The following guidelines are a suggested starting point for the league’s official response to injuries during games and practices. Many of these are common sense ideas outlined in the Rutgers Course.

We can look to several precedents and principles to form the rationale for our policy:

1.       Almost all injuries and illness that occurs in school triggers the removal of the child from the classroom and a phone call to a parent. 

2.       The games sponsored by this league should not be cause to justify any risk to the health of players.

3.       Baseball injuries are common, but fortunately usually do not involve long term disability.   However, since projectiles (the ball) can cause severe injuries it is important to consider any baseball injury as possibly serious. Deciding the severity of an injury and the degree of risk to a player is difficult to do during a practice or in a game situation. In order to protect the players a conservative approach to injuries is recommended.

4.       Preparation is important, coaches must have emergency contact information and first aid kits available to them at all times (in the bucket, in the car).

 

    Examples of common children’s baseball injury mechanisms:

1.       Batter struck by a pitched ball.

2.       Fielder struck by a batted ball.

3.       Fielder or runner struck by a thrown ball.

4.       Collision of 2 fielders, collision of fielder and sliding runner.

5.       Catcher hit by a bat.

6.       Catcher hit by a foul tip. 

7.       Catcher hit by a thrown bat.

8.       Ankle sprain from sliding and or running.

9.       Heat related injury (passing out, confusion) from dehydration and overheating.

10.   The severity of the injuries increases as the energy of the impacts increase. As kids run faster and throw harder, the serious injury risk rises.

 

 

 

 When a player is injured in practice or a game the following steps should be taken:

1.       The umpire or the responsible coach will stop the practice or game to allow for evaluation of the player and the injury. 

2.       Ask the player if they wish to continue playing; if they say no, remove them from the action regardless of how minor the injury appears.

3.       If they indicate that they want to try to continue playing a decision has to be made as to whether this is safe.

4.       If the player has a head injury where they are struck in the face or the head with no helmet or if their head hits the ground we strongly recommend removing the player from the action temporarily to evaluate whether they have a concussion.

a.       Concussion symptoms: nausea, vomiting, headache, balance problems, dizziness, trouble with memory or concentration, sleepiness.

5.       Any player who is knocked out however briefly must be removed from play.

6.       Any injury that results in deformity of an extremity requires removal from play (finger jam, twisted ankle).

7.       The player must temporarily leave the practice or the game for any injury requiring first aid (ice pack, clean compress).

8.       If the player cannot perform any of the duties of his/her position they must leave the action temporarily. (run, hold a bat, see the ball, slide)

9.       If a player is injured and requires removal from play and or first aid the parents must be contacted by the head coach to allow their participation in the decision about further care and return to play.

10.   Any injury involving activation of 911 or urgent evaluation by a physician must be reported to the league via the incident reporting system. If there is any doubt, report the incident and then it can be downgraded if needed.