“Worth a Thousand Words” Department

Looking Back New photos of the Tigers Fall season are available, thanks to Greg Bozek. Below are links that will open two new galleries, one from the Lexington Park tournament and one from the last game of the Fall season. Thank you, Greg! • Lexington Park Tournament • End of Fall Season

Fall Ball Celebration!

Thursday Party! Yes, THIS Thursday Fall ball is over, and now our thoughts turn to the holidays... and school work! It was a fun fall season with the addition of new Tigers, lots of rainouts, goofy umpires, and some great baseball. So, let's celebrate! This Thursday, November 6, at the Bromley's place. We'll have a pizza party. Everyone bring a few bottles/cans of soda (adult beverages, too, if you so desire), pitch in for pizza $$, and if anyone would like to, please bring an easy munchie or dessert. The hot tub is filled and ready - just bring a towel and swim suit (no skinning dipping!). Arrival time is tentative now (I have not confirmed a time with BJ), and we ask that you RSVP to BJ by [LINK DELETED] to send email. You can call, too—whichever is easiest. UPDATE Thursday, 7PM at the Bromley's! We figure that gives ya time for homework, party with pizza, and still get home for a good 'school night' rest. And maybe the freshman football players can join us after their game!

“First Time for Everything” Report

Tigers Go To Prison! Saturday, October 25th saw the Tigers in a situation they have never seen before—they played in prison! Well, it's a former prison, now owned by Fairfax County Park Authority, and re-named “Laurel Hills”. Our boys were not intimidated by their opponent or surroundings, as they triumphed with a score of 14 to 0. This reporter is pretty certain the parents were more creeped-out than the ball players. Click here to enjoy some photos!

RULES: UPDATE AND RECAP

Tiger Rules 1. Game Bats - will be minus 5 or less, (NO MINUS 3), wood bats and minus 3 can be used in BP.   2. No parents allowed on field or in dug-out after infield practice.   3. Missed practice or game may result in not starting the following game.   4. Players (not parents) should notify me if they will be unable to attend a game. Line-ups are made the night before a game, not at the field. Line-ups are usually complete by 8:00 pm the night before a game.   5. Football players - You are welcome and encouraged to attend as many games and practices as possible. I will assume that you will be at all Saturday and Sunday games unless I hear from you. If you plan to attend a week night game, I need to know the night before so that you can be included in the line-up. If you show up without notice, you will be inserted into the game as a substitute.   6. Saturday and Sunday games: If we have more than 11 players we will usually play a 10 man line-up and then substitute accordingly. I will reserve the right to alter this on a game by game basis.   7. Please bring light snacks and drinks to eat between double header games. Heavy foods such as pizza, burgers and subs should be avoided. Thanks for your cooperation, Coach Bromley

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION OF THE RULES

SCHEDULE REVISIONS - UPDATE

New Schedule Posted For the most part, the revised schedule is complete. Visit the October and November calendars to see the changes and additions. We still may add some games, so don't be surpised t see more changes!

MARYLAND TOURNAMENT

We Need to Know! Please let us know if you will be able to attend the tournament games in Maryland on Saturday, October 4 and Sunday, October 5. All games will be in southern maryland (there's a link in the “tournament” column in the lower-right corner of this page that MIGHT provide a teensy bit more info) and we are likely to commute both days — no hotel required. Greg Bozek is coordinating tournament plans and needs to know who will be attending tournament games. Please let him know, either in person or via email. Click his email address to send him email: [LINK DELETED] Those attending will need to sign a release, which Greg will have available very soon.

NVTBL NEWS

Website and the Schedule Some of you may have noticed a bit of confusion and frustration with the Fall schedule. NVTBL has launched a new website that is, well... still under construction. As time goes by, things should get better and much easier to use, and understand. Until then, here are some details about where things are and what to expect. Oh Where, Oh Where is the Info? As of today, you cannot see the online schedule. Only the team administrators can get into the online system to see the information — and that only happens when we use this cryptic password system. Best plan is to rely on the calendar here on CoachBill.org until things clear-up. If you DO want to find schedule and team information on the NVTBL website, you will need to “register” as a player. When you do that, you will have a “login” and password with which you can gain access to the online information. Right now, you can't even register, since they don't yet have a roster for the Tigers. Sometimes it just takes time to figure-out these things. Welcome to the NVTBL Galleria The new NVTBL website is hosted by a company called “Our Team Fundraiser,” and you will see their name and “pitches” everywhere when you visit the NVTBL info. We are told you don’t have to worry — your personal information is NOT being collected by the commercial enterprise. You will be bombarded by ads and teases to join the organization — just be careful where you click! This fundraising organization is basically an online shopping mall, for which your team can gather some money for anything that is purchased THROUGH your team. It's kinda complicated, and I don't really understand it all myself. NVTBL.org When the site seems to be ready for you to visit, you will get the word here, on CoachBill.org. For now, relax and enjoy our own cozy little corner of the world wide web.

PANTHERS WHO?

CoachBill.org Welcomes an Addition The Fairfax Panthers have joined the Tigers here on CoachBill.org — as you will see on the right-side of your computer screen. The Fairfax Panthers are the PVI High School “franchise team” playing in the 18U league of NVTBL this Fall. Coach Bill is working very closely with the Panthers as they enter the world of NVTBL. This website has been so successful for the Tigers, Bill wants the same success for the Panthers. Franchise What? You may be wondering what a “franchise team” is in NVTBL. The situation goes like this: NVTBL management wants the league to support, and enhance, the baseball programs in local high schools. The franchise program provides opportunity for high school teams to assemble a team to play outside of the regular high school schedule. This includes both the Fall and Spring. The franchise teams will play other 17U and 18U NVTBL teams that are not affiliated with a high school. This is also why NVTBL management pushes the teams at each age level to get better and play more competitive baseball — they want the high school teams to be challenged by their NVTBL opponents. This is the first Fall in which NVTBL has strongly focused on the franchise concept, and I'm sure you will hear more about it as time goes by.

SATURDAY FIELD UPDATE

1PM Field Prep The PVI field needs a bit more TLC that originally anticipated. Parents — please arrive around 1PM to help move bleachers and get the dirt into playable condition. Practice will begin at 2PM, as originally planned.

SATURDAY CANCELED

Izzy Hates Baseball! Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isabel has blown-away the Tigers' game scheduled for Saturday, September 20, at Bryant Alternative High School. The field is too wet — and that's the case for lots of fields. But Tigers Will NOT Be Blown-away Rather than a game — let's practice! 2PM at PVI for a team practice and field maintenance. We need some strong arms and legs to help prepare the PVI field for the Sunday games. The festivities start at 2PM and continue to 4PM. Don't be afraid — Izzy is up battling the Canadians for the weekend.

New Tigers for the Fall! This Fall sees the addition of two terrific baseball players — Eric Rabung and Will Vardeman. These guys are not strangers to the Tigers, but they've always been in the other dugout. But not this Fall! Gentlemen, welcome to theTigers!

SATURDAY - Laurel What?

Saturday Game Location Tigers play at a field in Laurel Hills. Where the heck is that? It's the former Lorton Reformatory (PRISON!). From Centreville, take the Fairfax Parkway to Route 123 South. Follow 123 South to Silverbrook — turn LEFT onto Silverbrook. Stay on Silverbrook to Lorton Road, where you will turn RIGHT. Travel on Lorton Road approximately one-half mile (maybe a little less) to the “park” on your right. Based on the information I have gathered, the ballfield is right in the old prison complex. That's the best information I have — it's a very new facility (at least for kids).

WHAT IS A “NOTTOWAY PARK”?

How to Get to the Wednesday Game This Wednesday, September 10th, Tigers play at Nottoway Park. It's in Vienna, off Nutley Street, not far from Madison High School. Clicking the link below will display directions to Madison HS, and the map/photo also point to Nottoway (blue caption/arrow). Take a look at those for an idea of where Tigers play. Looks like the park has many baseball fields — I don't know which one is for the Tigers. Sorry. Click ME to see directions! UPDATE: See Mrs. Bromley’s more-specific directions HERE! Synchronize Watches... The true start-time for the game is 5:30PM. Originally the schedule had the game starting at 5PM — that changed. 4:30 is a good time to arrive.

KINSTON TRIP - Y’ALL HAD FUN!

Tigers Survive Almost 50 Innings and North Carolina Heat Yep - we're back! We survived. Coming soon this spot will share thoughts, memories, and details of the Tigers’ tournament experience. ‘Til then - enjoy the first batch of photos! Photos: Page 1 | Page 2 new! What Do YOU Remember? Have some thoughts or memories you want to share here? [LINK DELETED] The learning experience it provided for adults and children alike for different reasons. ;) - to learn about a different part of our great country, to meet people from North Carolina and interact and share experiences with other Americans, to see great baseball teams from around our country and learn about how other teams come ready to play, and to see my son learn what it takes to be physically and mentally ready to play in "big" games (and not that he was always ready but perhaps and hopefully he was learning). Thank you to everyone for all that they did to get us to Kinston - uniform people, web site and information people, tournament coordinators, coaches and mentors and cheerleaders, and parents - happy August!! It was wonderful to be with other baseball families who truly love the game and love watching. Blessings and happy, healthy rest of the summer to all, Margie (Mickey's mom)

UVA TRIP - RESULTS & NOTES

Tigers split the double-header The first game of the day saw the Tigers up against the Spiders. Turns-out the Spiders have venom powerful enough to kick a Tiger! Our boys worked it hard while Reed and Tim kept the pitches coming, but the final outcome was a disappointing 9 to 1 with the Spiders victorious. Can Tigers Tolerate Hurricanes? The anti-venom worked, as the Tigers came back to squeak-out a victory over the BCC Hurricanes. High winds have hampered the efforts of our boys in the past, but this time the furry ones prevailed. The final score was 3 to 2, with the final two runs scored in the bottom of the seventh. Both teams battled hard and ended the game with a heightened degree of mutual respect after having met each other only once before. The end of the game demonstrated how the Tigers have fine-tuned the connection between excellent coaching and our boys skills and talent. Boo! The Tigers demonstrated their skills and prowess under the watchful eye of Monticello and, perhaps, the ghost of Thomas Jefferson. Just to the southeast, the hilltop home of the former President of the United States, and founder of UVA, could be seen from the baseball stadium. History tells us that, during the construction of UVA, Jefferson would keep an eye on progress through a telescope from his home. Could it be his ghost continues this tradition, and the Tigers caught his eye? Maybe it was the ghost that helped to boost our boys to victory in the final game? There was certainly something that gave us goosebumps! All That in the Lap of Luxury The entire day was spent at Davenport Field at UVA. This facility is gorgeous, with top-notch grass and infield mix. Even the parents felt spoiled while watching the game in real stadium seats with SHADE! The bathrooms were clean and civilized, too - can't beat that! Everyone was impressed with the facility and the event - big “thanks” to everyone at UVA that made it happen. School's Out for Summer - But Plan Ahead! Tigers made the trek to Charlottesville and UVA a day early to attend a special tour organized and presented by Dr. Jim McBride, Director of Career Services for the University of Virginia. Dr. McBride first introduced the group to the director of athlete development who presented the UVA athletic training facility. This was a very impressive building equipped with a small medical facility and a workout room designed for huge football players. Then Dr. McBride led the group to the football stadium, where he snuck everyone into some of the “off limits” areas - like the press room and locker room (very impressive) - and, yes, that did include the showers! Rest assured - they were not in use. Tigers send a special, super-duper thanks to Dr. McBride and his associates for such a special opportunity and a fun afternoon. Maybe we can do it again next year?! Photos: Page 1 | Page 2

KINSTON UPDATE - 7.13.03

Who and When? Coach Bill needs to know when each Tiger is arriving in Kinston. Important date is noon Friday, the 25th - ALL Tigers must be at the tournament registration area or their scalps will be shaved and dyed bright pink. PLEASE let us know when you will arrive in Kinston!

TROPHY TIME... again!

Look what arrived in the mail Someone left a package sitting on the doorstep. It wasn't a baby - it was something BETTER! A TROPHY!! Tigers received the ECTB 3rd Place Trophy and an armful of medals - one for each Tiger. Click on each photo to see a MUCH larger photo - they are big, and may take a while to load into your web browser (please be patient!). Or click below: • Trophy photo • Medal photo

NOT EXACTLY A "KODAK" MOMENT...

Surprise Photo! Tigers surprised Mr. McCormick with a team photo - and here it is! Some folks expressed an interest in having the photo for themselves. Click the little pic to the left to grab your own, full-resolution, photo. It will open in a new window, from which you should be able to save (click on the photo with the "right" mouse button) to your local disk. I can also provide you with a print - just costs me one dollar for the photo paper. NOTE: the photo is REALLY HUGE and may take a while to download. It's approximately 1meg in size.

CAN'T FIND MY PANTS! (UPDATE)

ORDERING PANTS & JERSEYS TODAY! We HAVE a 'bulk' order of new baseball pants. An inquiry will be made about names on jerseys (time factor and additional cost). To see the final list of who ordered what see below... • THE LIST

WHO ARE YOU?

RSVP for the UVA Trip and Keep Your Family Safe The streets of Charlottesville can be a mean place to spend the night. Contact Coach Doug NOW to confirm your RSVP for a hotel room - this will allow the entire family (or those that choose to skip "afternoon tea") to enjoy the UVA tour and events. Please RSVP no later than July 3rd! • Look who's staying Saturday night...

TIGERS LOVE SPONSORS!

It's a Brambleton Surprise! Bill Fox and the Brambleton Group have made a very generous contribution to the Centreville Tigers in support of the trip to AAU Nationals. See the details in Tournament News - to your right...

SATURDAY - COOKOUT!! 6PM at The Bromleys!

OOH, WHAT'S THAT SMELL? It's cookout time! And we're cooking with gas - we will gather at the Bromley's place at 6pm Saturday, June 28th, and fire-up a party! EVERYBODY WILL BE THERE! All Tigers families are invited. Even your extended families! And friends of Tigers are super-duper welcome. This includes grandparents, great-grandparents, neighbors, team sponsors, old team-mates maybe... When we get-around to the email you will be asked to RSVP with a body-count and who that includes. We're thinking "the more the merrier!" Click here to see a list of who has RSVP'd "yes"! I'VE BEEN THINKING OF EATING...? Everybody will bring something. The grill will be fired-up and ready-to-go. Mrs. Bromley (so famous for Travel Tips and brownies) is providing hot dogs, sausages, buns, condiments, and DESSERT!! As for the rest of us - here's a list of what we need. You will find a note in your email box - please RSVP with what you want to bring. I will attempt to keep-track of who-and-what on this page. The list (please feel free to get creative and suggest yummy stuff in your email RSVP): APPETIZER THINGYS - chips/pretzels - veggie-tray type-stuff - yummy stuff into which we dip the above (NO double-dipping - beware MonkeyPox) - truffle paté with pepper preserves GRILLIN' STUFF Mrs. Bromley has hot dogs and sausages - anything else?   SALADS - nice, cool, all-veggie type - 'tater salad always fits a cookout - fruits fit nicely into a salad bowl SIDE DISHES - BEANS - just think of the commotion around the Snyder boys - cooked veggies - pickles - wild rice pilaf   HARD-GOODS - cups - plates - napkins - plasticware DRINKS - water - lemonade - iced tea?-- and ice - adult beverages are welcome - BYO enough for you plus some The email note will be your opportunity to claim a menu item. Click here to see the list of who-brings-what! Cookout Updates... • Who's going to be there? • Who's bringing what?

SCHOOL'S OUT - HOW'D WE DO?

EXPRESS YOURSELF Tigers can be smart, and creative, too! Below are some links that, when you click them, will open some of the written works by our ballplayers: • Baseball - a poem by Casey Sutton • Living a Dream - by Matthew Crumplar • Schires Steps Up to the Plate - by Matthew Crumplar Tigers Not Only Play Ball Well… They Be Smart, Too! With the end of the school year now a part of history, take a look at how Tigers fared in the end-of-year award ceremonies… Mickey Bozek exhausted the Liberty faculty with an armload of recognition that included Academic Award of Excellence in Physical Education and the Team Award for Best Student. And all that along with induction into the Junior National Honor Society! Reed Bromley must be hiding a pocket-protector somewhere, since he received an Academic Award of Excellence for Science. Next thing y'know he'll be blowing-up his basement with a chemistry kit! Matthew Crumplar had to ask the school custodian for a wheel barrow to carry away his collection of honors that included Outstanding Stars Award for Academic Achievement, Consistent Effort and Citizenship, the Academic Achievement for Science, and the Presidential Physical Fitness Award. Next year Matthew plans to discover the cure to MonkeyPox and SARS. Kyle Harsanyi had the girls lined-up for autographs after receiving the Award for Academic Excellence in Civics. No, not working on Honda automobiles - civics is the study of… um… well, maybe it is cars! And girls like cars - at least that's what I'm told. Casey Sutton almost fainted when his name was called as a recipient of the Award for Academic Progress in Science. He's certain someone in the science department made a typo - or inhaled too much of some chemical. The Junior National Honor Society also found some room for Casey as he was inducted into their secret society - he won't even show ME the secret handshake! Maybe Mick will show me… A NEW BASEBALL RECORD? Let's see if they add this to the record books - 100% of Tigers attending 7th grade at Robinson Secondary and Liberty Middle Schools received awards at end-of-the-year ceremonies. Ain't that neat? Congratulations to our scholarly Tigers!

THE REST OF THE NVTBL SEASON

NEW ONLINE RESOURCE NVTBL has found a new online "host" of the schedule. They created the software/database for NVTBL at no cost in exchange for the opportunity to promote their business. Yes - another sales pitch. And they promise no pop-up ads and spam and all those other annoying forms of marketing. Here's how it works: enter their website by visiting http://schedule.nvtbl.org/ and then find the Centreville Tigers in the dropdown menu. Select Centreville Tigers and click the "View Team Schedule" button. That's it. But wait! This will NOT change anything about the way that we publish the Tigers schedule on this site. Nice thing - you have this as an option to find up-to-date information. And if you ever see a discrepancy please let me know!

"REST OF THE WEEK" UPDATE

Yes, we DO have a Saturday game! If the weather cooperates the remainder of our week looks like this: • Thursday game at Lake Braddock starting 5:30PM • Friday game at PVI starting 6PM • Saturday game at PVI starting 12noon Wednesday, June 18, 10:38PM

TIGERS QUALIFY!

KINSTON NEWS Our scout has completed a portion of the mission and is currently performing some recon on a new potential site for accomodations. She plans to report sometime Thursday. When we have some news you'll find it here! Tigers qualify for a Division 1 berth at the AAU Nationals in Kinston, NC. CONGRATULATIONS TIGERS! NVTBL notified Coach Bill Wednesday night about the official qualification. Tigers will be joined in Kinston by a number of other NVTBL teams - but not all that qualified! Some teams have decided to focus on tournaments with USSSA. As we get more details you can read about them here. WHAT'S NEXT? We need to finalize accommodations. We have some options, and a "hotel scout" already deployed in North Carolina. Our "scout" (Cindy Morgan - old team friend) is checking the hotels and travel routes in the Kinston/New Bern/Havelock area. At the completion of her adventure we will have the required info to finalize the options and a plan. Stay tuned for that!

ANOTHER QUALIFYING EVENT! (with corrections)

Tigers return from Reading, Pennsylvania after participating in the ECTB 3rd Annual Summer Classic baseball tournament. It sure did look like the boys had a terrific time, tasting some of the local fare at a variety of eateries, taking a dip in the hotel pool, and experimenting with a new hairdo or two (which Tiger will be the first to graduate from an academy of cosmetology?). THERE WAS BASEBALL, TOO... Saturday and Sunday morning saw the Tigers in "pool play" where they battled fatigue and some nourishment challenges to defeat the three teams in their pool. Tigers know how to play ball, and they know how to add some drama to their performance. They played very well and demonstrated why they deserve... you'll have to read-on to see what they deserve! The first game of "bracket play" saw the Tigers against the "Stampede" - a very good team from Harrisburg, PA. Tigers had previously met the Stampede in 2002 at the Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament. This day provided the Tigers with a major battle - our boys were swinging some strong bats, but the Stampede outfielders put a glove on most of the big hits. In the end the Tigers started to come-back but ended-up short with a score of 8 to 4. WHAT DID TIGERS EARN? The Stampede went on to win the championship game in the tournament which (unofficially) puts the Tigers finishing third in the tournament. And THAT qualifies the Tigers for a berth in the ECTB World Series in August. (NOTE: we will NOT attend the ECTB World Series in August) Another tournament for the Tigers and another qualification for a national tournament! LET'S TALLY THE VOTES So far in the Spring 2003 season the Tigers have won berths in three national tournaments: USSSA, AAU, and ECTB. That's pretty darn good considering the lack of games caused by the rain. Congratulations Tigers! (Thanks to Greg Bozek for researching and compiling the tournament results)

THE REST OF THE NVTBL SEASON

NOTE: See new June games in the calendar! The NVTBL second-half schedule has been updated. And NVTBL has a new online resource that maintains and publishes the schedule. Revised information will be posted soon (gotta work my way through it and figure it all out!). Here is some brief info about how things have changed. NEW ONLINE RESOURCE NVTBL has found a new online "host" of the schedule. They created the software/database for NVTBL at no cost in exchange for the opportunity to promote their business. Yes - another sales pitch. And they promise no pop-up ads and spam and all those other annoying forms of marketing. Here's how it works: enter their website by visiting http://schedule.nvtbl.org/ and then find the Centreville Tigers in the dropdown menu. Select Centreville Tigers and click the "View Team Schedule" button. That's it. But wait! This will NOT change anything about the way that we publish the Tigers schedule on this site. Nice thing - you have this as an option to find up-to-date information. And if you ever see a discrepancy please let me know! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? The scheduling meeting went very well and the participating teams were all very cooperative. Both the league and teams have utilized a strong philosophy in planning the new schedule. The primary goals of the scheduling went like this: - schedule LOTS of games to make-up for all the rain-outs - schedule LOTS of games in anticipation of more rain-outs - provide opportunity for teams to negotiate who they play and when In addition to the NVTBL goals, some of Bill's priorities went thusly: - provide Tigers with some very competitive match-ups - lots of games to 1) make-up for the rain-mess and 2) prepare for Kinston FIELDS ARE SCARCE! One of the biggest challenges was field availability. Since the high school season ended, many new teams have jumped into the NVTBL schedule and need fields! And, since the pre-high-schoolers had games scheduled earlier in the season, NVTBL tries to give priority to the older baseball players. This means our U13 crew did not have many options for available fields and times. We did learn that Maryland has plenty of available fields. Most (if not ALL) coaches wanted to focus on exhausting all Virginia options before traveling to Maryland - this to avoid the pain of rush-hour traffic on the way to a baseball game. Thanks to Bill's relationship with PVI, we currently have no games scheduled for Maryland. Should also note - we will have some games at PVI that do NOT appear in the online NVTBL schedule. The NVTBL database does not yet include PVI as an available field - so the games are not displayed in the published schedule. They will appear soon. C'MON UMP! Fields are not the only obstacle - we need umpires for games. Not every available field had available umpires. This became a big challenge in the equation: 2 teams + field + umpire = game. Finding umpires and working within their existing schedule was also a tough issue. SEVERE STORM WARNING The schedule meeting took place last night, during a monstrous thunderstorm. As the coaches and U13 Commissioner (Kathy O'Brien) sat inside an office around a big conference table, lightning flashed, thunder boomed, and the phone was ringing with news of baseball games canceled because of the storm. ALL the coaches in attendance were relieved that it wasn't their game being canceled - they've had enough of that! It was kind of funny (to me, anyway) as the coaches would propose a third-game-in-a-week for their team schedule - lightning and thunder would crack-and-boom outside. The coaches would stop and wonder, "does that mean the parents are going to kill me with this schedule?" Kathy and all the coaches understand that the schedule looks very ambitious. They do hope that the kids and parents understand the goals and philosophy behind the plan. It's a big challenge to make this work - and these folks worked very hard to make it as reasonable as possible. MORE SOON The revised schedule will be published here very soon. In the meantime - the next Tigers games will be: Wednesday, June 18, 5:30 at Bryant HS vs. West Springfield Warriors Thursday, June 19, 5:30 at Lake Braddock vs. South County Hawks Don't expect a complete schedule to be published before we leave for Reading - but soon after our return it should be ready.