Chatham Baseball is affiliated with the Babe Ruth League under its Ripken Division for Winner, Rookie, A, AA, AAA and Majors Leagues and Babe Ruth Division for the Pony League.
Babe Ruth provides administrative resources to the Club, Coach and Umpire training as well as access to registration and technology platforms. Structural support will include safety information, insights on rule changes and educational programs for coaches. In addition, our Travel program will now have access to local and regional Ripken Tournaments and the Ripken World Series.
As usual, we are always looking for ways to improve the program and welcome your constructive thoughts. Please email
Philosophy: All-inclusive program that teaches baseball skills in a fun and safe environment. Games are either introduced or played at all league levels. While games become more competitive as the kids grow older, we try to allow players to play as many different positions as possible, but are always mindful of SAFETY.
Coaches: Must be fingerprint/background checked and Rutgers Safety Course trained. Make sure to stay with players until they have been picked up; manage the schedule and communicate with parents, report any injuries to REC Dept at
and
@gmail.com . Please use as many assistant coaches as it takes to run an effective practice. If issues arise with parents or kids, try to address them with the parents first and if the issue continues please let the Baseball Committee know. Always use your head and DO THE RIGHT THING.
Coaches must act as role models and behavior exhibiting poor sportsmanship, a lack of self-control or disrespect towards other coaches, players, parents or umpires will not be tolerated.
Teams: Younger aged players (Winner, Rookie and A) were randomly placed on teams, while the AA-PONY teams were pseudo drafted by player rankings, with consideration also given to coaches and assistant coaches, as well as, conflicts such as other sports, brothers, sponsors. We strive to make the
AA –PONY leagues as balanced as possible by evenly distributing skills.
Parents: Please make sure to have a team parent meeting/communication in order to go over expectations for the season. Make sure to notify parents about all cancellations, make sure they get their kids to games on time, and ask them to inform you about all absences.
Bat Policy: (see USA Bat regulations)
Pitching: Please make time to work on developing pitchers (at all ages). Please give any player that can throw strikes a chance to pitch. Be extra careful not to leave a kid on the mound who has thrown 20 straight balls. Be mindful of all pitching limits (which are innings based, NOT pitch count based). Also, AAA and Majors Coaches should work with Spring Travel Coaches to avoid anyone being overused on the mound.
Rules: Each league has its own set of rules. Rules serve as a blueprint for how you to run your teams. League Coordinators are forwarding league rules to their head coaches (and meeting after this session). League Coordinators will discuss rules with their respective coaches and see what changes they may want to implement. ALL CHANGES must be approved by Overall League Coordinator and BCC Board. To keep game moving, ALWAYS dress your catcher when there are 2 outs (courtesy runner for ALL catchers).
Schedules: League Coordinators will develop game schedules and send to head coaches to forward to their teams.
Affiliate call-ups: AA-AAA-Majors will all have affiliate teams, and in the event that a coach is expected to be shorthanded, he can “call-up” affiliate players in order to field a team. AA and AAA teams should identify (1-3) players that can be “called-up” by their parent teams, and communicate names and emails to all relevant coaches and parents. Please try to call-up older players if possible.
Equipment: We require all players to have their own helmet. Make sure that your players have their names in them. Heartguards will be required for ALL players, NO exceptions.
Winners bags will each have 1 helmet, 1 bat, and (safety) balls. Rookie and A bags will each have 1 helmet, 1 bat and regular baseballs. AA bags will have 1 helmet, 1 bat, and catcher’s gear (make sure it fits). AAA-Major-Pony bags will all have 1 helmet, and catcher’s gear (again, make sure it fits)…….You will receive combination instructions for any equipment sheds etc from your league coordinators……..Game balls and scorebooks will be handed out with uniforms. Once again, if you can NOT get there then get someone to pick it up for you…..Lastly, PLEASE return the equipment in good condition and on time.
Game Balls for players: Please make a habit out of giving out game balls. EVERY player on each team should receive one during the season.
Opening Day: Will include team announcements, ceremonial first pitch and other activities.
Picture Day: Information will be distributed as we get closer to the date.
Fields/Maintenance: Will be groomed most of the time by DPW. We are planning on instituting a maintenance program for Shunpike and Nash to be administered by Bob Papa and team of volunteers. Please clean up your dugout as soon as you’re finished and make sure to rake the field for the next group (especially if you are the last game). AA and AAA coaches will be given separate instructions on how to turn on and shut off lights at Nash. We also have informational videos on the website that all coaches and parents should watch.
Weather: REC will usually make the final call on field cancellations (www.chathamrecreation.org). Please respect and honor all field closures. If you have to make the call at the field, do not play if there are puddles in the infield, and do NOT sweep mud off of the infield as it will create a larger puddle the next time it rains.
Practices: Contact Carol Nauta for field allocation for practices (
). If you can NOT use ANY of your practice slots please notify Carol so that someone else can. We will designate fields and times for each league during the vacation week. If you are away, please communicate with other coaches to ensure adequate oversight.
Sponsors: A majority of the money we raise to run the program comes from our team sponsorship efforts. We will supply you with the Sponsor’s contact information and ask that you reach out to them to thank them for their support. A simple email from the Coach with the schedule of games goes a long way in our efforts.
Uniforms: Will usually be available the week before Opening Day. Chatham Sports Shop provides all our Youth League uniforms and you will receive instructions on how to distribute them.
****Heart guards are required for ALL players
Umpires: AAA-Majors-Ponys will all have carded umpires for their games. League coordinators will soon be given instructions on getting the funds to coaches in order to pay the umpires. We generally provide high school aged players as umpires for the AA games, but in the event we cannot be prepared to do that yourselves. We suggest that the home team be responsible for umpiring, or finding another “parent” ump.
Rec player evaluations: End of season evaluations take no more than 10 minutes to fill out and assist us in placing kids for the next season. Please fill them out in timely fashion. This is a requirement to be a Head Coach in future years.
First aid kits: Coaches should bring a first aid kit with some ice to practices and games.
Locks: There are combination locks on all the equipment sheds at each field. At the beginning of each year these are changed. You will be given the combination code for the lock by the LC (Pony, Majors, AAA) or at an orientation session (Winners, Rookies, A, AA)
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