PONY Helpdesk

What is PONY Baseball and Softball’s Mission Statement?

PONY Baseball and Softball is designed to "Protect Our Nation's Youth" by providing experiences in youth baseball and softball that will help young people grow into healthier and happier adults.

What does the acronym  P  O  N  Y  stand for?

PONY is an acronym for Protect Our Nation's Youth. The concept for the name originally came from boys at the local YMCA in Washington, Pennsylvania and stood for "Protect Our Neighborhood Youth," but when PONY became an international program in the early 1950's "Neighborhood" was switched to "Nation's."

What is PONY Baseball and Softball’s Vision Statement?

The priority issues drive the vision.  It is a clear and compelling statement to be – in ideal terms – in 5-10 years. A vision guides planning and program development and is a desirable picture of the future. The PONY Baseball and Softball vision is…

• Expand its youth baseball and girls softball programs to young people throughout the world.

• Continue to seek corporate and organizational partnerships to expedite and enhance the world of corporation.

• Seek ways to subsidize the cost of tournament travel for participating teams and World Series hosts.

• Provide additional materials to member leagues to assist them in providing an improved baseball/softball experience for the young people of their community.

• Provide increased funding for Zone operating expenses.

• Expand the display of historical materials and equipment at the headquarters.

• Expand the headquarters display of state-of-the-art equipment available to leagues.

• Continue to seek ways and means of providing continuing education and training staff, Field Directors, league officers and managers and coaches to enable PONY to provide an even more effective program.

• Cooperate with Major League Baseball, USA Baseball and other groups interested in the continued development and expansion of the game of baseball and softball.

•  Seek partnerships with other organizations that may enable PONY to more effectively carry out or expand its mission.

• Find ways to recognize and acknowledge the efforts of individuals, groups and organizations whose efforts, at any level, have been an asset to the PONY organization in it work to help young people develop into happier and healthier adults.

What are the age divisions in PONY Baseball?

PONY Baseball consists of eight different age groups players can participate in.  They are as follows:

PONY Travel/Select Softball, Fast Pitch League Softball and Slow Pitch League Softball can register under our “And Under” program.  There is no restriction on how many age groups a player can play “up”.