Player Safety and Required Training

Abuse Awareness for Adults

Federal law, the SafeSport Act, requires this course of all coaches and anyone who interacts with your youth baseball team. You must create a free USA Baseball account to take it. When the course asks for your organization, select Central Ohio Youth Baseball so the league gets credit for your completion. A certificate is emailed to you when you finish. This is one and done. If you have completed it before, you do not need to repeat it.

Concussion training

Ohio law requires this of every head coach and every assistant coach, and it must be renewed every three years. There are no exceptions. Print or save your completion certificate, because you have to enter the date you completed the course on your registration every year. COYBL does not collect the certificate, but you will be asked for the date. If you cannot remember when you last took it, take it again now.

Lindsay's Law

Ohio law requires this every year. It does not carry over. Take it from the link above, complete the form, and sign it.

• One parent or guardian of every player on your roster signs a form each year.
• Every coach signs one for himself.
• The head coach keeps a signed copy for each player. COYBL does not need a copy.
• If a parent already took Lindsay's Law training for another sport, they still have to use the link and sign the form for your COYBL team.

This is the substance of what your parents are reading and signing, so you know what you are collecting.

What Lindsay's Law covers. Sudden cardiac arrest in youth athletes. It applies to every athlete 19 years old or younger who practices for or competes in an athletic activity, including all youth sports organizations, athletics at every public and non-public school in Ohio, any contest sponsored by or associated with a school, all interscholastic athletics including practices and scrimmages, and all cheerleading and club sports.

What sudden cardiac arrest is. The heart stops beating suddenly and unexpectedly, which cuts off blood flow to the brain and other vital organs. A person in sudden cardiac arrest will die if not treated immediately. Causes fall into three groups: a structural problem with the heart, an electrical problem that controls the heartbeat, or a situation such as a blow to the chest or a heart infection.

Family history warning sign. A family member who died suddenly before age 50, or a family member with cardiomyopathy, long QT syndrome, Marfan syndrome, or another rhythm problem of the heart.

Warning symptoms in a young athlete during exercise:

• Chest pain or discomfort
• Unexplained fainting, near fainting, or dizziness
• Unexplained tiredness, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing
• Unusually fast or racing heartbeats

If a player faints before, during, or after a practice, scrimmage, or game, the coach MUST remove him from activity immediately. He must be seen and cleared by a health care provider before he returns, and that written clearance has to be shared with the school or sports official. If a player shows any of the other warning signs above, he should be seen by a health care professional.

Who can clear a player to return. A physician (MD or DO), a certified nurse practitioner, a clinical nurse specialist, or a certified nurse midwife. For school athletes, a physician assistant or a licensed athletic trainer may also clear a student. That provider may refer the athlete on for further evaluation. Clearance must be in writing and must be given to the coach and the school or sports official before the athlete returns.

What the form itself collects. Parent or guardian signature and printed name with date, and student signature and printed name with date. Both the athlete and the parent or guardian must review the sudden cardiac arrest information before signing.

Every umpire working a COYBL game must be OHSAA licensed and certified for the current season. That protects the players and it keeps the umpires current on the rules.

This checklist is the foundation for a safe season. It does not replace your own effort and responsibility to build a complete plan for your team. Coaches are expected to lead the way.

Facilities, before the season

• Ask or at least encourage the owner of the facility you use to post signs warning of the inherent risks of attending a sporting event.
• Point out to the facility operator any place where fencing is missing, needed, or in need of repair. Look hard at the backstop, potential overthrow areas, and the area in front of the benches and dugouts.
• If the benches at a field sit too close to the field to be safe, move your team to a safe position for the whole game.
• Walk the infield and outfield for major holes that could cause injury if a player steps in one. Warning tracks are encouraged and should be kept in good condition.
• Clear the bench and dugout areas of broken glass, metal, and other hazards.

Equipment

Examine all team equipment for safety before the season starts and periodically after that. Spot check helmets daily, on a rotating system, so every helmet gets a regular inspection.

• All helmets must be N.O.C.S.A.E approved and free of cracks or damage that would compromise structural integrity.
• Inspect all catcher's equipment for defects before the season and routinely throughout the season. Catcher's masks must have throat protectors, and the guidelines set in league rules must be followed.
• Check players' gloves before the season and periodically during the season. Point out possible hazards to the player, and if the problem is severe, to his parents.

Player education, games, and practices

Teach your players safety, not just fundamentals.

• Place on deck circles far enough from the batter that a player has time to react to a batted ball or to someone chasing a ball, and far enough from the bench or dugout that the on deck hitter is not distracted from the game and is not a threat to others when he swings.
• Instruct players continually to check around them before swinging a bat and to watch where they walk anywhere someone might be swinging. Apply coaching reminders within league rules when this is violated.
• The batter and the batting practice pitcher, if the pitcher is a player, both wear a batting helmet. Never remove a helmet inside a batting cage or a pitched ball area.
• Always keep equipment out of play.
• Catchers wear full gear whenever they catch a pitcher, in the bullpen or on the field. Coaches catching a warmup should at minimum wear a face mask.
• Instruct all players on protective gear such as athletic supporters and cups. Helmets with face masks are encouraged. Base coaches are encouraged to wear a cup. A player should wear protective gear that meets the comfort level of his parents and himself. If no amount of protection provides a level of comfort for being reasonably protected from injury, it is suggested that the athlete or his parents participate in activities other than baseball.
• Post guards to protect bullpen personnel, and move spectators who are standing or sitting behind the bullpen catcher.
• Move or warn spectators in an in play area or a hazard area, both to protect players and as a courtesy to the spectator.
• Study and use the heat protection plan circulated to all managers at league meetings. Take special care to protect pitchers and catchers from heat risk.
• Carry a well stocked first aid kit to every team function.
• Always have a cooler of water, or more as needed.
• Always have ice available at games and practices.
• Leave first aid applications to the staff member most qualified to give it.
• When a player tells you he is hurt, believe him.
• A coach who chooses not to wear a cup should stay no closer to the plate than the coach's box and should point in the direction of the infielders.
• Players should not routinely coach a base. When it is done for training or out of necessity, the player MUST wear a batting helmet.

Emergency and escape plan

• Assign individuals to key locations to direct emergency medical equipment to the facility when a serious injury or medical emergency happens. Make sure every coach and every player knows his emergency assignment.
• Every team needs an emergency plan for severe weather, including tornadoes, heavy downpours, and lightning.
• Anyone treating a player with an open wound wears rubber gloves. Only people who know how to treat such injuries should apply treatment.
• Coaches may use high school federation policies on blood, in full or modified, but follow a definitive plan.
• Anyone coaching any sport in the state of Ohio MUST have taken and passed concussion training. This is state law, and there are no exceptions.

Anytime lightning can be seen or thunder can be heard, the risk is already present. The average distance between successive lightning flashes is two to three miles.

• Evacuate. If lightning is imminent or a thunderstorm is approaching, all personnel, athletes, and spectators go to available safe structures or shelters. The closest safe structures should be announced and displayed on placards at the venue.
• The 30 minute rule. Suspend play or practice as soon as lightning is seen or thunder is heard. Wait at least 30 minutes after the last flash or the last thunder before resuming. Any lightning or thunder after the count starts resets the clock and a new 30 minute count begins.
• Monitor the forecast the day before and the morning of the game, scan the sky, and use an NWS weather radio. A watch means conditions favor severe weather. A warning means severe weather has been reported and everyone should take precautions. Any thunderstorm can injure or kill even if it never meets the severe criteria, so anytime thunderstorms are in the forecast, even at a 20 percent chance, be at a heightened level of awareness.

There is absolutely no leeway in this rule. No deviations are permitted, and violations will result in suspension from COYBL for the remainder of the year.

COYBL enforces pitch count limits and required days of rest by age group. Those limits, and the injury reduction guidance behind them, are on the pitching rules page. Overuse and fatigue are by far the biggest injury risk to a young pitcher.

Violation of our rules and policies will result in penalties up to and including removal from our league for a period of time to be determined by the league President.

Doug Hare, COYBL President P.O. Box 1425, Pataskala, Ohio 43062-1425 614.778.1391 doughare@coybl.org