Eckville Minor Baseball Association Polices (2026 Edition)
Table of Contents:
REGISTRATION- Page 2
EQUIPMENT & APPAREL- Page 3
COACHING & OTHER VOLUNTEER ROLES- Page 6
WEATHER- Page- Page 8
DISCIPLINE & COMPLAINTS- Page 8
PLAYER MOVEMENT BETWEEN EMBA DIVISIONS OR OTHER ASSOCIATIONS- Page 9
ROSTER SIZES & COMPETITIVE AA TRYOUTS- Page 12
REGISTRATION
EMBA does not have a late registration policy. We do not accept late registration.
Eckville Minor Ball has the right to refuse any refunds. Refund requests received before March 31 will be evaluated by the executive on a case by case basis and will be subject to a $50 administration fee if the refund is granted. No refunds will be available after April 1. Information is found on our registration page.
All tryout fees must be paid at time of registration and are non refundable.
All players wanting to extend their season to play in the Baseball AB Community “A” Provincial Championship Tournament will be required to pay an additional registration fee. This fee will be determined annually. The fee will cover the provincial team entry fee, diamond rentals and umpire fees. Any additional expenses would be the responsibility of the team/player.
Roster sizes will be limited and coaches will have discretion regarding a player’s eligibility. Additional practices and weekends of game play will be necessary prior to the championship tournament weekend.
EQUIPMENT & APPAREL
| Item | Rally Cap & 9U (Rookie) | ‘A’ 11U-19U | ‘AA’ 11U-19U | Notes |
| Batting Helmet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Royal Blue preferred |
| Bat | Provided by EMBA | Provided by EMBA | Provided by EMBA | Each team is provided with a selection of bats. It is recommended for players to try the teams’s bats before making and optional purchase |
| Catchers glove & equipment | Provided by EMBA | Provided by EMBA | Provided by EMBA | Players may make an optional purchase |
| Cleats | Optional | Preferred | Yes | Plastic cleats for divisions lower that 15U 15U-18U plastic or metal cleats accepted |
| Glove *Fielding | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Protective Cup | Optional | Yes | Yes | |
| Running Shoes | Yes | Yes- Cleats preferred | No | |
| Field Mask (Softball only) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Face masks for coaches/managers:
A manager or coach IS permitted to warm up a pitcher at home plate, in the bullpen or elsewhere at any time but MUST wear a face mask while doing so as per Baseball Canada’s Official Rules of Baseball-Canadian Content article 3.09:
The C.F.A.B. rules require catchers in all age categories to wear a protective helmet and mask while catching. NOTE: This includes practice and warm-up situations such as the bullpen or between innings.
Coaches must wear at least a mask in all practice and warm-up situations. Throat protectors are to be mandatory for all catchers and umpires. Extension masks are acceptable provided that the throat area is adequately covered in conjunction with the chest protector.
The EMBA Executive has developed the Uniform & Apparel Policy to assist all of the teams in taking advantage of bulk order pricing, consistent apparel selection, consistent colours, etc.
Logo’d Apparel Availability:
Bay 4 Promotional Printing supplies EMBA with apparel. We do not give permission for outside use of shared logo.
Jerseys:
The EMBA is responsible for providing a set of jerseys to each team (players and coaches) at the Community A level. No other jerseys are to be used by EMBA teams unless approved by the EMBA Executive (see use of Eckville Eagles Logo above). In order to minimize the wear and tear on EMBA jerseys they are not allowed to be worn at practices. EMBA has a $50 Jersey bond fee. This bond is required to ensure that jerseys are returned in good condition at the end of the year. The bond will be refunded once the jerseys has been returned, clean and undamaged at the end of the playing season.
SEE FOLLOWING PAGE FOR PRINTABLE LIST OF APPAREL REQUIREMENTS
The following table applies to ALL COACHES and PLAYERS when playing GAMES:
| Item | Rally Cap & 9U (Rookie) | Community A | Competitive AA | Notes |
| Pants-Grey | Optional | Yes | Yes | Can wear either the long or the short style pants. |
| Belt-Royal Blue | Optional | Yes | Yes | |
| Jersey | T-Shirt (Rally Cap) Jersey (9U) | Yes | Yes | Jersey must be tucked in for game play. |
| Socks- Royal Blue | Optional | Yes | Yes | If wearing short style pants, you are required to wear royal blue socks. |
| Baseball Hat/ Softball Visor | Yes provided by EMBA | Yes provided by EMBA | Yes provided by EMBA | Team hats to be worn for all game play. |
| T-Shirt | Optional | Optional | Optional | If wearing either a short sleeve shirt under the jersey when playing games, it must be Grey. |
| Shorts | No | No | No | Not allowed for safety reasons in case the player slides or dives |
| Jogging Pants | No | No | No |
COACHING & OTHER VOLUNTEER ROLES
A Criminal Record Check (CRC) / Vulnerable Sector Check (VSC) is required for all coaches. If you live in the City of Lacombe you can obtain this from the Town of Sylvan Lake detachment. The CRC / VSC letter that the police detachment requires can be accessed on the EMBA website under the Coaches tab.
A CRC / VSC is required every 3 years (eg. if submitted to EMBA for the 2022 season a new CRC /VSC will be required in 2025). For the years between CRC / VSC submissions, coaches will be required to sign and submit a CRC / VSC Declaration Form which can be accessed on the EMBA website under the Coaches tab.
To determine the coaching certification and additional requirements that the EMBA, Baseball Alberta and/or Baseball Canada requires for individuals to be a Head or Assistant Coach for the upcoming season in any division, please visit the EMBA website and select the Coaches Tab.
The EMBA will reimburse coaches that submit proof of the following documents and EMBA will pay the registration for the Eckville coaches at our local clinics that are directly required for the coach’s current coaching role, age group, level, and division. If Eckville coaches can not make the courses offered by EMBA and go to out of town clinics required for the coach’s current coaching role, age group, level, and division, they will have to pay up front and then be reimbursed by EMBA. If a registered coach is a no-show, they will be charged the cost of the clinic. Courses taken above and outside the required level or division for the coach’s assigned age group are not eligible for reimbursement.
National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) - Baseball coaching certification
Respect in Sport - Leader certification
Criminal Record Check (CRC) and Vulnerable Sector Checks (VSC) - These documents can be obtained from The Town of Sylvan Lake. The reimbursement will be to the maximum of the discounted fee based on the individual providing the police service with a Volunteer Coach Letter (found under the Coaches tab on the EMBA website). Without a Volunteer Coach Letter from the EMBA, the Town of Sylvan Lake RCMP detachments will charge the individual the maximum amount or they will refuse to provide the documents to the individual until the Volunteer Coach Letter is provided. If the individual chooses to obtain these documents at the maximum fee (without using the Volunteer Coach Letter), they will only be reimbursed the discounted fee amount.
Coaches Code of Conduct - There is no fee related to this document but it is required to be signed, dated and submitted to the appropriate Division Director by anyone coaching in the EMBA. It can be found under the Coaches tab on the EMBA website.
The success of a baseball season depends on volunteer participation from many people. Aside from the EMBA Executive and the coach volunteers for each team, parents and legal guardians are expected to fill other volunteer roles. These volunteer roles are as follows with a brief description. Guidance and support will be provided by people with experience in these roles. An information/training session will be held at the start of the season.
Further details can be found on the EMBA website under the Manager's Information Tab
Manager
? 1/team in the 11U, 13U, 15U and 18U divisions.
? See Manager Information tab on the EMBA website for detailed information about this role.
Scorekeeping (scorekeeper/s, pitch count)
? Rotates between designated parents/guardians.
? 2-3 people are required for each home game.
Diamond Set/Up Maintenance
? Rotates between designated parents/guardians
Fundraising and Apparel
Some teams, especially the AA level teams may choose to designate a person/s to handle any fundraising events for the individual team.
As well, an individual may be designated to help organize any apparel orders, either at the start of the season or in conjunction with special events/tournaments.
WEATHER
EMBA will follow Baseball Alberta Weather Guidelines
DISCIPLINE & COMPLAINTS
Eckville Minor Baseball realizes that conflicts do take place throughout the season. How these conflicts are dealt with is critical for all parties involved. For this reason, Eckville Minor Baseball has adopted the following process in hopes of diffusing conflicts as swiftly as possible within our organization. Unless the incident is severe in nature where there is a physical altercation or injury, the following procedure must be used by all parties in Eckville Minor Baseball.
ABSOLUTELY NO PHONE CALLS or EMAILS TO THE EXECUTIVE WILL BE ACCEPTED
? Verbal complaints will not be acknowledged
? Incident occurs.
? Must wait 24 hours to file a complaint.
? Review, then follow the process outlined in the Discipline and Complaint Policy found on the EMBA Website.
PLAYER MOVEMENT BETWEEN EMBA DIVISIONS OR OTHER ASSOCIATIONS
U7 Rally Cap division (T-Ball): Underage players are not allowed to register in 9U(Rookie).
Community A and Competitive AA levels in the 11U, 13U, 15U and 18U divisions:
The EMBA accepts requests to move underage players up a division based on the following criteria:
The EMBA supports players requesting to play as an overage player from the 11U to 9U(Rookie) divisions based on their skill /experience or other specific circumstances. The player must be in the youngest calendar year eligible (1st year) for 11U that season, a 2nd year date of birth player will not be permitted to play 9U(Rookie). The player will be evaluated at the A level evaluations to determine if their skill set would cause an unfair advantage or safety issue at the 9U(Rookie) level. Moving a player down a division must not leave the team(s) in the player’s age appropriate division with a short roster or the 9U(Rookie) division they are moving down to with too many players on the roster as per the Roster Size Guideline. This will be determined by the EMBA Executive on a per division basis.
Other overage rules for male and female players in 11U, 13U, 15U and 18U are dictated by Baseball Alberta, please visit the Baseball Alberta website (www.baseballalberta.com) for further information.
An import is defined by the EMBA as any player that comes from a community (physical address of residence), that has an established minor baseball association or has a community closer to them than Eckville that has an established minor baseball association.
This policy applies to Competitive / AA and higher only. Baseball Alberta currently has no transfer requirements / guidelines for playing at the Community / A level. Players are able to register in the community of their choice at the Community / A level.
Eckville Minor Baseball Association (EMBA) AA Import Player Policy
Purpose
The Eckville Minor Baseball Association (EMBA) strives to provide opportunities for local EMBA players to develop and compete in AA baseball. This policy ensures that local players are given priority when final team selections are made, specifically when skill levels between local and import players are equivalent.
Definitions
Policy
Final team rosters, including any selected import players, will be reviewed, and approved by the EMBA Executive to ensure adherence to this policy.
The import policy is to ensure players with the EMBA as their home association are given the opportunity to play at the AA level in their community. However, the EMBA believes in also providing opportunities for players whose home association is not the EMBA, to play on an EMBA team when the opportunity does not exist in the player’s home association.
Players requesting a transfer from the EMBA to another minor baseball association must follow the Player Transfer Guidelines
(https://handbook.baseballalberta.com/bapl-rules-regulations/roster-requirements/player-transfers) as per Baseball Alberta.
This policy applies to Competitive / AA and higher only. Baseball Alberta currently has no transfer requirements / guidelines for playing at the Community / A level. Players are able to register in the community of their choice at the Community / A level.
The roster sizes are subject to change depending on registration numbers for the season.
This policy is applicable to the 11U, 13U, 15U and 18U divisions at the Competitive AA level.
Player injuries and illness require a doctor’s note unless the injury is visible (cast, stitches, etc.)
If any of the valid reasons listed above cause absence for any, or all tryout sessions, scores from the previous year, coaches feedback, and previous year team placement will be used to determine current year placement.
If a player misses a session, or sessions, for non-valid reasons they will forfeit scores for affected sessions.
The evaluation team will first identify and select the highest-level team before proceeding sequentially through lower levels.