New Hampshire District 2

Minutes of Meeting

Tuesday, March 19 ,2024

Present on Zoom: Sav Huskey, Sarah Trefethan, Matt Petersons, Derek Mercier, John Kneeland, Mark Hebert, Jon Sebasco, Tim Latorra, Tiffany Faulhefer, Jeff Ross

Meeting called to order at 8:05.

Minutes of February 5, 2024 recorded by Vanessa Hayes, D1 DA: Motion to approve by Jon Sebasco, 2^ndJohn Kneeland – approved unanimously.

Finances: Balance in account is $834.39 after debit of $577.83 for purchase of 2024 pins and flags for tournament.  Kathie is challenging a $10 fee that is unauthorized on the account with TD bank over the last two months and is waiting to hear from the bank.

Regular Season Updates:

Those leagues where Kathie has not yet attended a Board meeting [either in person or online] are asked to let her know the date of planned April and May meetings so she can meet the Board and explain the changes to anticipate in Little League going forward.

Any district official who would like to have a polo shirt with the district logo on the front is asked to email Kathie the shirt size no later than April 1 – she will order wicking polos for any interested district official at no cost to the person.  Shirts will be red with white lettering and outline of NH in blue.

Safety Manuals: The deadline to submit safety plans is April 5.  Most leagues have submitted plans that are simply awaiting registration data to be approved.  If you are NOT using Sports Connect as the platform for registration, PLEASE upload whatever registration data you have using a .csv file [or whatever platform you use to upload] for however many registrations your league currently has completed.  You can resubmit the complete registration file once registration closes – even an incomplete upload will trigger approval of plans just missing registration data.

The ONLY document now required to be kept in paper format is the Medical Release. Each player must have a new medical release each year that eventually makes its way into the team notebooks ONCE the safety officer has reviewed all the releases for any extra needed basic medical equipment, noted allergies, and noted conditions to discuss with parents and/or bring to the attention of the team manager. The safety officer will then be responsible for providing the releases to the team manager.

Data Center: 

1.        remember to check your league boundaries on the data center and consider expanding boundaries into “unclaimed” areas. If your map is not reflective of your boundaries that must be corrected before June 1 with the regional office.

2.        If you have not completed the required background check compliance in the data center please do that ASAP.  Log onto your league, check the upper left hand box for things to do – if background check compliance is outlined in red – scroll down to the background check box in the left menu, click on that box, and complete.  It is not necessary to have done all your checks – this is to indicate you know and are adhering to the policy.

PCA clinics:

1.        Next interactive coaching workshop is Sunday, March 24 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the NH Fisher Cats training facility. Remind coaches to wear turf shoes or sneakers and bring a glove.

2.        Double-Goal coaching in class workshop is Tuesday, April 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Concord High School in room E418.  At least 3 persons from each league [preferably all coaches and presidents who have not attended the in class workshop] are expected to attend.  Plan to arrive 15 minutes early and meet at the main entrance under the catwalk so that Derek Mercier [district host] can meet attendees and let them into the building. 

Website: 

1.        Kathie asks those leagues that have not submitted a short summary of their league [ages served, divisions, where playing, volunteer opportunities] to please submit no later than April 1.  Leagues still needing to submit are: Rye, Tilton-Northfield, Concord, Suncook, and Laconia.

2.        Sports Connect reports that LL support is a #1 priority – there is a dedicated LL support line as well as chat ticket that provides for “priority status” for LL questions regarding the website. Webmasters can provide access with rights to post for all/ limited information to any league member.  There is a Sports Connect Academy with online courses on how to get the most from the platform – if you cannot easily find this information or have questions please contact Tiffany – she is most knowledgeable about using Sports Connect. If you find the Sports Connect support is lacking let Kathie know so she can follow-up with the region and the vendor.

3.        Remember – all leagues must use Sports Connect as their platform beginning 2025 as LL embarks on Central Registration [see later discussion in minutes].

Roundtable Report:

1.        Background checks and child protection policy:

a.        JDP has initiated enhanced background checks for all LL’s. This includes searches of the US Center for Safe Sport Discipline list and National Sex Offender Registry, higher level name searches [broadening searches to include alternate spellings and nicknames] and coupling names with SSN’s.

b.        League presidents and Boards are responsible for knowing and implementing all aspects of Regulation 1C 10-13 regarding child safety – be sure to review these regulations with your board and coaches.

c.        As part of league background checks leagues should be reviewing the US Center for Safe Sport Discipline list and NH SOR to be sure that no person with any conviction, plea, no-contest, or pending charge is permitted to volunteer.

2.        Concussion protocol: be sure your local rules/safety manual include the requirements of NH law for concussion management.  See https://www.littleleague.org/player-safety/concussions-youth-athletes/or https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XV/200/200-49.htm for what needs to be known for your league concussion protocol.

3.        Sudden Cardiac Death: Some states have requirements for managing sudden cardiac death in youth athletes. There is no RSA in NH but there are protocols for leagues with an AED and there is grant money for non-profits to purchase an AED. Kathie will forward an email from Bill Wood of NH EMS with information for to all leagues.

4.        Privacy policy: when logging onto the Data Center note there is a new privacy policy for players, parents, and volunteers. 

5.        Umpire registry:

a.        Umpire focus is on education, training, recruitment, and retention for local leagues and tournament selection. This includes adult and junior umpires [<17 years old]. An umpire advisory committee with representation from all regions had been formed and is working on the above goals.

b.        Leagues are encouraged to have volunteer umpires register with LL umpire registry.  By registering umpires can have one background check [$5.00 fee] good for the year covering any/all leagues where they may umpire and indicate those leagues where he/she is willing to umpire games. Leagues can then search using the Data Center “find umpires” in the left-hand menu for umpires. 

c.        Selection for regional and world series assignments for umpires is now based strictly on knowledge, mechanics, and evaluations [not on tenure]. To be considered for an assignment umpires must belong to the registry, attend clinics/umpire identification camps [to evaluate previously unknown umpires], have evaluations integrated into the registry, and be recommended by the DA.

d.        LLU launched an umpire training course in March providing more access for leagues to provide umpires with training.

e.        The NH umpire clinic on April 5/6 has openings on April 5 for the baseball and softball rules session. The April 6 mechanics session is closed for registrations.  Many thanks for the advocacy of leagues in signing umpires and junior umpires up for the clinics.

6.        LL Insurance: the new liability carrier has added “inland marine” coverage to LL liability coverage.  This new coverage includes damage to structures from fire/wind/flood as well as burglary and theft. It does not include coverage of equipment, appliances, uniforms or other business assets – be sure to have a local policy that covers business assets.

7.        Girls with Game: this is the 50^th anniversary of girl participation in Little League; many events will take place to celebrate girls in our leagues.  Please consider having girls and female participation as a theme this season – especially at Opening Day. In addition to girls who are playing consider inviting back prior players and recognizing the women volunteers in your program; highlighting your league, high school, and college softball teams; and letting your community know that D2 now has a chartered softball program in Concord.  There are resources for spreading the word about Girls with Game on LL website.

8.        Central Registration: beginning in 2025 all registrations will start at PlayLittleLeague.org. 

a.        This site will automatically link to your local league [this is where Sports Connect interface is required]. Your local league will set the registration fee and any other information to be gathered with Sports Connect – and the central site will then forward registrations/volunteer information directly to your site.  

b.        Players aged 4-7 will have a choice of league within a certain radius of address while players aged 8 and up will only be permitted to register at the league they played in at age 7 OR their “home” league based on school or residence in boundary. 

c.        Each player and volunteer will have a distinct assigned registration number that will permit easy access/tracking for league purposes and once a player reaches age 8 player eligibility and verification for tournament [via document upload]. 

d.        Central registration is anticipated to go live this summer allowing leagues to pilot the program with fall ball and/or winter clinic registrations. 

e.        Sports Connect will be providing online classes to explain and demonstrate how this registration system will work – it is believed that by having one place to register for Little League parents will find the process easier and more convenient. The message: to play Little League baseball or softball every parent/guardian will be instructed to go to PlayLittleLeague.org to register for the upcoming season – leagues serviced by their zip code will “pop-up” and that is the league in which the player will register.

9.        New Values: roll out of 5 new values that LL embodies was at round table. These new values replace Courage-Character-Loyalty values that have been in place for the last ~ 50 years with: Community, Inclusion, Integrity, Fun, and Teamwork. These new values are to be the guiding values in planning and executing each element of your league.  For logos and more information go to the LL website.

10.  CBO – continuous batting order for tournament is here to stay. Discussion centered on minimum roster size in tournament [current 12 player minimum]. Waiting to hear if any changes will be made to roster size or any rules will change around roster size.

Other tidbits from the Round Table:

1.        T-mobile grant ran out of funds 11 days after launching; within the initial hour 8,000 applications were filed with another 12,000 in the queue. There is huge need out there for scholarships!

2.        Average LL registration fee is $128.00; participation by girls increasing while boy participation has been decreasing.

3.        Regarding child abuse: Nationwide statistics reveal 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will experience some form of abuse by age 18. To bring this home to our programs LL’s legal counsel noted this conceptually translates to 3 girls/team and 2 boys/team likely will be victims of abuse by age 18.  Eliminating and reducing statistics like these are the reason that LL is serious about child abuse training.

Meeting adjourned at 9:40

Next Meeting: before April school vacation

Respectfully submitted,

Kathie Lynch

DA