East Williston Little League Rules

“Rookies” – 1st grade

Development: Introduction to batting, throwing and catching. Teach proper sliding technique. Skill development is the priority.

  1. The batting team’s coaches will catch and pitch (on one knee in an overhand motion) with a RIF (Reduced Injury Factor Safety Ball).
  2. All players bat once per every inning. NO ON DECK bat swinging.
  3. No Strikeouts. Use discretion on how many pitches thrown versus walk.
  4. Players advance 1 base per hit. Exception: 2 bases maximum on fly balls hit to the outfield.
  5. Players may not advance on an overthrow.
  6. No player may stand in front of “imaginary line” from 3rd base to 1st base for players safety. Player playing the pitcher’s position must be behind the coach pitching and must have 1 foot on the pitcher’s mound area.
  7. Players must use protective cups from this point forward.
  8. Feet first sliding to all bases; even 1st is permitted but not recommended. Running hard through 1st or rounding 1st base should be emphasized.
  9. 1 ½ hour time limit. ½ hour practice followed by 3 innings of game play.
  10. HAVE FUN

Requirements and Guidelines for Coaches

  1. Become familiar with our website:
  2. Encourage other parents to assist. The more help the better, as long as you don't bump heads! Anyone who steps on the field must fill out a newvolunteer application each and every year. It must include a Social Security number in order for the background check to take place. Send it to Kevin Quinn 208 Glenmore Street East Williston New York 11596 516-877-2735 917-747-3482
  3. All selected coaches and managers must take an approved CPR/ AED course once every 2years. and attend any training that we provide for you to be a better coach.
  4. AED is located in the green garbage enclosure located near the playground and parking lot. The combination will be emailed to all coaches.
  5. Put all coaches in your division in your cell phone.(your own team parents as well)
  6. Contact your team that they were selected to play for you within 48 hours of thedraft/selection process. Every year we have guys that have had 4 practices already and others that have not even contacted their team yet.
  7. Team meeting is really important.(aka, lots of preseason emails). This is the time for you to spell out your goals/rules and what you are going to do as a coach. Do not skip this step. It will save you countless headaches during the season. Send some preseason emails to gather up all of the info that you will need. (cell numbers, medical releases, certain player issue info, kids daily schedules).The time right after the draft/selection process when youcannot practice, is the time to do all of the information gathering that you need. You will have to really pursue the parents to get the info. The winter time is the right time to get all of the this done so that when spring arrives, all you have to do is go outside and have FUN. The day that you handout the uniforms is another great way to get the info that has been slow in coming and for you to reiterate your rules/goals. This can be your actual in person team meeting that reinforces your preseason emails. No cooperation from the parents, no uniform until they supply you with the info that will help their child succeed and be SAFE.
  8. Make sure that you have all of your players emergency contact numbers with you at all team events
  9. Make sure that you have your players Medical Releases with you at all team events. Make a few copies in case you lose them. Do you know which kid is allergic to bees, penicillin, peanut butter, etc.? You don't want the team snack to be peanut butter cups and you have an allergic kid. This is important! Leaving the forms at home defeats the purpose of having them. Staple them to your scorebook and make sure you bring it to every event. You can also use the scorebook to take attendance and keep track of the topics that you covered at each practice. Keep them in a folder in your car if you are afraid of losing them. Do whateverworks for you to be fully prepared in an emergency. Have 3 cars? Make 3 copies. Have four assistants? Make sure they have the info in case you are away and they are running the show.
  10. Schedule at least 1 practice per week using thefield reservation system(available at ) on the fields where you normally play your games 1st, if unavailable, select another open field. During the preseason, you should try to get your team parents to give you their child's schedule so that you can attempt to figure out days/times that all of the kids can come to your practices. If you schedule practice that conflicts with long term activities like karate, violin, etc., they will not be able to attend. You will become discouraged and not have enough of practices. Make it at least possible for themto attend and you will have a great season. You should always have an assistantwith you at all times. If you collapse or a player accuses you of something, you will need adult help. Ask a parent to stay and watch if that's all they can do.
  11. Train yourself during the winter. Use the ample free videos on the internet to brush up on your skills. If you are still shaky on performing something during practices and have a player that can perform the skill properly, have them act as your demonstrator. So many kids never learn how to slide and they get hurt as a result. Just make sure that the ground is really soft. (and free of debris). Practice sliding later on in the spring in the outfield when the grass is high and soft. Introduce bunting during practice, especially for kids that are having trouble making contact. I would refrain from using it in games because the defense doesn't practice bunt defense and its dangerous to have them playing up for a bunt. It's a fundamental. It creates havoc when they are older. Just introduce it and remember that it helps instill confidence in those batters that are not making swinging contact. Do not abandon the Tee until they retire from MLB. It should be used at practices for all ages. Theabsolute main focus of your practices is proper throwing, catching, batting and having FUN.
  12. Encourage parents to watch your practices so that you can show them the proper mechanics. This way they are not undermining your hard work when they are at home practicing. Advise them to use the internet to view the tons of free "How to" baseball fundamental videos that are available. If the parents reinforce your sound concepts, you willbe the best coach ever. This is a simple but HUGE concept. Early poor baseball habits/fundamentals are hard and expensive to fix and lead to kids dropping out. Make practice FUN. Success and fun are possible to coexist. Fun keeps kids in the game longer.
  13. Use sound judgement on field/weather conditions and act accordingly. Any thunder andlightning?Get off the field away from trees, open areas, and the backstop. Get those kids inside parents cars. We have field conditioner available if there are some puddles and you are welcome to use it. There is more information on the web site about proper field preparation.
  14. Darkness means you need to STOP PLAYING. Risk vs. reward ratio for playing in poor light dictates common sense. If you can only get 2 safe innings completed, so be it. Trying to beat the other team in the 3rd inning during dusk/darkness will lead to injuries and your dismissal from ever coaching again in EWLL.
  15. Remind team to label all equipment with name clearly written. It is strongly recommended that you write each kids name in their caps before you hand out the uniforms. Let the parents do the switching of uniform sizes after you give them what they actually ordered.
  16. Make sure that your parents get their child a properly fitted helmet, soft small glove and a light weight bat. Huge stiff gloves, heavy bats and helmets that fall off are going to fail every time. Cups and baseball cleats are also required. Suggest that they buy a baseball bag that can be hung from the backstop to organize their child's equipment. Remind the parents to dress their child accordingly for the cool weather during the spring. Shivering players are going to be useless and not enjoying themselves. Demand that the parent supply their child with a drink or two when the weather dictates(games and practices)
  17. Make sure that you walk the field before any team event. Look for rocks, broken glass and anything else that you wouldn't want your players to come in contact with!
  18. Be sure to have ICE in case of injuries. There are some cold compresses in the AED box for you to use if you forget ICE. ICE is the number 1 first aid item next to positive encouragement!
  19. Have a rotating snack schedule with families on your team for games.(know the allergic kids)
  20. No player should play the same position the entire game. Be fair and make sure it all makes sense. Rotating players learn more skills, have fun and the parents don't need to have a meeting with you after every game.
  21. Coaches are required to rotate infielders to the outfield position and vice versa unless a players safety is an issue.
  22. Encourage 1st base – back up position to assist overthrows. Make sure the player is wide awake and far enough away to avoid getting run over or clocked in the head with an overthrow. Good place for one of your chaperons to be involved.
  23. Have fun, and DO NOT yell at any player for mistakes on the field. Make sure that the parents do not yell at all, unless it's 100% positive.
  24. Do not curse before, during or after any team event.
  25. Allow your approved assistants to help chaperon the players on and off the field. Kids swinging bats, playing with the equipment box , etc, can lead to serious problems. The only kid with a bat should be the player in the batter's box. There are no on deck batters in any division of EWLL!! Be positive at all times. Preach to your parents to be positive at all times and that EWLL has a zerotolerance policy for bad behavior.
  26. Cars parked on the field grass at Northside provide dangerous blind spots for cars passing by and should be parked further up away from the bench. We could ban parking on the field 100% but it will be ignored. Be aware of this so we don't have a kids, players and spectators running out into traffic between those parked cars. Park somewhere else and the kids will be safer and your car will not have a souvenir dent on the hood. Make sure your assistants keep the kids corralled on the bench and you will not have any problems if the cars remain there despite your warnings.
  27. Hand shake at the end of each game
  28. Cleanup the dugout and field and make sure that you secure all of your own equipment. Don't let the players leave until you make sure that they did not leave their own equipment at the field. Kids leave stuff all the time. Make sure that you enforced the labeling requirement. You will hold up a glove with no name on it and nobody will admit that it is theirs.
  29. Make sure the AED box and the equipment box are LOCKED before you leave. Theequipment box must be locked during/after any team event. Kids will play with the box if you leave it open. We do not want a severed finger from the door closing on a kids hand. Even if there is a game after yours. Let the next coach follow the procedures. Lock itup. More AED info is on the web site .
  30. Coaches are NOT to schedule any games with non-EWLL teams (insurance purposes). Schedule more practices if you are motivated to go the extra mile.
  31. Any game rained out or rescheduled MUST be played., the parents paid for it.
  32. Coaches who have any issues must contact the grade coordinator to have the matter resolved first, before any board member is contacted.
  33. Have FUN and enjoy this time, it doesn't last for long. Make the most of it.