The league board and subcommittee have been working hard to develop guidelines and procedures to enable the safe return to play for our players.

As of today, June 6th, we are happy to release these to the league community.  There are 2 major elements for you to be read and review:

Return To Play Guidelines

Theses are the specific rules and expectations for participants of all types (players, parents, coaches, etc).  These define rules and processes to keep everyone and the league safe and compliant with broader directives.

Covid Waiver to Play

The waiver is a document to indicate your understanding of the guidelines and associated risks.  A signed copy needs to be submitted to coach or league officer prior to participation.

Updates

It's expected that guidelines may need to be updated as state and local guidance evolves.  We have created a static webpage to serve as home for the latest release RYBSA Guidelines.  You can find them now and in the future here:  https://www.rybsaonline.com/covid

Thanks and looking forward to seeing our league families at the fields soon!

The RYBSA guidelines have been updated based on the latest state guidelines and local BOH approvals.  Please see the file linked above. 

Note:  The guidelines for RYBSA are governed as part youth sports guidance per the EEA at the state level.  This is a different classification for the schools, school activities, and the general public.  Please help us stay compliant with these and we will update again based on the next EAA update. 

Key points:

1. Players are only required to wear a mask when leaving the field of play (i.e. dugout or in player area/bleachers).  When a player leaves the dugout or player area and steps on the field they may remove their mask.
2. Coaches should monitor 6 foot distancing in team huddles/conferences during the game.
3. Coaches and Umpires who are within 6 feet of a player MUST wear a mask.  Coaches SHALL wear a mask in all team huddles and conferences, even when social distance is followed.
4. Spectators who are vaccinated do not need a mask.
5. Spectator who are not vaccinated, but can remain social distanced (6 feet) do not need a mask.
6. RYBSA is encouraging all coaches to continue to spread team out between both dugouts and the bleacher seating area when their team is batting and limit the dugout to a few players.  

The latest RYBSA guidelines have been updated to align to the latest state requirements and are now posted her on our website.  

We will also be looking for players and coaches to provide a signed COVID waiver before participating in practices or games.  It is also available for download here and a signed copy can be turned into your team coach.  

The state has provided updated guidelines on gatherings and local board of health have interpreted this guidance which has triggered a change to your guidelines.   

Specifically to meet state guidelines on gathering size we must limit attendees per field to 50 or less.  To support this, RYBSA is requiring families to limit attendance to one adult per athlete.  This is not inclusive of coaches.  Non-participating sibling attendance should by minimized or avoided where possible. 

RYBSA is not responsible to determine which parent attends.  Please coordinate with your families to ensure this is followed so we can continue providing sport for the kids.  

Our Return-To-Play guidelines have been updated to reflect this change and can be found on the league website at www.rybsaonline.com/covid

On a similar note the same requirements are now in place for events at the Dighton complex so please be prepared to follow same protocol at their site.  

Thanks for your understanding and support in our effort to keep families safe and our operations compliant!

Due to updated state guidelines, our Return-to-play guidelines have been updated.   

The key change is that, in alignment with state and board of health guidance, players who are at-bat or base runners must now wear face covering.  

So for games played at the Rehoboth RYBSA sites, the quick guideline is that all participants, coaches and spectators  must where face covering at all times except players when fielding. 

The rules due to the updated state guidelines may vary at some of the inter-town sites that our players visit based on local guidance from their boards of health.  VPs and coaches are being made aware of the specifics and will share with players and families.  Please abide by them when at their sites.

We have created a quick reference guide in the files below which may be helpful to explain the highlights of our guidelines to those coming on site.  To see the full guidelines, please review the July 30th version.

Rehoboth league families,

With one week of phase 3 and games completed it's been great to see the kids playing again.

We are encouraged that so many are helping keep people safe and compliant by following our Return-To-Play guidelines (https://www.rybsaonline.com/covid). However we are observing that we can improve on this and are asking all to ensure you are familiar with the guidelines as they are a condition for participation of any player or spectator on the premises. We will enforce this as necessary for the good of the wider league. More importantly, we all want the kids to play and no one wants to be the person cited in a warning or shutdown.

The core requirement is masks are to be worn by all at all times at our complex with the only exception being players on the actual field during game or practice. This is a state mandated requirement for Phase 3 youth sports.

Many of our teams are also playing inter-town which means abiding by their rules at their complexes. We want to share an urgent update to ensure clarity of some expectations when visiting the Dighton Lopes complex. There have been challenges with compliance that have resulted in a warning to the league which is now presenting a risk to continue play. Please please read through these guidelines below and ensure you are following them in any games at the complex.  Impacting DBSL's compliance would have a direct effect on all intertown teams and ability to play - they will be monitored by officials daily and we need to ensure we're following the rules. The most important elements are:

1) Masks worn by spectators at all times,

2) social distancing maintained,

3) 2 spectators per player max,

4) use of the East Parking and additional seating space in foul areas for all teams playing on field 2 (Primarily A and AA teams).

Please review the full Dighton Complex Guidelines here https://www.rybsaonline.com/page/show/5842454-dighton-lopes-covid-guidance  

Again, thanks for doing your part to help the kids continue to play. Our board is continuing to monitor feedback from our town government, state guidelines and and league families to make improvements where possible.

Thanks

RYBSA

Dear RYBSA Community,

We want to provide you with an update based on latest developments from the state, league, and local planning. We’re excited to confirm a pathway to play baseball and softball in Rehoboth this summer! 

The safety of all the kids and families is our number one priority - our board and subcommittee have been working hard to develop the return to play guidelines and waiver that we are releasing as part of today's update. Please refer to the update below and feel free to reach out to any member of the board of directors with any questions. 

GUIDELINES & WAIVER

• We are committed to making sure that we comply with or exceed the safety standards being set by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
• Return to play guidelines are now released by RYBSA. They can be found on our website below and will be posted on the premises as well as our website with any updates that may be required. We ask our participants to comply with all of these standards and any additional from the state of MA and town of Rehoboth.
• A waiver to play is required for all participants. It can also be found on the RYBSA Covid page below.  Please review and put a signed copy in your players bag or have it hand to provide to coach or board member.
• While details for phase 3 are not yet full clear, we have aligned our guidelines to phase II for the upcoming activities.
• Per state guidelines players will need to wear masks when they are NOT on the field. These masks will be provided by RYBSA to all players and coaches. They will need to be properly spaced off on the field and not share water bottles, bats, helmets, etc. 
• Please see the details in our guidelines and let us know any feedback you may have.

SCHEDULES

• We should be able to start holding practices during phase II of the MA plan. The earliest that phase II will start is Monday, June 8 or plan would be to start practices starting on June 15th in order for us to be fully prepared and to ensure following all state and local guidelines.
• Registration will be open up until June 7, 2020. Please feel free to register your player.  http://www.rybsaonline.com We may have to limit additional registrations we can take by division to make manageable rosters and will use first come, first served if necessary.
• Phase II will last a minimum of 3 weeks which means we will hold practices from 6/15/20 to 7/5/20.
• Phase III will start at the earliest on June 29. This is when we would be allowed to have games. Currently, we would start games on July 6th and anticipate playing a 6 week season with 2 games per week. Possibly less games for younger divisions. This will be a slightly shortened season. We are doing our best to fit in as many games as possible. Again, this is all contingent on each phase taking only 3 weeks
• We will hold coaches meetings in the next week or two.  If you signed up to coach, please look for an invite soon. 

Please feel free to contact any member of the Board. We are all volunteers and parents like you. We want the best for all the players and safety is priority number one. Please feel free to provide any suggestions. 

Stay safe.

Sincerely,

RYBSA Board

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