The fun and excitement of the holidays are over, it’s cold and snowy and we have a lot of winter left, but spring will be here one day and one of the great things about spring is that it’s baseball season. Now is the time to sign the kids up to play baseball or softball with Villa Park Youth Baseball.

Registration will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan 10 and 17, at the Community Recreation Building, 320 E. Wildwood Ave.

Villa Park Youth Baseball has grown considerably since its humble start in 1952 with just two teams. Last year almost 600 kids played for the league, and league president Dan Crowe expects at least that many to register this year.

“We are so proud to offer baseball for kids ages 5 to 18. Last year we introduced a T-ball division, which was very well received and was a great way for us to get the younger players started in our league. Because that change to the league was so well received, we decided to offer another program that we saw a need for: a full-time traveling league for 11- and 12-year-old boys. Our post-season traveling teams were so popular we decided to offer this option.” Crowe said.

According to Crowe, Villa Park Youth Baseball is an instructional league, and this year the board of directors decided to implement changes focusing on improving instruction by offering mandatory coaches and umpiring clinics.

“Our goal is to offer the children a safe and healthy baseball and softball experience, but most importantly our goal is for them to learn and have fun. The board has learned over the years that Villa Park Youth Baseball has a great reputation as a fun league. We’ve had players from neighboring towns make the switch to our league just for this reason,” he said.

The 2009 season board of directors has been working since September to get this season started. Increasing the size of the league and taking on more participants is always a challenge financially because of the costs of insurance, new equipment, uniforms and field rentals and this year the league raised fees for the first time in many years.

“Unfortunately, to accommodate some of these new changes the league has regrettably had to raise registration fees and the fundraising commitment. We understand that with the current economy it has been difficult for many so we limited our increase to an additional $5 in registration fees and asked that each player sell an additional box of candy as the fundraiser. Even with this increase, we are still very competitive with our fees compared to surrounding towns. I know that the 2009 season will be as successful as all the previous ones I’ve had the privilege to oversee,” Crowe said.