GVLL Families,
First and foremost, the GVLL Board of Directors hope that you, your families and loved ones all are safe and healthy during this uncertain time that we are we confronted with as a community.
As we enter our 61st season as Great Valley Little League there has never been a Spring season as challenging in so many ways.
Rather than having just completed our Bat A Thon weekend and celebrating all the festivities associated with our traditional league event, there remains many more questions than answers.
While we fully recognize that there are so many more immediate and critically important concerns other than the resumption of Little League play, we do want to remain in contact with our community, providing guidance whenever we are in a position to do so.
What we do know is that there will not be the late summer tradition of Little Leagues from all over the globe descending upon Williamsport for the Little League World Series.
Also the PA State Little League Association voted on Saturday, May 2 to cancel all the 2020 section and state tournaments due to the coronavirus mitigation.
We also know that in some areas within the US and indeed with our own state, volunteers are able to begin work on a local plan for returning to the field and providing a Little League experience for their players.
Several Pennsylvania counties are within weeks from moving from the 'Red' phase inclusive of 'Stay at Home' orders into the 'Yellow' phase of the state's reopening plan. That does not mean youth sports are getting closer to happening in our state.
Per recent reporting of a PA news outlet, "Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said on Friday that despite a county reaching the next level of being reopened, organized sports will not still be permitted to resume."
"Organized sports are not going to be allowed under the yellow phase," Levine stated last week during a coronavirus press briefing. "We'd have to wait to the green phase for that to be allowed. As the governor has been saying, yellow means caution, and it would not be an exercise of caution to let team sports play."
Health Secretary Levine did not indicate if the entire state had to be in the Green phase for organized sports to begin again or if they would be allowed on a county-by-county basis.
Per Nate Wardle, Press Secretary for the PA Department of Health, "At this time, there are no counties in the green, and we just had the first counties move to the yellow phase. In the yellow phase, the largest gathering that is allowed is of 25 people. As we continue to look at data surrounding COVID-19, cases in Pennsylvania, etc., we will be able to better address when organized sports can occur again in PA".
At minimum, until Chester County is moved from the current 'Red' phase to 'Yellow and ultimately 'Green', all Little League activities that relies upon 'gathering together' is suspended. This includes, but is not limited to, practices, games, in-person meetings, facility clean-up days, in-person volunteer recruitment, person to person fundraisers, etc.
Ultimately GVLL would like to provide an opportunity for our Players to enjoy an organized Little League experience this Summer and perhaps into the Fall.
PA District 27 Presidents met recently and collectively it was agreed upon to observe Players' current, Spring '20 Little League age in the event of Summer-Fall program and any potential for a District 27 All-Star tournament effort.
We are planning to send out a League-wide survey to gain an understanding of what our families would be interested and available for should we have a reasonable opportunity to undertake this effort.
Please continue to visit the following Little League link for the most recent updates.
https://www.littleleague.org/player-safety/coronavirus-update/
Please know that the GVLL Board of Directors is thinking of all our Little League families and our entire community's well-being during this unsettling period.
Please contact us with any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
GVLL Board of Directors