LAKEWOOD LITTLE LEAGUE CONSTITUTION/ PLAYING RULES REVISED 03/2022
These Regulations or By-Laws and Playing Rules govern the conduct and operations of the Lakewood Youth League Baseball Association, its Board members, umpires, coaches, parents, players and spectators. Regulations or By-Laws are in Roman numerals (ex. IV) and playing rules are listed as just numbers (ex. 3.11.) These bylaws are the organizing document of the organization.
February 2009 Bylaws and Rules were split into separate documents with six (6) appendices to the Bylaws for Division and All Star specific rules. Bylaws Revised March of 2022
I – THE LEAGUE
The League is the only unit of the organization. The League will provide accident insurance coverage for all players on varsity, farm, minor and T-ball league rosters. Insurance for managers, coaches and umpires is available through the League at prevailing rates.
Association Board of Directors shall be as follows:
President: is responsible for administration of the overall Lakewood Youth League Program and chairs all Board meetings. The president shall appoint any committee or subcommittee as he/she deems necessary with approval of the Board of Directors,
Vice President: is responsible to step in if the President is unable to perform any of his functions. The Vice President will assume all presidential duties if required of him/her.
2nd Vice President: is responsible to step in if the President/ Vice President is unable to perform any of their functions. The 2nd Vice President will assume all presidential duties if required of him/her.
Treasurer: is responsible for all League monies, facilitation of tax filing, records of books, accounts and disbursements.
Secretary: may chair meetings and is responsible for team, player records, meeting minutes and forms.
Board Trustees as Follows-
Field Maintenance- Responsible for upkeep and repairs of the fields and facility grounds. Will schedule field maintenance work days.
Concession Manager- Maintains the operation of concession facilities, Organizes the purchase of concession products, is responsible for the management of the concession sales at league events, schedules staff to work the concession booth during league events, collects and reviews concession related offers including coupons, discounts and bulk-purchasing opportunities, and organizes, tallies and keeps records of concession sales and purchases, and pays concession employees and umpires.
Sponsorship Manager- Solicits and secures local sponsorships to support league operations, collects and reviews sponsorship opportunities, and maintains records of monies secured through sponsorship initiatives.
Uniform Coordinator- Responsible for ordering and gathering information to purchase league uniforms
League Scheduler- Responsible for coordinating all league practice, game and tournament schedules. Will coordinate umpire assignments.
Events Coordinator- The chair and organizer of all community and social events involving LYBA.
A. The above Board of Directors and Trustees will constitute the league voting members.
a) Other league positions may be created as deemed necessary by the board to ensure adequate operations.
b) In the need of a quorum to vote, the President will withhold his/her vote.
c) Committees will be designated at the Board of Directors discretion.
i) Committee will appoint a chairperson to speak on behalf of the group.
ii) Chairperson will be required to attend any league board meeting where committee issues are being discussed.
B. All board meetings must be attended by all board members listed above,
unless notification was previously made to the president 72 hours prior to meeting. In the case of an emergency situation, the board can vote to excuse the absence.
a. First meeting missed without prior notification will result in loss of vote until 2 consecutive meetings have been attended.
b. Second meeting missed without prior notification will result in a request for resignation from the board.
C. Any member of the Board of Directors or Trustees may be removed with or without cause, at any time, by vote of three-quarters (3/4) of the members of the Board of Directors if in their judgment the best interest of the Corporation would be served thereby. Each member of the Board of Directors must receive written notice of the proposed removal at least ten (10) days in advance of the proposed action. An officer who has been removed as a member of the Board of Directors shall automatically be removed from office.
D. Monthly meetings during League year (Oct. 1 to Sept. 30th) shall be
determined by the President and placed on the regular League calendar/schedule and distributed to all players and coaches. Additional meetings will be scheduled by the President or Vice President as needed.
E. All coaches, parents, and Board members are encouraged to attend all Board meetings.
1. All Board meetings follow Parliamentary rules and procedures.
2. Discussions are not limited to Board members but only Board members may cast votes.
3. The Board president may request a closed door executive session to deal with issues of a sensitive nature specific to the league draft, personnel issues, or legal matters that may impact the Lakewood Youth Baseball Association. To conduct a closed session, it must be approved by at least a two-thirds vote of members present.
II – GENERAL
1. If make up games are necessary, the head coaches shall reschedule the game with the assistance of The League Scheduler. If the coaches cannot agree on time to reschedule, The League Scheduler shall determine the times and dates of make-up games for tournaments and all
regular games.
2. In league play if there is a tie for first place, the following tie breaker applies: head to head record, runs scored against, and then most runs scored for.
3. Lakewood Youth Baseball Association uses the village of Hebron’s Evans Athletic Park Complex to play our games. The League must follow the park regulations to continue to use these facilities. The Hebron Park Commissioner administers the regulations.
4. The Lakewood Youth Baseball Association (LYBA) will provide equipment as determined by the league board. The Board through the league treasurer will collect sponsor fees and donations. No other equipment and uniform acquisition on behalf of the LYBA is permitted without prior permission from the Board. Equipment will be distributed prior to the season and collected and inventoried at the conclusion of each season by the Board. All special equipment requests beyond the leagues established criteria for equipping teams shall be submitted to the Board for consideration in a reasonable time frame. All personally owned equipment used by participants shall meet the minimum NOCSAE safety requirements.
III – PLAYER REGISTRATION & TRYOUTS
REGISTRATION:
1. Any child may play in the LYBA if he or she meets the age requirements set by Lakewood Youth Baseball Board. The Board reserves the right to refuse or remove any player if it is deemed necessary for the safety of others.
2. The fee for a player will be established by the Board and shall also cover their insurance. 3. This fee must be paid at the time the player registers.
4. Refund Policy- Prior to a player being drafted a Full Refund may be issued. Once a player has been drafted to a team No Refund shall be issued unless the Board votes to issue a Partial Refund at their discretion.
5.. No player shall be permitted to enter the League after registration and tryouts are completed unless the Board determines otherwise.
6.. Throughout the season coaches must notify the Player Agent as soon as possible if a player has quit and indicate the reason(s) given, if known
TRYOUTS:
1. All new players shall attend a tryout session to permit managers and coaches to view each player’s skills.
2. The tryout consists of fielding, throwing, batting and running if deemed necessary.
a. Tryouts will be scheduled by player age and time staggered to allow
better control of the tryout session and not intimidate younger players.
IV – LEAGUE CODE OF CONDUCT
Players, parents and coaches will be required to sign a code of conduct at the beginning of each season. Either on paper or through the league website.
1. PROFANITY
a. Profanity of any sort shall not be tolerated while representing LYBA. 2. DEGRADING BEHAVIOR
a. The degrading of any players, umpires, or coaches shall not be tolerated. Fans can also be ejected from a game by an umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct.
3. THREATS/PHYSICAL ACTIONS
a. Threats and or physical action taken against anyone associated with the LYBA shall NOT be tolerated at any time on or off the playing field during the Youth Baseball season.
b. Disciplinary action for this misconduct shall be immediate and can result in permanent suspension from LYBA.
4. SMOKING / TOBACCO / ALCOHOL / ABUSIVE DRUGS
a. There shall be no smoking, use of any other tobacco product, alcohol or abusive drug while representing LYBA. This includes both coaches and parents. 5. BOARD MEMBER/COACHES GUIDELINES
a. Assigned tasks include the responsibilities of coaches plus any additional duties a coach may have taken upon. (i.e. Tournament Director, Fund Raising, etc.)
i. First Offense – One (1) game suspension of Team Manager.
ii. Second Offense – Dismissal of Team Manager from the Association for one (1) calendar year.
iii. Misconduct by a Board Member may result in a request for their resignation from the Board.
iv. The Board's decision is final. The Board may impose more or less
severe punishment if deemed necessary.
REVIEW PROCESS
The Board shall review all protests. A protest form will be provided for the coaches and
umpires to use when lodging a complaint. The Board shall meet within three days of an incident, to review all information, hear the issues and determine a course of action. Suspension from a game will not be imposed upon a coach or umpire until the Board has reviewed and rendered a decision.
V - COACHES’ RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Prepare field for play (Home Team) – This includes lining the base lines and batter’s box, and setting the bases on their anchors. This applies for League play and league operated tournaments.
2. Coaching during Youth League games – You must keep control of your players. They are required by the league to be inside the dugout during game play unless they have permission of the coach or manager.
3. Be courteous to the umpires and respect them. They have control of the game. Players are never allowed to dispute a call with the umpire. If you believe that an umpire has a personal conflict with you, take your complaint to the board.
4. Each coach must understand the playing requirements for relevant division players. Varsity – 6 defensive outs and one time at bat. Farm and Minor – 6 defensive outs.
5. You must also use the Playing Rule Book for pitching rules unless in a tournament.
6. Post-Game Field Maintenance – After every practice and game the Away team is responsible for the following, unless it is a team of a different league:
a. Drag or rake the dirt portion of the infield and base lines.
b. Recondition the mound, batter’s box and catcher’s box.
c. Put away bases and score board equipment.
d. Cover base anchor receptacles.
e. Lock the shed door to the storage area.
Each team should be responsible for their own dugout.
7. Equipment-All coaches are responsible for equipment issued.
8. Parent communication – Each coach is encouraged to meet with players and parents so they will know what is expected. Parents must understand that they can also be ejected. The parents must help to clean up the area after every game their team is involved in. A team parent must be
designated.
9. Work Days – Representatives (coach, parents, etc) of every team in all league
divisions are required to attend scheduled workdays. Lack of participation could result in consequences.
10. Attend Meetings – As a coach you are encouraged to attend Board meetings and required to attend all coaches meetings.
11. Rules of play-Coaches will receive a copy of the LYBA rule book and the By-Laws are available on the LYBA website.
12. Fundraisers –All coaches will participate in league sponsored fundraising campaigns.
13. Umpiring- Coaches are encouraged to umpire for other league games and may be required to umpire other division games if needed.
VI – THE PLAYERS
1. The following rules are grandfathered in for players who have entered into the league prior to the 2019 season: Any candidate who will attain the age of 6 years on or before April 30th and who will not attain the age of 13 on or before April 30th of the year in question shall be eligible to compete in Lakewood Youth League Baseball. This means that a player who will be 13 years old on May 1st or later is eligible to play that year. A player who will be 13 years old on April 30th or earlier will not be eligible for either local league play or tournament play at any time during the calendar year in question.
2. Effective for players entering the league for the 2019 Spring Season as 6-year-olds, the cut off day will be April 30th. The player will need to be 6 years old on or before April 30th to be considered player age 6.
3. The league player age requirements apply:
Tee Ball: 4, or 5 playing age
Minor Division: 6, 7, or 8 playing age
Farm Division: 9, or 10 playing age
Varsity Division: 11, or 12 playing age
If a player, in their final year in the division listed above, wishes to be considered for the next division, the player will need to be evaluated during the draft in order to be moved up to the Minors division. The Board will make the decision based on the player's ability as to whether or not a player will be eligible to move up to the older division. If a player chooses to petition for advancement, proof of age must be presented.
Players are not able to be on a roster in more than one division. Players that are in the age group eligible to move up but playing in the younger division are eligible to be called up to play up in the older division and a list will be made available to coaches of these players if a call up player is needed.
Effective Spring Season of Year 2023- No Lakewood Youth player will be permitted to be on a LYBA roster as well as a Travel Team Roster. Due to tournament rules this will make those players that do this ineligible for tournament play, thus putting LYBA teams at a disadvantage.
The play up list shall be created by the Player Agent of each division. Head coaches in each division should nominate players from their team who they feel are capable of playing at the next division. Players shall not play up unless they have been nominated by their coach to be included on the play up list. Coaches requesting a player to play up must make that request through the player agent.
4. Each candidate must present acceptable proof of age to the League President or his designate before the player draft is put into operation. When and if such formal proof of age is not available, the League President shall gather as much documentary evidence as possible to determine league age.
Every player on a team roster will participate in each game for a minimum of six (6) defensive outs or 2 completed and bat at least one (1) time.
PENALTY: The player involved shall start the next scheduled game, play any previous requirement and the requirement for the current game before he can be removed. The Manager or Head coach shall for the:
a. First Offense – receive a written warning.
b. Second Offense – a suspension for the next scheduled game.
c. Third Offense – a suspension for the remainder of the season.
NOTE: If the violation is determined to have been intentional, a more severe penalty may be assessed by the Board of Directors. However, forfeiture of a game may not be invoked.
VII – SELECTION OF PLAYERS (THE DRAFT)
This Draft Process includes (unless there are age exceptions approved by the Board of Directors) Minors (ages 6-8), Farm (ages 8-10) and Varsity (ages 10- 12). Draft Process
1. All registrations are collected by the Board of Directors and divided among the proper age categories for the current year.
2. The number of players is then tallied to determine the amount of teams for each age division (with simple division of players divided by teams)
3. The Board of Directors determines the amount of players per team
a. Minors Division fields 10 players
b. Farm Division fields 10 players
c. Varsity Division fields 9 players
4. If there are not enough players to field the same number of teams as the prior year, the team(s) with the least amount of returning players is eliminated (contracted).
a. Exception, if it is in the best interest of the league, and the Board of
Director deems it necessary, they could opt to keep a team that has an established coach and has the same or one player less returning than another team. The coach would remain with the team(s) they are currently coaching and contract the team(s) without a coach(s) unless the Board of Director decides that there are glaring issues that deem it necessary for that coach to be removed
b. Exception, if in the best interest of the league the Board of Directors
deems it necessary to eliminate a certain team to maintain a competitive balance among the division: usually only if; it doesn’t have a coach and it has one of the lowest total number of players returning
5. Those players whose team(s) has been eliminated will return to the draft process 6. If there are more than enough players to field the same amount of teams as the
prior year then expansion is necessary (adding a team or teams). The expansion team will receive the first pick in the draft.
7. Each eligible returning player is then placed on their respective team from the prior year
8. All children of Managers who have been chosen to do so by the Board will be placed on that Manager’s team if that player is not already on that team (no draft pick(s) charged)
9. All siblings who are not currently on a team(s) and are living together are placed on team(s) together if the other sibling is already on another team(s) and isn’t required themselves to go through the draft process (no draft pick(s) charged)
10. Now you have a fixed number of players on established teams and a fixed number of players eligible for the draft process
11. Everyone receives a first round draft pick;
a. Exception, a team has final age division allotment of players determined after registration process by the Board of Directors. In this case, this team receives no draft picks.
b. Exception, a head coach can choose 1 assistant coach and take that player. This removes that team’s first round draft pick. The intention of this rule is to be sure an adequate number of coaches are distributed amongst the
teams. It is not to be used as a way to ‘stack a team,’ and can be vetoed by the Board of Directors if they deem it necessary.
12. Draft is in reverse order of finish from previous year’s league final standings
13. Only draftees who were present at the try-outs are eligible to be picked in the initial draft
14. The Board of Directors then determines how the draft will be conducted round by round with the setting of a “Magic Number” so the teams with a low number of returning player can catch-up without adding players at the end of the process
15. The “Magic Number” is the total number of players returning divided by the number of teams in the division, but only AFTER everyone gets a first round draft pick 16. Once a team reaches or exceeds the “Magic Number” they sit out until all teams reach the “Magic Number”
17. The teams continue to draft in a snake draft in order with only the team(s) with the lowest number of total players drafting in each round.
18. The draft continues in snake order as each team enters back into the process until all players are picked.
19. No team is allowed to skip a pick unless they have reached their maximum of eight in a particular age group and there are no available players in any other age group 22. After all players who have attended the try-outs are picked the no-shows are picked by a blind draw
23. The blind draw will be conducted using the sign-up sheet(s) that have been
randomly numbered. The remaining team(s) who need player(s) will draw a number(s) out of a hat that corresponds to those number(s) on the sign-up sheet(s) and those will be the player(s) that each team receives.
XIII – AWARD
Every child in the Tball and Minors divisions will receive a participation award at the end of the regular season. All other divisions will receive League and Tournament Champion Medals/Trophies
XIV – COMMERCIALIZATION
1. Exploitation of Lakewood Youth League in any form or for any purpose is prohibited.
2. Solicitation of fund raising by Lakewood Youth League players in or out of uniform is prohibited, except for fund raising projects approved in advance by the Board.
XVII – ALL-STAR TEAMS
1. Each coach nominates players from their team whom they deem worthy of All-Star consideration. The board will determine the number of nominees based on registration. Players are only eligible for the All Star team in the division in which they played during the regular season.
2. The League Player Agent gathers nominees and compiles the list per team.
3. With the list compiled, depending on the number of players, the Board of Directors will determine how many All-Star teams there will be.
4. The list will be presented to the board for consideration by the player agent for each division. 5. Coaches will be selected by the Lakewood Youth Baseball board.
6. Once the compiled list is revealed, the group decides if there are any names that need to be added to the list (possible oversight, clerical error, etc).
7. At this point all players who are not on the list are not eligible for the team.
8. With the list compiled, each All-Star coach and designated board member selects players for the team.
XVIII - NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION
Notwithstanding any other provision of these articles, the organization is organized for one or more of the purposes as specified in Section 501( c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and shall not carry on any activities not permitted to be carried on by an organization exempt from Federal income tax under IRC 501(c )(3) or corresponding provisions of any subsequent tax laws.
No part of the net earnings of the organization shall inure to the benefit of any member, trustees, director, officer of the organization, or any individual (except that reasonable compensation may be paid for services rendered to or for the organization), and no member, trustee, share in the distribution of any of the organization’s assets on dissolution of the organization.
No substantial part of the activities of the organization shall be carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided by IRC 501(h) or participating in, or intervening in (including the publication or distribution of statements), any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidates for political office.
In the event of dissolution, all of the remaining assets and property of the organization shall after
payment of necessary expenses thereof be distributed to such organizations as shall qualify under section 501(c )(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws, or to the Federal government or State or local government for a public purpose, subject to the approval of the Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio.
If any taxable year in which the organization is a private foundation as described in IRC 509(a), the organization shall distribute its income for said period at such time and manner as not subject it to tax under IRC 4942, and the organization shall not (a) engage in any act of self dealing as defined in IRC 4943(d), (b) retain any excess business holding as defined in IRC 4943(c ), (c) make any investments in such manner as to subject the organization to tax under IRC 4944, or (d) make any taxable expenditures as defined in IRC 4945(d) or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws.
- END OF LYBA BYLAWS -