Dear Players and Families,
Thank you for your patience as we have worked to put together a recreation baseball season for you. We are nearing the start of the season, so long as we can secure the needed extra volunteers (more information below). You will be receiving more communications soon about travel ball, plus more information about serving on our new Safety Crew. Also, you will soon receive an e-mail with waivers to review and sign. Finally, please note that we will be redrafting teams for divisions Minors and older, so you may receive notification of a team/coach change (more details below).

After you have read this e-mail, if you have questions, please send them to recreation@southorange.org.

Thank you, again, for your understanding and flexibility. We all want to give our kids a shot to play ball with their friends this summer, and we also want to keep our community safe.

Following are some of the additional safety measures, and changes to a typical season, that our league will be undertaking this summer:

SAFETY: GENERAL

–We will follow all NJ DOH and CDC guidelines for sports activities.
–We will establish a new kind of volunteers: our Safety Crew. Without this set of volunteers, we will not be able to have a season, so please consider volunteering! Each team will be required to have a screener who checks temperatures and completes a symptom checklist before practices and games. Additionally, we will have a separate set of ambassadors who travel between fields. They will work to ensure that all players, coaches and spectators are aware of COVID-19 safety requirements and will encourage them to follow those requirements. Watch for another e-mail with more details about these roles, and information on how to volunteer.
–Sanitizer, thermometers and gloves/masks (for screeners) will be provided.
–There will be prominent signs at each field, reminding everyone of safety requirements.
–Families will be required to review and sign two waivers. One is issued by South Orange and the other is issued by Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth baseball.

SAFETY: EQUIPMENT
–Field boxes will be sanitized each morning.
–Players will be required to use their own bats and helmets.
–Multiple sets of catching gear will be in field boxes, and will be sanitized by coaches between games. However, catchers are encouraged to use their own gear, and not share it.
–There will be no shared water coolers

SAFETY: PLAYERS
–Players will be required to wear face coverings while not in the field of play or engaged in vigorous activity
–Players will place their equipment in separated, marked areas. They will remain in this area, or in their family box, when not on the field of play or up to bat.
–No handshakes/high fives/elbow bumps/team huddles
–No seeds or gum

SAFETY: SPECTATORS
–Face coverings must be worn by all spectators, coaches and volunteers, at all times
–All benches and bleachers will be removed
–There will be designated, painted boxes for family spectator groups
–High-touch areas will be sanitized each day
–Crowd sizes will be dictated by the governor’s executive order in place at the time
–Social distancing guidelines must be followed

TEAM ASSIGNMENTS
Because some players and coaches will not be participating this summer, we will be redrafting our teams (divisions Minors and older). This will help to ensure fair and balanced teams. We are aiming to complete this redraft within the next week. Coaches, please watch for a separate communication about this.

In an effort to reduce risk of community transmission, T-Ball and Rookie players will be strictly intrasquad this year–all practices and games will occur within single teams. We are aiming to complete team assignments for these age groups within the next ten days.

Your TeamSnap will look different as we transition from old teams to new teams. We will send out a communication when all redrafts are complete, informing you of your new team assignment.

SCHEDULE
In an effort to have a fun season, but also recognizing that families will wish to travel this summer, we are reducing our season length. We will play a three-week season plus one week of playoffs (for divisions Minors and older). T-Ball and Rookie players will have a four week season.

We hope to begin games as soon as July 6, but please understand that games may start in the following week. We need to have adequate safety volunteers in place before we can begin.

CHANGES IN AVAILABILITY
We hope that we’ll see you on the field this summer. But we know that not everyone will be able to join us this year, for a variety of reasons. If your child will not be playing baseball this summer, please e-mail recreation@southorange.org in order to secure a refund.

VOLUNTEERING
We will need more volunteers than ever before, in order to make this season happen. Please consider stepping up to be a member of our Safety Crew. An e-mail will be issued soon with more information.

QUESTIONS?
Please e-mail recreation@southorange.org with any questions.

Let’s play ball!

SOM Baseball Committee

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