The local summer youth baseball and softball organization, The Albany Independent League, will be holding its last sign-up day for the 2014 season.

This Saturday, final sign-ups will be held at Mountain View Park, leading up to the selection of players for teams, and eventuually the start of the new season.

Newly elected President of Albany Independent League John Mason said he is very excited about getting the new season underway.

“I’m getting excited about it,” Mason said. “It’s been pretty good. Everybody has been lenient about me being younger than them. We’ve had a pretty good turnout for board meetings. Becky (Means) said this is the most that has come to a board meeting in years.”

In recent years, the Albany Independent League has shown a drastic decrease in numbers and this year is no different.

The lack of participation has been blamed on several things, including the number of activities kids can participate in during the year.

Many believe with the rising number of different sports and traveling teams, it puts leagues like Albany Independent in a bind when its season rolls around.

“I’m trying to get some of the kids back who have traveled out of the county to play,” Mason said. “Numbers have been going down for years. I’m going to try and do some camps, host some tournaments when the season is over and something we are going to do at the end of the season is to have a league tournament. That will probably be for the coach pitch league because it’s looking like our live arm numbers are just going to be enough for one team.”

With the 9-10 and 11-12 year olds, Mason said he doesn’t have the numbers to have multiple teams, therefore, the teams will have to do some traveling this summer, but to keep traveling expenses down, he is going to try and limit the traveling to surrounding counties.

“We are still waiting on numbers,” Mason said. “Our last sign-up day will be this weekend at the park, so hopefully we will know by then what we can do.”

New this year in the Albany Independent League is a three-year-old league.

Mason said he has received a lot of feedback about having the category and is excited about seeing the younger players start their baseball career.

“We’ve had a lot of parents ask, so I got on the ball and got our insurance to where it would cover them,” Mason said. “They will be in a league of their own and most of them are siblings to some of the older kids like mine.”

Playing sports at a young age is a direct reflection of how varsity sports are handled. If players come into the varsity level with minimal experience then it shows on the field or on the court.

Mason said it’s very important for these kids to learn the game of baseball and learn how do play it the right way.

“It’s very important,” Mason said. “Some of these kids who are freshmen or coming into high school have a hard time fielding a ground ball. That’s why I pulled Head Coach Michial Conner into the board. He has been to a few meetings, which he is coaching now, but I feel like it’s important for our school coaches to be involved. The skill starts with the little ones and they need to start learning.”

Another new item to this year’s Albany Independent League is a priority list for each league that will specify what kids at different age levels need to be learning.

This year, the Albany Independent League almost didn’t happen. According to Mason, when Turk Polston stepped down last season as president, no one wanted the position.

“They almost didn’t do a league this year,” Mason said. “Baseball is my sport and I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid. I couldn’t see it leave out town. I raised my hand and said I would do it.”

Mason said the league has some big plans this season on opening day, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 19.

“We are going to try and have some bouncy houses and Lisa Beard is going to do a color run,” Mason said. “We are going to try and pack some stuff in there. It might be hectic, but the kids will have fun. Last year they didn’t even do it and I know when I was a kid I loved the parade. We would come back and eat hotdogs, did the opening day ceremony and played ball. It’s one of those things that kind of went way down hill over the years.”

Mason said he has a good group of volunteers, but he could always use more to take part in the league.

“Volunteers are always a good thing,” Mason said. “They are helping kids and that’s what makes it good.”

With this Saturday being the final day for sign-ups, Mason said the price to enter the league has dropped since last year.

Each child who plays pays $30 and siblings are $20 each.

“We are starting early this year because we got such a late start last year,” Mason said. “We didn’t even get to do All-Stars. This year we are going to host a tournament to try and raise money for the league and we are going to travel to some of these other tournaments in the area. Next year we are shooting to go to a Cal Ripkin League. Hopefully our number will climb and we can get into that league.”

Board members will be at the park this Saturday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. for final sign-ups.