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 Rep Guidelines

Rules, Guidelines and Policies of the LFA/NLDS Rep Program

 

The Rep Committee

1.       Governed by LFA and NLDS combined Rep Committee  , Lower Mainland Committee, Softball B.C. and Softball Canada  

2.       The rep committee shall be made up of the Rep Coordinator (not a rep coach) plus 2 members of the LFA executive and 2 members of NLDS executive with the Rep Coordinator being the chair person.  The Rep committee must be selected by August 1st by the LFA officers and NLDS officers respectively for the turnover of the new executive.

3.       The Rep Committee shall be empowered to run all the affairs of the rep system including the rep coach selection, coach discipline, player discipline, player try-outs, coordinating inter-league play, dealing with the rep budgets, etc.  However, the members of the rep committee and their actions are directly answerable to the LFA executive and NLDS executive respectively.

4.       The rep committee will work in co-operation with coaches and managers in all divisions.  Co-operation and communication between the rep coaches and the rep committee is of utmost importance.  If there is any conflict by a member of the committee, that person must step down as a voting member, for that particular issue.

5.       The Rep committee has the ultimate responsibility for fielding teams.  Consultation with the coaches will always take place before any decisions are made.

Team Formation

1.       The normal age for forming a rep team is the first year of Squirt.

2.       In the second year of Mite a “SuperMite” team may be formed that will compete in the Squirt house division.  The SuperMite team is not considered a “rep Team” by Softball BC or by Langley Fastball or North Langley Diamond Sports.  The following guidelines relating to “Coach Requirements and Selection”, “Team Tryouts” and “Player Selection” will, be the basis for the Supermite team.

3.       A rep team should be comprised of players of the same age within that division year.  The purpose of this is to avoid situations where teams may be disbanded due to lack of players as they move from division to division, and to avoid players being removed from a team simply because an older player is more physically and emotionally matured.

4.       A Mixed age group team within a division may be formed, if approved by the Rep Committee.  The intent to form a mixed-age group team must be declared prior to tryouts, and tryouts must be open to all eligible players.  In the event that a mixed age group team is formed, there shall be no preference given to one age or the other.

5.       If a player does not wish to play for a particular team and/or coach, a letter stating the reasons must be submitted to the rep committee.  The rep committee and/or the executive will examine the reason for the player’s concerns and make whatever decision is deemed appropriate.  Any coach of a team found to be using this rule to their own advantage may be suspended from LFA/NLDS and reported to Softball B.C.

Coach Requirements and Selection

1.      The NLDS Softball Executive and LFA Executive are responsible for notifying all existing coaches in NLDS Softball of the intent to form a new rep team so that all coaches have an opportunity to apply.              

2.      Coaching applications for all rep teams are to be submitted to the President of NLDS Softball or LFA President by August 15th of each year (for both new and existing teams).   Each application will be forwarded to the Rep Committee for approval.  Applicants may be asked to submit to an interview by the Committee.   All coaches must be a member in good standing with NLDS, LFA and Softball B.C. ( which includes, but is not limited to, having a valid Softball B.C. Membership Number, and the completion of a Criminal Record Check with no adverse entries)

3.      The Rep Committee will decide whether a coach is approved prior to Player Tryouts.

4.      The Rep Committee will select the number of coaches for each category that will be deemed necessary

5.      Each applicant for each rep coach shall be familiar with the Rep Guidelines and Policies, and upon being selected to a coaching position shall agree to abide by it.  Once selected they must sign the Rep coaches agreement.  Failure to do so could result in the coach being removed as a rep coach, and other examples of removal are the following (which is not exhaustive) e.g.

-          Not finalizing  the team roster by a specific date

-          Failure to adhere to “player disqualifications”

-          Tampering; any member of a coaching staff contacting or recruiting players for a specific team prior to fall try-outs.

-          Raiding- any member of a coaching staff contacting or recruiting players from another team’s winter work out list without prior consent of the player’s present coach

6.      Teams are encouraged to have a minimum of three coaches.

7.      Rep coach selection will include the coach’s National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) credentials, experience coaching rep softball, experience coaching softball, softball experience, experience coaching and organizing in other sports, etc.

8.      The head coach selected must have achieved certification under the NCCP as follows:

Squirt A & B- Competition Level 1 complete

PeeWee, Bantam, Midget B- Competition Level 2 complete

9.      Coaches have the discretion to offer confirmed spots to certain numbers of players, with the option of carrying alternates.

10.  Coaches should attend a coaching clinic a minimum of every other year. i.e. Best of the West, West Coast Academy’s coaches clinics, etc.   All NCCP certification courses will be paid by Rep Committee

 

Team Tryouts

1.      All eligible players residing in Langley must be given a fair and open opportunity to try out for each team.  Annual open tryouts for both established and newly formed rep teams will be held, unless otherwise determined by the Rep Committee.  Open tryouts will normally occur in September/October.

2.      The Rep Committee is responsible for notifying all eligible players of rep team tryouts.  This may be done by newspaper ad(s), email, telephone or any other means determined acceptable by the Committee.

3.      Prior to each tryout session, the rep coaches must review with the players and parents the unique characteristics of rep ball, including: additional time commitment, additional costs, how much playing time is allocated and any other matters unique to rep ball.

4.      It is the responsibility of the rep coaches to ensure that all players attending the tryout are eligible.  This will be accomplished by the players signing into each tryout session and recording their name, telephone number, home association, and birth date (player profile form).  These sheets must be provided to the Softball President on demand.  Rep Coordinators to have copies of all rep player profile forms.

5.      Ineligible players are to be removed from the tryout sessions by the rep coaches.

6.      Players attending the tryouts must be graded and evaluated in a consistent and fair manner.  The individuals assessing the players must submit a written grading assessment to the Rep Committee at the end of tryouts.

7.      Players who attend the rep tryouts may not wear any clothing or bring any equipment that will identify their “HOME” association and /or whether they have played rep ball.

Player Selection

1.   After tryouts are completed, the rep coaches will submit their preliminary roster selection.  The Rep Committee will review all applications and advise whether a team is approved.   The primary responsibility of the Committee is to ensure that the team has been formed in a fair and open manner.

2.   All rep teams must submit a preliminary team list to the Committee by November 30th of each year.  All players who intend to play rep ball must register by the first registration date of their Home Association.  Existing teams prior to 2009 will register with their Home Association, all new teams registering 2009 onwards will register as follows- odd years- NLDS and even years -LFA

3.   Final Rosters must be submitted to the Rep Committee by February 15th.

4.   No player can be released after March 1st.

5.   All cuts must be justified to the Rep Committee prior to player notification.

6.   After submission of final roster, rep coaches may not approach directly or indirectly any player without prior written consent from the rep committee.

Player Qualifications and Player Movement

1.   Players will be encouraged to stay together with rep players of their same age whenever possible.

2.     Rep players may pay an additional “rep registration fee”. 

3.   No player on any rep team may participate in any team activity if they are not registered with Home Association for the current playing season.

4.   Any player residing with District 8 of Softball B.C. wishing to play for a NLDS/LFA rep team can do so without recrimination from their home association.  A player who wishes to leave their home association within District 8 for a team within another district must be released by their home association President and all other Association Presidents within District 8 who have a team in the category/classification in which the player wishes to play.  For additional information refer to Softball B.C.’s “Handbook of the Constitution and Operating Rules”.

5.   Coaches must ensure that their team is prepared to attend the district play downs as well as the Provincial Championships, if selected.

6.   No players will be released to play on other teams within the association or within the district, for provincial championship tournaments, without the approval of the Rep Coordinators as per Softball B.C. rules.

Team Finances

1.   Home Associations will provide each rep team with Equipment and Uniforms as outlined below.  The Association will also cover the costs of umpires for all scheduled games.

2.   Each rep team is responsible for all other expenses relating to the team.

3.   Each rep team is to prepare a team budget at the beginning of each season which should be approved by the team’s players and parents.  (must be signed and submitted to committee)

4.   The team budget for the season will be submitted, on, or before, January 31st to the rep coordinator.

5.   The team budget to be approved by the rep committee.

6.   All coaches will provide a copy of the approved budget to his/her team players and /or parents.

7.   Each team is to appoint a Team Treasurer, who is independent of the team coaches, for each season. The treasurer to submit application and current criminal record check without any adverse entries to rep committee upon appointment for final approval.

8.   An accounting of all cash receipts, cash expenditures and all non-monetary donations must be maintained by each team.  Accounting records must be kept up to date as team parents and or the rep committee are permitted to view them at any time.

9.   A final statement must be submitted at the end of the season to the rep coordinator. (by July 15th)

10.   Copies of the team’s budget pre approved by the parents, accounting records and supporting documents must be presented to the Rep Committee within 7 days of request.

11.   All fundraising activities including the solicitation of donations and sponsorships must be preapproved by the NLDS and LFA Executive to ensure that such activities do not conflict with the NLDS and LFA objectives which are designed to benefit all members.  (Rep Coordinators to submit fundraising activities to their Home Associations)

12.   The NLDS or LFA Executive may assess that the first $300 of all fundraising activities be remitted to the NLDS or LFA for general use.  In the event that a sponsorship can be demonstrated as being the result of a relationship with a particular team (i.e. a rep parent’s business wishes to sponsor a specific team) all funds will normally be 100% for the benefit of the team.  Otherwise, business and service clubs of Langley are off limits to solicitation of rep teams.  Any violation of #12 resulting in financial sponsorship for the team will be reimbursed in full, to their association by the violating team.

13.   No fundraising should be done until a team has been approved by the Rep Committee.

14.   All monies not spent by the team shall become the property of Home Association in the event that a team is discontinued. Team bank accounts should be at a zero or $1.00 balance on September 1st.

 

Equipment and Uniforms

       

1.    All rep teams are supplied with standard equipment bag and start-up equipment as determined by Home Association.

2.      Teams are to donate/return excess equipment to Home Association for general use.

3.    Each rep team must maintain a purchased equipment and uniform inventory list to be submitted to committee on an annual basis or on demand within 15 days.

4.    The team’s equipment must be made available to Committee inspection on request for comparison to the equipment inventory list.

5.    In the event that a rep team is disbanded, all equipment supplied by the league, or replaced by funds contributed by the league, donations from sponsors, parents and/or fundraising shall become the property of Home Association.

6.     Each team will be provided the approved jerseys, shorts, socks and head wear.

7.     Uniforms are to be returned to the Home Association at the end of each season.

8.     Jersey numbers are not guaranteed from year to year.  It is suggested that you do not put numbers on any of your player’s gear.

9. When in uniforms, wear the uniform properly at all times, on and off the field.i.e.shirts tucked in, sleeves rolled down, etc.

 

Gym Rentals and Batting Cage Use

 

1.    NLDS/LFA   will acquire gymnasium time for team practices for the period of January to March. 

2.    Rep coaches will be notified of the available times and will submit their requests to the designated individual.  If there is a conflict, the Rep Committee will resolve.

3.    Batting Cage time may be booked through the Batting Cage Coordinator at no charge to the team.

4.     Each individual rep team may be responsible to pay for their own gym time.   All gyms must be booked through the LFA/NLDS member responsible for booking gyms.

 

 

Code of Conduct

 

The purpose of our rep program shall be to promote participation and to instill in the children of the community the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty and courage so that they grow to be responsible, healthy adults.

These purposes will be achieved by providing a safe learning environment through competitive softball games.  The people in authority shall bear in mind that the attainment of exceptional athletic skill or the winning of games is secondary to the concept of molding future adults.  All activities and conduct of rep coaches, players and parents must be consistent with these ideals

 

1.    All rep coaches, players and parents must adhere to the Codes of Conduct.

2.   Coaches are expected to be good teachers.  No one learns by being on the bench.  Rep coaches are expected to develop and play their players equally during league play.  The governing body recognizes that priorities change from league play to tournament play to Provincials.

3.   Coaches must meet with the players and parents at least annually to outline their coaching philosophy, explain team goals and priorities, budges and fundraising requirements, playing and practice times, other expectations; and to listen to the players and parents concerns and comments.

4.   Coaches are encouraged to enter their teams in minimum of 3 tournaments in addition to league play. (excluding districts and provincial tournaments)

5.   Coaches should be dressed alike and in team colours during all games (no jeans).

6.   No player on any rep team may participate in any team activity if they are not duly registered with HOME ASSOCIATION for the current year.  Failure of the coach to comply with this rule will result in immediate removal as a rep coach.   No exceptions.

 

All players and coaches must know and understand their Home Association’s Expectations of Conduct and Commitment to them by reading your Home Association’s Handbooks; this is over and above the above guidelines and rules outlined.

 

 

 

 

Disciplinary Action

Refer to Section 1- Suspension and Disciplinary Action of Softball B.C. Operating Rules and Constitution handbook.   Any decision that a player or coach wishes to appeal must submit the appeal in writing along with a (100) one hundred dollar cheque to their Home Association President.   The Appeal Board will be 2 members from each Association (LFA and NLDS) with one Umpire from District 8.

 

Registration

 

Registrations of players for new teams are as follows - North Langley Diamond Sports in odd years and Langley Fastball in even years.  (i.e. 2009 season -North Langley, 2010 season- Langley Fastball, etc.)