Hello KVKL Nation,
I am looking forward to another fun-filled season and the honor as serving as your commissioner again this year. The KVKL Board has been working hard to both keep this well oiled machine running and to come up with ideas for improvement.
First thing’s first, DATES:
April 1st: Returning team roster, $250 league fees and 2 signed captains’ waivers due (as many player waivers as possible encouraged)
***$30 fee for team name changes (which includes a new placard for Hobbs scoreboard)***
April 1st: New team roster due
April 15th: New team (if admitted into league) $250 league fees and 2 signed captains’ waivers due (as many player waivers as possible encouraged)
April 26th, Tuesday: Captains’ Meeting 6pm in Big 6 Room in basement of The Eldridge Hotel. We encourage both captain and co-captain to attend, but you are required to send at least one representative from your team if neither captain can attend.
May 1st, Sunday: Ref-a-palooza: 2pm until Dark at Lyons Fields.
May 22nd, Sunday: Spring Charity Tournament (more details to come)
June 5th: Start of season
Expansion:
The board is considering expanding the league to 36 teams (that’s the only # that would work out for even divisions). The motivation is to get some new people involved. This is not set in stone and hinges on multiple things coming together. I mention this now to encourage new teams to apply this year. If we did expand we would have 6 divisions with 6 teams each. We would have 5 weeks of division play followed by 5 weeks of pool play. We would still plan on a 3 week tournament pending no rain outs during the season.
Ref clinic/Ref Quiz:
I know the concern of having better equipped refs is a topic of discussion every year. As a board we put our heads together to ask ourselves what we could do to help. We have decided to no longer make the Ref Clinic mandatory for returning teams. New teams, however, will be required to have a minimum of 4 people from their teams attend the clinic. The Ref Clinic will still focus on teaching the rules and assisting new refs, but it will also be a fun day of scrimmaging as well with a great opportunity for all players to dust off those cleats. We also would encourage free agents to come by and get scoped out by captains for possible recruitment.
In order to make sure that all teams are staying fresh on the rules we will administer an online ref quiz. We will required the Captain and Asst. Captain from all returning teams to take and pass the quiz before the start of the season. New teams will be required to have 2 other team members in addition to the 2 captains take and pass the quiz. All members of the league are encouraged to take the quiz. We will make Certified Ref coozies to give out to all the league members who pass the quiz. (Note: quiz not yet available)
New rules (changes in bold):
J.3. Ground-Rule Doubles
a. If a kicked ball becomes unplayable in any landscape in fair territory, on a bounce or in the air, the referees shall rule the play dead and award a ground rule double to the kicker. All runners shall advance 2 bases from their location when the ball becomes unplayable.
***Summary on Ground-Rule Double change: We changed the language from “at the beginning of play” to “when the ball becomes unplayable” to clear up the spirit of this rule. It was intended to take into account where the runners are at the point the ball goes out of bounds, but the original language could be interpreted as looking at where base runners are at the beginning of the kick/beginning of the play.
C. Injury play act
C.1.
Teams must play between 8 and 10 players in the field. If fielding 10 players, one must play the catcher position. Each team must field at least 3 men and 3 women in the field at all times. Failure to meet these guidelines within 10 minutes of the scheduled start-time of a game will result in forfeit (see rule L.5) (see C.6.b for Injury Play Act – Tournament Exceptionâ).
C.6. If a player is injured and is not able to kick when their spot in the order is up and/or is not able to continue to field while on defense, that player’s kicking spot must be scratched from the line-up and if necessary the injured player may be replaced on defense immediately, the injured player may not re-enter the game at any point. If an injury, emergency, or disqualification causes a team to fall below eight total players the team must forfeit (see C.1). If an injury causes a team to fall below the minimum three men and women, the Injury Play Act may be used (see C.6.a). The opposing captain must be notified of all changes to the kicking order, and all changes must be approved by the head referee.
a. Injury Play Act (IPA): Teams are allowed to play with only 2 men or 2 women after a game has begun if an injury occurs during game (see C.6.b for Injury Play Act – Tournament Exception). 1 man or 1 woman is NOT ever allowed. When a team calls upon this rule, they will only be able to play 9 players in the field. Also, that team must maintain their kicking order and may only kick 10 spots or less in their kicking order, with the injured player’s spot being an automatic out.
b. Injury Play Act Tournament Exception: If the Injury Play Act is called upon within a multiple game and/or multiple day tournament, it can continue to be used in following tournament games without forfeit (see C.1.) providing that the injured player is not on the line-up. When the Injury Play Act is used in this continued fashion, a team will still only be able to play 9 players in the field and their kicking order may only be 10 spots or less with the automatic out enforced after the last kicking spot. Rule C.5. can still be applied in this case as long as the player added is not the injured player from the original use of the IPA. If the application of rule C.5. allows for the IPA to no longer be applied, the Tournament Exception will not be allowed in subsequent Tournament games.
***Summary on Injury Play Act (IPA) changes: We have omitted the Emergency Play Act. We now require all teams to start with at least 3 of either gender. The Injury Play act has been added to allow teams to play with only 2 of one gender if an injury occurs during the game. The exception to this rule is during the tournament schedule. For example, if you start the 1st game of the tournament with 3 females and one gets injured in the first game you may play the remaining games of the tournament with only your remaining 2 females as long as the injured player is not added back on the roster or a 3rd eligible and uninjured player does not show up for subsequent games. Also, it’s important to note that the kicking order may still contain 10 spots once the injured player is scratched. Our motivation is to avoid manipulating the line-up more than necessary. The team using the IPA must only field with 9 players though. There will also be no penalty for multiple uses of the IPA since injuries during game play are unavoidable.
L.8. Forfeits
a. Teams that fail to meet the expectations and responsibilities of all teams in the league can be subject to forfeits and/or loss of returning team status.
i. If the behavior in question occurs during a game (i.e., failure to field a full team, use of an illegal player), the forfeiting team can automatically receive a loss for that week’s game and their opponent will automatically receive a victory.
ii. Teams that receive two forfeits will be barred from competition in the post-season tournament and will not receive returning team status in the next year’s team registration.
***Summary on Forfeits changes: In all previous years we have held the threat of forfeits over teams for not fulfilling their basic league responsibilities, i.e. equipment pick-up/drop-off, captains’ meeting attendance, hobbs clean-up. While we want all teams to follow our simple league procedures we don’t want the outcome of the season to be affected because someone forgot their can bin at Holcom.
Teams will still be held accountable to field a full squad, have a legal kicking order, make sure players sign waivers, and make sure all players play at least one defensive and offensive inning. Those in game offenses will still be grounds for forfeit.
We have developed a new team behavior tracking system where we will mark down IFU (aka I f-ed up).
These IFUs include but are not limited to the following:
Failure to pick-up or drop off equipment on time (9pm drop off time at Hobbs)
Not providing 2 mentally and physically capable refs for the assigned game
Failure to send a representative to Captains’ meeting
Not meeting the ref quiz/ref clinic requirements per team
Failure to send a minimum of 4 players to your team’s designated Hobbs clean-up
The accumulation of IFUs can result in losing your returning team status when reviewed by the board at the end of the season even if you don’t have any forfeits. (2 forfeits will still result in losing returning team status for the next season.) If you want to help out with selling merch or food at GOTW we will take note of your positive efforts which might help your case if you have acquired any IFUs.
New Merch Design:
We are looking to update our design. Contact the KVKL Board if interested. We are looking to potentially hire a graphic designer.
Podcast:
Tuesdays at Jazzhaus, doors at 6pm, podcast at 7pm
Sundays in the Park Blog:
If you have any interest in being a full-time or part-time contributor to the blog let us know and on what you would focus. For example, you could choose to only cover a couple weeks in June or maybe choose certain pools or ranks to cover. It would be nice to see more coverage on all levels of teams.
2015 Charity:
I am so very pleased to announce that we raised a total of $4000 for the Clark Children’s Education Fund. It’s a fund set up for the young children of beloved Ghosts teammate and recently departed Jimbob Clark. I am so touched that our kickball family could take care of his family. I know this contribution means so much to them. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to help out with the auction and fall charity tournament this year!!!! I am so honored to be a part of such a great and giving group of people!
2016 Charity:
If you have an organization that is near and dear to your heart let a board member know as we consider who to assist this year.
Thank you for reading all this important new information.
Keep Kicking,
Diana G.
2016 KVKL Commissioner
*Updated 2016 rules and registration materials can be found on the League info page of kawvalleykickball.com