The Philadelphia Dragons Sports Association hosts a variety of baseball programs for boys and girls ages 3 to 15.
Divisions
RBI – DOB 5/1/2009 to 4/30/2012 - $295
Majors – DOB 5/1/2012 to 4/30/2014 - $265
Minors – DOB 5/1/2014 to 4/30/2016 - $265
AAA – DOB 5/1/2016 to 4/30/2018 - $265
Tee Ball – DOB 5/1/2018 to 4/30/2020 - $250
QuickBall – DOB 5/1/2020 to 4/30/2022 - $185
Scholarships are available in cases of financial hardship.
Pee Wee Quickball Division (Ages 3 and 4)
Our Pee Wee uses the Quickball program for a fast paced, active, and inclusive introduction to baseball. The division is for 3- and 4-year-old players as of April 30th of the current calendar year. The kids have a session for about 45 minutes to an hour every Sunday to learn the basics of the game. Each session has a practice component, and a “game” component, and each session involves two teams working collaboratively for both the practice and game component. The equipment is specifically designed for the youngest children learning the game, for a fun learning experience. Your child will receive his or her own Quickball bat to take home, and each week will receive an All-Star Character Education card related to the lessons of the week. www.el1quickball.com
Quickball teams play at Markward Field, at approximately 26th & Pine Streets or Palumbo Field, at 10th & Fitzwater. Once your child is on a team, he or she will play at the same field at the same time every Sunday. Teams are assembled generally by age (with consideration to neighborhood, friend requests, and other factors). When you register, please indicate your friend or coach request in the notes of your registration, if you have a request. Once teams are posted, we cannot change the rosters. There are no guarantees for friend or coach requests, but we do our best to honor the requests that are noted with the registration.
Quickball begins on the Sunday April 7th and play every Sunday at the same time, same field, weather permitting, except for Memorial Day weekend until Closing Day.
Tee Ball Division (Ages 5 and 6)
Our Tee-Ball Division is for children who are 5 or 6 as of April 30th of the current calendar year.
One hour-long practice is held per week that are held at either 5:00pm or 6:00pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Practices generally begin the last week of March, so that the players are ready for games on Opening Weekend. Practices are typically held at either the Markward Rec Center (Taney and Pine Streets) or Starr Garden (7th and Lombard).
Tee-Ball has a 12-game season, and all games are on weekends. Games are played on Saturdays and Sundays. On most weekends, teams play only on one day per weekend. However, teams will frequently have two games over one weekend - a game on Saturday and a game on Sunday. Games are typically held at either Markward or Palumboa.
There are approximately 8 or 9 weekends in the season (we don't play on Memorial Day weekend). On the last two weekends of the season, games are played on a Little League-sized diamond. To prepare our players for higher levels of play, the use of a pitching machine is introduced over these final two weekends.
If a Tee-Ball game is rained-out, it is not rescheduled. There are no standings or playoffs.
AAA Division (Ages 7 and 8)
Our AAA Division is for children who are 7 or 8 as of April 30th of the current calendar year.
Two practices are held per week on either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday at either 5pm or 6:30pm (6pm until mid-April). Practices generally begin the middle of March, so that the players are ready for games on Opening Weekend.
AAA plays a 12-game season plus playoffs. Games consist of six innings with the first two being machine pitch, the middle two being player pitch and the last two being machine pitch.
If a AAA game is rained out, it is rescheduled.
Minors Division (Ages 9 and 10)
Our Minors Division is for children ages 9 or 10 as of April 30th of the current calendar year.
Two practices are held per week on either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. Practices generally begin the last week of March, so that the players are ready for games on Opening Weekend.
Minors play a 12-game season plus playoffs. Games consist of six innings with all innings being player pitch.
If a Minors game is rained out, it is rescheduled.
Majors Division (Ages 11 and 12)
Our Majors Division is for children ages 11 or 12 as of April 30th of the current calendar year.
Two practices are held per week on either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. Practices generally begin the last week of March, so that the players are ready for games on Opening Weekend.
Majors play a 12-game season plus playoffs. Games consist of six innings with all innings being player pitch.
If a Minors game is rained out, it is rescheduled.
RBI Division (Ages 13 to 15)
Our 13-15 baseball SEYAA Division is for players looking to continue playing baseball past Little League. We will field as many teams based on kids signing up. Our SEYAA team play against other teams from Charter schools, Catholic Schools and other independent teams that sign into the league.
Players are introduced to the 90 foot Diamond and all “Professional Baseball” rules are learned & applied. Players will practice 2-3 times a week until the season starts and then coaches will dictate practices as the season play on.
The season consists of 12 games, all played at the SEYAA complex on 7th & Bigler. Playoffs are single elimination and Championship is a best of 3 series.
Players ages are reflective of their birthdate effective April 30th, however, due to COVID, they are making waivers for players age as of March 1.
Practice locations are 7th & Bigler, 7th & Packer or 25th & Wolf (turf).
Playing Up/Playing Down
Every year we receive requests for players to “play up” to an older division or to “play down” to a lower division. Please note that we consider all play up requests only after the registration period closes, as we want to ensure that age-appropriate players can register first. If you wish to request for your child to play up, you must register for the age appropriate division and then email us at [email protected]. This is the only place that we collect that information from. Please provide your players DOB and requested move (i.e. AAA to Minors) in this email. These requests will be considered in the order in which they are received, and will take availability, age, previous coach input, and evaluation performance into consideration. Play up requests are not guaranteed.
Teammate/Coach Requests/Field Location
Each year we receive many requests for specific teammates, coaches, and field locations, and we used to include this question in our registration. Due to the size of our program, we are simply unable to evaluate and honor these requests for any divisions other than QuickBall. For most of our divisions the teams are created through a draft process. If it is important to you to be able to have your child on a team with specific friends, we strongly encourage you to volunteer to be a coach, and you will then be able to draft them. Fortunately, baseball is a great team activity with the opportunity for your child to make new friends.
Coaching
As you are likely aware, PDSA is a not-for-profit, 100% volunteer led organization. We rely on volunteers to coach our teams, as well as to run our programs. As a chartered Little League Baseball organization, all our volunteers must submit to background checks. Over the years this has become, rightfully so, a more rigorous process. On top of the Little League process, we also must follow the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania processes. This year, to streamline this process, all information required of volunteers will need to be submitted as part of the registration process. While this may require a little bit more of your time while signing up it is important to complete all the information, and to do so in a timely manner. At some point after you register you will receive an email from JDP who conduct Little League background checks. You will need to follow the link and complete a couple of additional questions and submit for your background check. No coaches will be permitted to participate unless all information is submitted and the individual has passed the background check. Two critical documents that you must obtain every five years are:
Child Abuse Clearance:
PA Child Abuse Clearance
PA Criminal Background Check:
PA Criminal Background Check
In addition, Little League has instituted a mandatory Abuse Awareness training that all volunteers must complete. In order to do so you will need to register for a training account at Little League at the website below, complete the training, and upload your certificate. This is an annual training that needs to be completed.
Little League Abuse Awareness Training
We recommend that anyone that plans to coach OR EVEN HELP OUT please work on getting these clearances now if you do not already have them. Again, we cannot allow anyone to coach or assist without these clearances.
Finally, Little League has also introduced Diamond Leader. This training is required for all coaches that plan to coach a District Tournament team, and is highly recommended for all coaches. If we have more coaches registered than required we will prioritize those who have completed this training.
Little League Diamond Leader Training
Payment and Refunds
PDSA only accepts payment in the form of a credit card (NO AMERICAN EXPRESS) which must be submitted at the time of registration. If you require financial assistance to play, please contact us at financialaid@phillydragons.com. Any cancellations through February 25, 2025, will be refunded less a $15 per player cancellation fee. After February 25, 2025, all registrations are considered final and there is no refund.
Sponsorship
Registration fees do not cover the full expense of PDSA Baseball. This is our most expensive sport to run due to the maintenance that we put into our fields. We also provide scholarships to players that may not be able to fully afford our league. We rely on the generous support of individual and business donors to make all of this happen. You can sponsor as part of your registration as you check out. Attached to this email is a PDF that outlines our various sponsorship opportunities. Sponsors may also fill out this form and send us a check or pay via PayPal. We encourage all PDSA families to share this sponsorship opportunity with businesses or individuals that you think would be willing to support our league.
Evaluations
Our AAA, Minors, Majors, and RBI Divisions require that all players attend 1 evaluation session. The sessions will take place at the Phield House on the weekends of March 1&2 and March 8&9. Times by division will be published in late January after we determine final numbers of registrants.
Equipment
All players at Tee Ball and above are required to have a helmet, glove and non-metal (molded) cleats. We do not provide team helmets for sanitary reasons. We strongly recommend the use of a cup, and they are required for anyone playing the catcher position. We also recommend wearing a heart guard shirt under the uniform. PDSA provides team catchers gear, but players can choose to have their own. If you choose to have your own, full hockey style helmet/masks are required.
Many people ask us about bats. PDSA provides bats to all teams. Many players choose to have their own bat. If you are bringing your own bat for TeeBall, AAA, Minors, and Majors, the bat must be a USA bat logo (see image below). Any other bat safety standards logos (BBCOR, USSSA) are prohibited. RBI players may use USA, USSSA, and BBCOR bats.