Hundreds of young athletes are already registered through Walkerton Minor Ball and Walkerton Minor Soccer to take part in organized sport this summer, but officials from both groups say there is still room in some age groups for more to sign up to play.
About 125 youths are registered with Walkerton Minor Ball, said Peter Lambertus, chair of the organization. This represents a decline from last year, he said.
“We’re losing some of the mid-aged boys to hardball in Hanover. Over the last couple years the boys are wanting to play hardball,” said Lambertus.
There is still space in most age groups for boys and girls to register. If someone is interested they should contact Lambertus at 519-881-6057.
For a registration fee of between $30 and $85 depending on age, an athlete can look forward to four months of baseball.
“We will probably get started near the end of April and generally speaking ball is over by Labour Day,” Lambertus said.
Depending on which centres put together teams, Walkerton minor ball teams will swing for the fences against squads from Wiarton, Owen Sound,?Arthur, Port Elgin, Kincardine, Mildmay,?Formosa, and Teeswater.
A few more young athletes will be spending their summers out on the pitch. There are about 350 athletes registered with Walkerton Minor Soccer, President Andrea Barclay said.
“A few spots are still available in some age groups,” Barclay said.
Breaking down the 350 by age group, Barclay said enough have registered for as many as 12 teams aged four to six, four teams in the ‘under eight’ age group, five ‘under 10’ teams, as well as teams for the age groups ‘under 12,’ ‘under 14,’ ‘under 16,’ and ‘under 20’.
The youngest teams compete within Walkerton, Barclay said. Intermediate ages can look forward to playing against teams from Hanover, Tara, Neustadt, Mildmay, and Cargill while older groups will also face competition from Durham, Saugeen Shores, and Mount Forest.
The registration fee for soccer is comparable to baseball and ranges from $35 to $80 depending on age.
For more information, or to download a registration form, visit walkertonsoccer.ca.
Soccer players can look forward to their season starting in mid-May and running until mid-August.
For parents of youngsters who might not yet be ready for baseball or soccer, Brockton recreation programmer Lynne Davidson described a pilot project called ‘Sportball’ that has been initiated this year.
“We were receiving calls from people who couldn’t get their children into minor ball or soccer and wanted something for their kids to do,” Davidson said.