Editor's note: High school stats

Dear high school sports fans:

Since launching our SportsHuddle area several years ago, we've invited all metro-area high school coaches in seven sports -- football, volleyball, soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball and softball -- to submit their rosters and stats via the Web. The response has been tremendous. Hundreds of teams have submitted their rosters, and a high percentage of those teams kept their stats up to date. High school players and fans hungry for information have written to tell us how much they like the free service. The service generated more than 6 million page views during the 2004-2005 school year.

This spring, we're again offering baseball and softball. Star Tribune editors are adding schedules for each metro-area high school team in those sports. That will lay the groundwork for each team to keep its schedule, rosters, results and stats up to date throughout the season.

Every prep baseball and softball team in the metro area is invited to participate. We're looking for one representative from each team -- a coach, manager, statistician or parent -- to keep the team's stats up to date. The tool is easy to use, and coaches, parents and players will appreciate your help in posting this information on the Web.

If you're interested in participating, please write to sportshuddle@startribune.com. We'll need your name, school name, sport, your e-mail address, your phone number and your relationship to the team (coach, manager, parent).

If you're the coach, please include the name and phone number of your school's athletic director, so that we can confirm your identity. If you're an assistant coach, manager or parent, please include the name and phone number of your team's head coach.

Once we've confirmed your request, we'll send you a user name and password, and you can begin adding data to your team's area.

If you participated last year, you'll need to contact us to confirm your participation and get a new username and password. Write to sportshuddle@startribune.com.

Two important notes for fans: If you have a question about Star Tribune coverage of high school sports, please write to preps@startribune.com. And if you spot an error in a statistic or game result in the SportsHuddle area, remember that in most cases, each team -- not startribune.com -- is responsible for keeping its information accurate and up to date. Please contact the team's coach or statistician to get errors corrected.

As always, thanks for your interest in high school sports. With the community's help, we hope to build the most complete prep sports area in the Twin Cities.