn't let our frustrations prevent us from continuing to fight for a fall ball program. Indeed, we explored several alternate options -- including an attempt to crowd our program into unsuitable alternative spaces within Culver City, and also including the possibility of locating a CCLL fall program at one of our neighboring Little League facilities within District 25. Nothing we were able to find, however, provided sufficient time or space for us to feel comfortable with the scope and sort of program we would have been forced to offer to our CCLL families.
For that reason, we regret to announce that
we will NOT be able to mount a Culver City Little League fall ball program in 2021. We will continue working to secure access for clinics at our local fields and cages, and otherwise will marshal all our efforts toward ensuring a robust and successful return to play in Spring 2022.
That being said, we still want you to play fall baseball! To that end, you will find at the conclusion of this email a list of local leagues which are currently taking registrations for fall ball. We encourage you to look the list over, and to sign up directly with whichever league seems best suited to your needs and priorities.
Many thanks from us to all of you for your time, your patience and your support as we work to bring youth baseball and softball back to our community! We will continue to keep you updated on our progress, and will be happy to answer any questions you may have in the meantime via our shared email address at
info@culvercitylittleleague.org.
Sincerely,
The Culver City Little League Board of Directors: