Gala Days are run by many of the Hills clubs each season, in several age-groups.

The idea is to put on an event outside the normal weekly playing framework. It allows various Sydney clubs from both within and outside the Hills District to provide teams. These events have run for many years and are highly successful. They provide an intense environment where teams play many games over the day: the kids have an absolute ball: parents enjoy an entire season crammed into eight or ten hours: clubs play each other for bragging rights: and everyone involved has fun knowing that the winners for the day are decided on the day.

It's fast-paced, exciting, and all children involved get a token of participation at the very least. Also, these gala days are often the first time that elite players of the future get to strut their stuff in front of a substantial audience.

At Hills, we run several clinics each season to train coaches and other officials. These clinics cover basic skills, training session lesson plans, training techniques, game-day management, safety, and a host of other topics.

Your local club probably runs similar sessions as well. Take advantage of them. At TeeBall ages, our aim is to develop coaches and officials to the point where they're confident and competent handling the kids. Should they choose to go further, we have the right structure for the future.

Hills invites players in the U/12 and U/14 age-groups to participate in workshops which run midweek and on Sundays in both summer and winter. This programme is designed to identify and develop elite players. Although it is not on offer to players of TeeBall age, this is the place you want your kids to be in a few year's time if they're serious about the sport.

In the meantime, most clubs offer internal programmes that will develop your child to be the best that he or she can be while they're at TeeBall age. Take advantage of whatever is on offer. All programmes are designed and run by experienced coaches and they will lay the foundations for excellence in the future.

Baseball NSW runs courses for coaches and other officials every few months. Accreditation is delivered as Level 0 (Basic skills), Level 1 (Inter-district rep standard) and Level 2 (National competitions).

Check out the BNSW website for more details.