Rule 14:ALL-STAR TEAMS, TOURNAMENT TEAMS AND COACHES
Participation in post-season play is a privilege that allows players the opportunity to represent the city of Vestavia Hills against other parks and teams. It provides a level of competition greater than that provided by recreation baseball offered during the regular season. Players interested in playing post-season competition must sign a commitment form. If the player cannot commit to all of the commitment dates, then the player’s name will not be placed on the ballot. The tournament and/or All-Star teams selected in accordance with these rules shall represent the City of Vestavia Hills in all post-season play.No other post-season teams shall be permitted.
League Directors and the Executive Board shall be responsible for supervising the selection of all tournament teams in accordance with these rules. Selection of players must conform to all rules of Metro Sports Baseball, Inc.
Rule 14.1:Post Season Play for T-Ball League Age 6:
A. Post season play for the six (6) year old league will be affected after the following considerations by the Executive Board.
B. All six (6) year old coaches will submit in writing a list of players who wish to participate in post season play. This list must be submitted to league director by the completion of the regular season. Post season play is voluntary and not mandatory. Along with the list of players, each coach needs to indicate if he/she would be willing to participate in the post season play.
C. The League Director along with members of the Executive Board will take the names of the coaches and players to determine:
1. The number of players willing to participate and the number of teams, if any, that could be formed.
2. If at least two (2) teams can be assembled, the League Director with the help of the Executive Board will assign the coaches and teams will be selected.
3. The selection order will be determined by a random drawing. The coaches will pick in that order from the list of players submitted until players have been selected to fill the teams.
D. The Executive Board does not encourage All Stars for the T-Ball league but will provide additional participation in T-Ball competition for those children interested in extending their baseball experience.
Rule 14.2: All Star Teams and Coach Selection for Ages 7-14
A. The Association will sponsor teams to participate in the annual Metro Sports Baseball, Inc. post-season games and/or tournaments. The Executive Board will determine the number of All-Star teams to be selected for each league.
B. All-Star nominations and selections shall occur during the last week of the regular season, the exact dates of which will be determined by the Executive Board or at such other time as the Executive Board in its discretion may establish.
C. Selection of all-star teams shall occur at a meeting attended by the League Director, head coaches, and the Executive Board member responsible for that league. If a head coach is not able to attend the selection meeting, he or she will have the option to submit their reviews of players signed up for all-star selections in writing 24 hours prior to the selection meeting. No one will be allowed to sit-in for the head coach during all-star selections. The head coaches’ responses will be kept private and will only be shared during the meeting.
D. Each All-Star team shall have a number of players determined by the Executive Board in accordance with the rules of Metro Sports Baseball, Inc. Players shall be eligible to be selected for All Stars only in the league in which they played during the regular season, subject to the age requirements of Metro Sports Baseball, Inc. In no event shall a player be allowed to play All Stars in a league in which they did not participate during the regular season.
E. The first All-Star team selected in each age group will be designated the National League Team. Subsequent teams will be designated as American-East and American-West.
F. The All-Star team and coach will be selected through the following process:
1. The League Directors and Executive Board will make available an All-Star Commitment Form to every player in the league, which must be signed,without qualification, by the parent and player and submitted to the League Director prior to the nomination of the player to insure the commitment by each parent and child to all-star practices and games as specified in the All-Star Commitment Form.THERE SHALL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY.
2. Coaches and assistant coaches must submit a written application, in such form as the Executive Board may require, to the League Directors or an Executive Board member.
3. The National League Team will be selected first. All head coaches and the League Director will vote by signed written ballot for twelve (12) players, or a fixed number as determined by the Executive Board, who is most deserving based on overall performance during the preceding regular season.
4. Any player receiving a unanimous vote will be selected to the team.
5. The top nine (9) candidates and all ties will make the team as long as the players received votes of at least 50% of the ballots. If the number of ties causes the team to have more players than allowed, a vote will take place on the candidates that make up the tie to fill the remaining spots. If after this process, the team is not filled, then go to step seven (7).
6. After step five (5), a list of coaches will be prepared. In order to qualify, a coach must have submitted a coaching application, have a child among the players selected in step five (5), and be approved by the Executive Board. The coaches and Head League Directors will vote on All-Star coach who shall be selected by a majority vote. The coach with the best overall regular season record in their league shall be allowed two votes.
7. The All-Star head coach shall select the remaining players to fill the team roster, provided the team is not fully picked in step (5) above. The All-Star coach shall select from the list of candidates receiving a minimum of three (3) votes or the vote of one-third (1/3) of the coaches,whichever is greater, giving strong consideration to those players receiving the higher number of votes. If the team roster cannot be completed during this process, then a vote on a subsequent ballot will be held.
8. The Coach selected by the other coaches and League Director shall determine the assistant coaches from the applications submitted.
9. After selection of the National League Team, selection of American League team(s) will occur in the same manner as denoted above, except as follows:
A. The number of American League teams will be determined by a vote of the respective league’s head coaches. However, a vote to have more than 2 American League teams must be approved by the League President and appropriate representation on the Executive Board.
B. All head coaches and the League Director will vote by signed written ballot for the total number of needed American League Players. The total number of needed players will be calculated as the number of American League Teams times the number of players per team. In the case there are vote ties for the last team spots, ties will be resolved by re-vote of all head coaches and League Director in a signed written ballot. A revote in the case of ties is only voting on the players who are tied.
C. After selection of the total number of players, and coaches as provided for in Step 6 above, the selected head coaches will draft using alternate picks their respective American League teams. Draft order will be determined by blind
draw. Children of head coaches are automatically assigned to their team and are not subject to being drafted.
10. The League President and appropriate representation from the Executive Board will supervise all voting and resolve or decide any disputes relating to the voting.
11. The results of the selection of teams and coaches will be posted on the VHYB website on a date determined by the Executive Board.
12. All-Star team vacancies occurring after the initial selection will be filled as required to ensure compliance with current Metro Sports Baseball, Inc. rules. It is the responsibility of the All-Star head coach to fill such vacancies as required. Vacancies should be filled from the remaining candidates who received votes during the original balloting process, who are next in line in terms of vote totals, and who are not already on an All-Star team.
13. No All-Star teams will be formed after All-Star voting is complete without approval from the League President and appropriate representation from the Executive Board.
G. The Executive Board reserves the right for any given age group in any given year to deviate from the selection process noted above if, in the Executive Board’s determination, it would allow Vestavia to conform to the processes in place by other Metro members. For example, the Executive Board might agree to field 3 equally balanced teams in a given age group if the other Metro members agreed to do the same.
Rule 14.3: Alternative Tournament Team and Coach Selection for Ages 13 and 14
A. The Association will sponsor up to three teams per age group for post-season play. The Association will provide the opportunity for up to two of these teams to participate in Regional tournament play, with the third team (if participation allows it to exist) being Vestavia’s representative in the Metro All-Star Tournament.
B. For the two tournament teams, the Association will sponsor participation in Regional tournaments. It is expected that these Regional tournaments selected will be close enough to Vestavia to not REQUIRE overnight stay even though overnight stay might prove optimal. The selection of the exact number and location of these tournaments will be the ultimate responsibility of the Board. It shall be the responsibility of the respective Executive Board representative and the League Director for each age group to consult with the coaches of their age group and develop a list of recommended tournaments for the full board to consider. Once the tournaments are selected, the dates and locations will be made public and included on the player commitment form for post-season play. If a player chooses to commit to post season play, the commitment is for Tournament or Metro should the player be selected.
C. Nominations for and selection to the post-season teams and the Metro team shall occur in the last week of the regular season, or at such other time as the Executive Board in its discretion may establish. The exact dates of the selection meetings will be determined by the Executive Board.
D. Selection of the three tournament teams shall occur at a meeting attended by the head League Director, the head coaches, and the Executive Board member for the designated age group. If a head coach will not be available to attend the selection meeting, he or she must submit the name of an assistant coach, to be given his or her vote as proxy in writing to the Executive Board prior to the selection meeting.
E. The regional tournament teams and coaches will be selected through the following process:
1. The League Director and Executive Board will make available a Commitment Form to every player in the league which must be signed by the parent and player and submitted to the League Director prior to the nomination of the player.The signing of this commitment form does not guarantee that a player will be selected to the team of his or her choosing.
2. Coaches must submit a written application, in such form as the Executive Board may require, to the head League Director for each age group.
3.The two regional tournament teams will be selected first, using the best efforts to make these teams as equally competitive as possible. The team size shall be determined by the selected head coach for each team and shall have no less than 10 players and no more than 12. All head coaches and the Head League Director will rank,by signed, written ballot, the sixteen (16) players who are most deserving based on overall performance during the preceding regular season. The top sixteen (16) players and ties selected shall be eligible for selection to the two tournament teams.
4.After step three (3) is complete, a list of potential coaches will be prepared. In order to qualify, a coach must meet the following criteria:
a. Must have submitted an application to coach one of the post-season teams.
b. Must have a child who has submitted a commitment for post season play.
c. Must be approved by the Executive Board.
Two (2) coaches shall be selected by a majority vote of the head coaches and the head League Director for the particular age group. The two coaches receiving the highest number of votes shall be the selected tournament team coaches.
5.After selection of the head coaches of the two tournament teams, the two selected coaches shall draft, in alternating order, the first eight (8) members of their team, choosingonlyfrom the players chosen in step three (3) above. The draft order shall be decided by a coin toss.
6. After step five (5) is completed, each coach shall have from two to four at-large player selections for the remaining spots on his or her team. The coach may select these players from the complete list of candidates submitting their names for possible post-season selection. These selections shall also be made in alternating order with the coach that chose second in step five (5) choosing first in this stage.
7. The Head Coaches, with the approval of the Executive Board, shall determine the assistant coaches for their teams.
8. The Executive Board member for the designated league will supervise all voting and resolve or decide any disputes relating to the voting.
9. The results of the selection of teams and coaches will be posted on the VHYB website on a date determined by the Executive Board.
F. After the two regional tournament teams have been selected, the Metro tournament team and coach shall be chosen in the following manner:
1. A list of coaches will be prepared. In order to qualify, a coach must have submitted a coaching application, have a child among the players included in the candidates remaining for selection, and be approved by the Executive Board. The coaches and Head League Director will vote for the coach, who shall be selected by a majority vote.
2. All head coaches and the Head League Director will vote,by signed, written ballot, for eight (8) players, or a fixed number as determined by the Executive Board, who are most deserving based on overall performance during the preceding regular season.The pool of players for this selection shall be all remaining players who have committed to post season play but were not chosen on the two tournament teams
3. The top eight (8) candidates and all ties will make the team as long as the players received votes of at least 50% of the ballots. If the number of ties causes the team to have more players than allowed, a vote will take place on the candidates that make up the tie to fill the remaining spots. If after this process the team is not filled, then go to step four (4).
4. The head coach shall select the remaining players necessary to fill the team roster, provided the team is not fully picked in step three (3) above.The Head coach shall select from the list of remaining candidates giving strong consideration to those players receiving the higher number of votes.
5. The Head Coach, with the approval of the Executive Board, shall determine the assistant coaches for his or her team
6. The Executive Board member for each designated age group will supervise all voting and resolve or decide any disputes relating to the voting.
7. The results of the selection of teams and coaches will be posted on the VHYB website on a date determined by the Executive Board.
B. No post season teams will be formed after voting is complete.