Sandy Plains Softball Association Travel Rules

I. INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE

The purpose of the Sandy Plains Travel Rules is to guide the SPSA association, players, members and coaches for all SPSA travel programs.The Travel Rules are guided by the SPSA Travel Policy and Objectives as adopted. SPSA Select and All-star teams are not considered in this document. The rules contained herein shall be supplemental to the official SPSA rulebook.

CLASSIFICATIONS – Sandy Plains travel teams will be made up of 2 classifications. Only approved teams from the following classifications can register and play through SPSA:

ECE - “East Cobb Edge” Travel Teams

ITT - “Independent” Travel Teams

The term SPSA Travel Teams “SPT” when used in this document, refers to both classifications of teams.

SPSA travel teams will be “grandfathered as ITT’s for 1 year and will be evaluated by the board each subsequent year.

II. TEAM SELECTION, MANAGER SELECTION & APPROVAL

A. General Requirements for All Travel Teams at SPSA.

  1. Team Determination/Allocation: The number of travel teams and number of teams allocated per age group to practice at SPSA parks will be determined through a coordinated effort between SPSA’s Softball Director, Scheduler, and Travel/Tournament Director and approved by the SPSA Board at the June board meeting for the following year.
  1. Team Caps per age bracket: Caps (Maximum number of team) will be placed per age bracket:
  • For most efficient use of limited field resources
  • Provide the most access to travel opportunities within SPSA for the SPSA community
  • Based on the natural migration history has shown to occur within the travel environment
  • To align with player pool depth in order to provide strong, competitive teams and to eliminate roster poaching within the organization.
  1. Caps will be evaluated each year by the SPSA board. General restrictions are defined as:
  • 1st Year 10U (Max: 1)
  • 2nd Year 10U (Max: 2)
  • 1st Year 12U (Max: 3)
  • 2nd Year 12U (Max: 3)
  • 1st Year 14U (Max: 3)
  • 2nd Year 14U (Max: 3)
  • 1st Year 16U (Max: 2)
  • 2nd Year 16U (Max: 2)
  • 1st Year 18U (Max: 2)
  • 2nd Year 18U (Max: 2)

While SPSA will encourage having a travel alternative at each age level, it will not force an alternative if the coach and/or player pool does not warrant.

  1. SPSA Community Roster Representation Requirement: For a travel team to operate at SPSA, the team roster must comprise a minimum of 4 players within the SPSA primary community as defined by the SPSA Board. If less than 6 players are within the SPSA primary community, a minimum of 2 additional players must be within the SPSA secondary community as defined by the SPSA Board.

Community Defined:

  • Primary: Player who feeds into East Cobb high schools that include Lassiter, Pope, Walton, Sprayberry, Kell, Marietta and Wheeler high schools. A primary player may also have played recreation at SPSA and my feed local Fulton and Cherokee County high schools. (ie. Roswell and River Ridge)
  • Secondary: Any player who resides in Cobb County.

The SPSA board reserves the right to alter/change/ignore number of teams, field prioritization, team caps and practice times when it is in the best interest of the overall health of the park. Thesemodifications will be reviewed every Juneand must be approved by 2/3 approval of the SPSA board.

  1. Manager Approval: All travel coaches at Sandy Plains will be vetted, by the SPSA Board or sub-committee of the SPSA Board, prior to “conditional approval” at the July Board meeting. This may include presentation to the Board or sub-committee to elaborate on qualification and plans for the upcoming season. All coach/team approvals are conditional until all requirements such as roster, budget and registrations are met and completed.

A. Manager Expectations:

i.Development. All fast-pitch managers and coaches are strongly encouraged to attend and participate in any and all coach’s clinics offered through SPSA, NGFA, ASA, East Cobb Edge, or other providers. SPSA Board will effort to provide coach development opportunities for its travel teams.

ii.Code of Conduct. All coaches are required to complete a code of conduct contract that includes on field conduct, operating behavior & character, roster management, coach & player development activities and committed support to SPSA including volunteer activities.

The Executive Board of SPSA reserves the right to limit the number of approved SPSA Travel teams in order to insure ability of each team to compete effectively and avoid dilution of the player pool. In addition, the executive board reserves the right to not approve an ECE or ITT travel team if the board deems that coach not worthy of practicing on the SPSA facilities.

B. ECE Teams–ECE Organization andTeams are part of the SPSA organization. The ECE Organization is an independent organization operating under the supervision of SPSA. ECE Organizationwill provide structure, guidance, assistance, and coach/player training to its teams. All ECE teams will commit to volunteer efforts that support SPSA. The ECE organization’s board will include the current SPSA Travel and Tournament Director. Determination of teams and selection of Managers for ECE Teams should occur by July 1st of each year prior to the upcoming travel season. ECE managers shall be reviewed by the ECE board and submitted for approval to the full SPSA Board. The intention is to secure the best qualified managers for ECE Teams.

ECE Team Approval Requirements:

  • Team must be submitted by ECE board and receive 2/3 approval from SPSA board

ECE Coaching Requirements for consideration:

  • Passed Background Check
  • In Good Standing with SPSA
  • ACE Certified
  • Prior SPSA Head Coaching/Manager experience
  • Minimum: 1 Season Rec and 1 Season All-Star, or
  • Minimum: 1 Season Assistant Coach in SPSA sponsored travel team
  • Track Record of Player Development
  • Track Record of Player Retention in Softball

C. ITTTeams – ITT teams are independent teams approved by SPSA to use SPSA fields and facilities.ITT Managers are considered their team’s chairperson and will report to the SPSA Board. No ITT chairperson will have a vote unless he is a current SPSA board member. Presentation of ITT Managers and Teams should occur by July 1st of each year prior to the upcoming travel season. ITT manager candidates will be reviewed and approved by full SPSA board each year. The intention is to secure the best qualified managers for ITT managers and teams.

Team Approval Requirements:

  • Team must receive 2/3 approval vote by SPSA board

Coaching Requirementsfor consideration:

  • Passed Background Check
  • In Good Standing with SPSA
  • ACE Certified
  • Demonstrated Track Record of Player Development
  • Demonstrated Track Record of Player Retention in Softball
  • Prior SPSA Head Coaching/Managing experience
  • Minimum: 1 Season Head Coach of SPSA sponsored Travel Team, or
  • Minimum: 3 years Head Coach of recreation team at Sandy Plains

III. TRYOUTS

Tryouts for ECE, and ITT teams will be set by the individual organizations and teams coordinated with SPSA travel Director and Scheduler and shall be held no later than September 15th of each year for the upcoming fall and spring season, exceptions on a case-by-case review of the SPSA Board. In order to promote a strong image for SPSA Travel, all tryouts must be completed in an organized and timely fashion with an emphasis on conducting these tryouts as Travel focused and not like a recreational player evaluation.

SPSA Board reserves the right to host an organizational tryout at its fields if it feels it appropriately broadens the opportunities for the SPSA community.

IV. TEAM REGISTRATION

A. Outlined below is the list of what is required to register any travel team with SPSA and to reserve field time.All items are due to the SPSA Comptroller and the Travel/Tournament Director by (a) October 1 to begin using the fields beginning in the fall (October), or (b) January 15th to begin using the fields in the spring (February).The following items will not be accepted in parts; they must be together or considered incomplete:

  1. Copy of Roster
  2. An updated copy provided in January to verify registration
  3. All players registered in the SPSA registration system
  4. Copy of insurance for all players
  5. Background checks for ALL COACHES Minimum 3 coaches
  6. Coach Contract
  7. Concussion training verification
  8. Budget

Separately,

  1. Check made out to SPSA for the amount dependent on requested field slots
  2. October 1:$100 for fall field usage, field signups only, fields are not assigned in the fall.
  3. January 15: $400 or $750 by January 15 for Spring/Summer (see below)
  4. January 15:Practice time requests,
  5. Form provided by Scheduler
  6. Will Include Volunteer Selections

No teams may practice or use the fields, other than for tryouts, until they have completed the above requirements.

1. Rosters: Rosters provided will be used to verify SPSA representation and verify registration requirements. If a copy of the roster is completed in the fall, an updated copy must be provided by January 15th to verify registration, SPSA representation and any roster turnover.

Rosters for SPT teams shall consist of no more than seventeen (17) players without the approval of the Travel Director, with the ideal number being between 12-14 players. After rosters have been finalized, no players may be added to a team without the approval of the Travel Director. In certain situations, a player may need to be ‘picked up” for a tournament or two. In such cases, the team Manager must ensure the player has individual player insurance through ASA individual insurance or is added to an existing team insurance policy. It is strongly advised that each manager obtain and keep on file copies of birth certificates for each of their players as they will be needed for tournament play (even if only one tournament).

No player selected and on a team roster for any SPT travel team shall be allowed to play for a different SPT Team within the same season, without approval of both respective Managers and the Travel Director. Additionally, if a player leaves a registered SPT team, that player may not be picked up and added to another SPT roster without the approval of the original Manager and Travel Director. The season is defined as August 10th through August 9th of the following year.

2. Registration: Every player on each a travel team roster must individually register on the Sandy Plains web site: "Register" link is in the upper right hand corner.Parent must sign off on the concussion waiver. SPSA will not hold paper copies of this waiver, so each parent must acknowledge the concussion waiver online.

3. Insurance: SPSA requires ALL travel teams to have one form of ASA insurance for their team. This will provide the best "Secondary coverage" for our athletes. You can purchase any of the following:

  • ASA Team insurance -
  • ASA Individual insurance without photo id -
  • ASA Individual insurance with photo id (this is what is required to play in ASA qualifiers) -
  1. Background checks for all coaches:These need to be done on the register ASA website: will need to create an account (if you don't already have one) and get your coaches certified. Once done, just take a screen shot of the coach’s name and background check completed, and include it in the package. They will all be listed in one area to easily capture.
    All Coaches that practice and play out of SPSA facilities are required to have background checks and become ACE certified. Each team requires a minimum of 3 coaches with background checks and certified
  2. Coach Contract& Concussion Training: As defined by SPSA, coaches will sign a code of conduct agreement and show proof of concussion training.
  3. Budgets & Fundraisers: All SPT teams are required to submit a season budget to the Travel/Tournament director prior to the start of the travel season. In-seasons accounting records must be kept and made available to the Travel/Tournament director on request. Season ending accounting records must be turned in to the Travel/Tournament director at the conclusion of the travel season. All fundraisers must be approved by the Travel/Tournament director prior to commencement.
  4. Check made out to SPSA: The SPSA board has the right to update pricing from year to year as they see fit. Here is the current break down of fees in 2017:
  • $100 for field usage in the fall. Fields will be available for 2nd year 10U and older beginning October 1. 1st year 10U may start earlier. Fields are signup only, limit 2 field and/or cage per week.
  • $400 for 1 field slot per week – no additional cage or field slots available for signup each week
  • $750 for 2 field slots per week – 1 additional field slot and 2 additional cage slots are available for signup each week if fields/cages are not reserved during that week.

IV. FIELD ALLOCATION AND PRIORITIZATION

  1. Field Prioritization and Practice Time Requests
    All scheduling rules and procedures will be governed by the SPSA Schedule policy and any conflicts between the SPSA Travel Rules and Schedule Policy will default to the Schedule Policy.

Scheduling requests go the SPSA Scheduler [on form provided by the Scheduler, and are due by January 15th. The Scheduler will provide a Spring & Summer schedule to each Travel team by February 1st.
Please note:Failure to provide your requests correctly, in the form provided by the SPSA Scheduler and submitted by January 15th, will cause a delay in your field assignments.

  1. Field Priorities for Travel Teams:
  • The SPSA Board will determine a number of field slots available for travel by the June board meeting for the following Spring/Summer season.
  • A breakdown of weekend, early week day and late week day options will be provided
  • Travel teams will be given choices based on their age (see scheduling policy)
  • Requests outside the age based choices will be considered last and awarded only after all other team requests have been filled.
  • All approved SPT teams & organizations that meet the roster requirements will be allocated field space, but time and date requests will still be subject to priority rankings.
  • ECE teams will receive priorityover ITT teams. Priority among ECE teams, within age bands defined by the scheduling policy, will determine by SPSA representation as defined below.
  • After all eligible ECE teams have been assigned their field days and times, eligible and approved ITT teams will be assigned fields with highest priority given to those teams with the highest SPSA community representation within their age band as defined in the scheduling policy.
  • Highest priority on field request will go to teams with the rosters with highest representation of the SPSA community.
  • Representation will be determined based on a scoring system, whereby the roster score is calculated as;
  • Each Player in the Primary Community is 2 points
  • Each Player in the Secondary Community is 1 point
  • All other players are 0
  • Teams with the highest scores in its group will have first priority on field and time requests.

C. Team/Coach/Player/Parent Conduct

Code of Conduct

Coaches, players and parents are required to sign the SPSA Conduct Contract.

It is imperative that the fast-pitch travel managers understand that their responsibilities include presenting the best possible image for Sandy Plains at the various games and tournaments they attend. Each manager is directly responsible for their own behavior, their coaches, their players, and parents. Each manager shall be involved with any player or parental issues relating to behavior on/off the field that is detrimental to Sandy Plains, and in the event a manager is ejected from a game, they shall immediately contact the SPSA Travel/Tournament Director to explain the situation, and may be suspended one additional game. SPT Coaches will be held accountable for the behavior of all players, coaches, and parents on their team. They will be expected to exhibit class and integrity at all times. If the SPSA Board determines that a coach, player or parent is in violation of the Conduct Contract the team, coach, player or parent may be subject to suspension or expulsion from the park. Suspension or Expulsion requires a2/3 approval of the SPSA board.

VI. OTHER

  1. 8U Travel Teams: 8U Travel teams will be evaluated on a case by case basis. However, history has indicated that 8U travel teams with limited kid pitch experience are at a disadvantage when moving up to 10U. The Board currently prefers 8U Select players interested in exploring travel the following season, play spring recreation in 10U their last 8U season.
  2. 1st Year 10U Travel: 1st Year 10U travel teams will be evaluated on a case by case basis. History has indicated that teams whose rosters have limited kid pitch experience struggle and will give stronger consideration to those rosters with prior kid pitch experience in either the previous spring or after the fall 10U recreation season.

Calendar/Key Dates: