How are the leagues structured?

• 6U-10U follow age pure format
• 11U-12U; 13U-14U and 15U-18U are age combined leagues

DYB focuses on player safety, competitive balance and fun.  These are the decision points used during coach look player skill evaluations and tryouts.  These evaluations are not a grade but serve to ensure all players have fun and remain safe each season. The levels of play offered are designed to be graduated levels of play structured to provide completive balance and competition commensurate with each player's individual skill level.  Each level builds upon previous levels in an academy like format.   We ask that you please consider what level of play your player will enjoy the most.  It is our desire that children enjoy the game of baseball regardless of age, ability and commitment.

See below for details on each level of play offered.

Recreation is focused on development of beginning and intermediate players.  The Recreation Program offers recreational competition within the Dragon Youth Baseball program.  This program focuses on basic skill development, learning baseball and exposure to multiple positions.  Coaches are strongly encouraged to promote a learning environment and try players at multiple positions.  Coaches are bound by the SBA rules regarding player positioning.

All games are played at Bicentennial Park home of Dragon Youth Baseball.  These teams can expect to play 1-2 games per week with 1-2 practices. 

The Premier Recreational Program offers (Single A) competition against area associations.  The program focuses on continued skill development against higher level competition against area association teams.  Coaches are still required to promote a learning environment and are bound to the SYB rules regarding player positioning and the agreed upon Interlock rules.

The commitment to participation and learning is higher for the premier program.  However, DYB recognizes that many of these athletes play multiple sports therefore there are generally fewer premier teams in the fall because of multisport athletes.  In both fall and spring the premier teams interlock with other area baseball associations such as Grapevine, Coppell, Colleyville, etc.  Interlocking means they will play about half their games at locations other than Bicentennial Park home of Dragon Youth Baseball.  These teams can expect to play 2 games per week, many double headers in addition to 1-2 practices. 

The number of Premier teams at each age each season depends on the total number players registered and the skill levels.  We attempt to have at least 1 Premier team at each age, each season.  The spring generally has more than the fall due to higher number of participants for instance.   Not all players who qualify are drafted to Premier teams.  Those players not selected will be drafted by Recreational teams. 

Players must attend evaluations to be eligible for Premier.  Skill as compared to their peers are what qualifies players for the Premier draft.   Premier coaches then draft their teams from those eligible players.  Any eligible player not drafted is placed in the Recreational draft.

All DYB Rec and Premier players are eligible to participate assuming that they are not in violation of the DFW Interlock participation eligibility rules. We follow DFW Interlock rules in regards to a Select player's eligibility. DFW Interlock rules can be found HERE. This however does not guarantee that other baseball associations will also run their tournament in a similar fashion. As a general rule, if you want to be eligible for Summer All Stars, you need to refrain from appearing on a Select team roster.

Our Summer All Star program offers a more intense 4-6 week session of tournament style baseball against other local area All Star teams. Summer All Star teams typically practice 3 times per week at a minimum, and play in tournament games during the weekend. These tournaments are generally setup with 2 pool games and a single elimination tournament on Sunday. Most pool games are double headers on Fridays/Saturdays, and on Sundays the elimination bracket can be comprised of 3-5 games depending on seeding. Summer All Stars provides the competitive player with a chance to compete for tournament trophies and play against (Single A) level talent from the surrounding areas. 

There is a commitment from the player and parents that the player will be available for the month of June in order to participate in practices and games. There is no guarantee of equal playing time and there are no rules regarding number of innings at a particular position.

The DYB Select Program offers the most competitive and highly skilled players a way to showcase their talent against top competition.  Because DYB's core focus is our recreational league we limit Select teams to players who have demonstrated the ability to play at the AA, AAA and Major division levels. 

Teams play against local and out of state competition.  There is a yearly commitment to the team and coach.  Schedules vary per team but are generally lighter in the fall compared to the spring.  The fall is considered instructional with a light game schedule (~10-12 games and possibly 1-2 tournaments) however in the spring the select players primary athletic commitment is baseball.  Teams average 30-50 games in the spring/summer session playing in the TEBA (Texas Elite Baseball Association) league and area tournaments.  They practice 3 times per week and may utilize 3rd party facilities and coaches.