Thank you for volunteering to coach! This section provides a central location for all coaching-related information and guidance on what we expect from you throughout the season. Thank you for volunteering your time.
Pre-Season
Rules
Our Rules page provides details about our league rules for each division. Before you take the field for your first practice or game, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with your division-specific rules.
Equipment
Team managers in Majors, AAA and Minors are provided with two sets of catchers gear, game baseballs, pitch counter, scorebook, and first aid kits as well as access to batting tees and practice wiffle balls in our storage boxes at the WHLL Complex. Some "nice to have" additional equipment that coaches may want to consider bringing include things such as practice balls, lineup cards, clipboard, and cones (for drills).
Team managers for Instructional and Rookie division are provided [TBD].
League-supplied equipment can be picked up from the equipment shed located behind left field of Field 1 (Majors) or during our preseason coaches meeting. Please connect with our Director of Equipment if you have any questions.
GameChanger
GameChanger is a scorekeeping and team communication app that is very popular in our league. Even if you don't use it for scorekeeping, it can be very helpful for any division with scheduling practices, communication with parents/guardians and RSVPs for games/practices. It's free for families to use for most features and there are some advanced features that require a subscription fee (e.g. access to statistics, game recordings, etc).
Team staff can follow these steps to import your team into GameChanger. When creating an account, you'll need to use the same email address associated with your Sports Connect account.
Abuse Awareness Training
The safety and well-being of all participants in the Little League® program continues to be paramount, and it is on all of us to do our part to provide a fun, memorable, and safe experience each year. All volunteers are required to complete the Little League Abuse Awareness training each year.
This course, which serves as a replacement for the programs previously available through third-party organizations like USA Baseball, is custom to the Little League program and provides an easier learning experience for our volunteers.
Curriculum
Little League offers two great ways to get up to speed in our Tee Ball (Rookie) and Coach Pitch (Instructional) divisions:
Tee Ball Curriculum
Coach Pitch Baseball Program
Little League University is also a great resource for our Minors, AAA and Majors divisions.
In-Season
Field Maintenance
See our Field Maintenance page for all the necessary information.
Field Status and Closure
Please check the Field Status widget at the bottom of our Home page as your primary source of information. The town makes a call on field closures by 3:00 p.m. and the league makes every effort to update the field status page by 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on weekends.
Rainout / Reschedule Procedure
In the event your upcoming game is cancelled due to weather, the following will happen:
- League will cancel games on the WHLL website which will automatically notify all coaches and parents.
- WHLL Director of Scheduling will coordinate rescheduling of games and notify the affected coaches.
- Game schedule will be updated on website once revised schedule is complete.
For questions on game reschedules, please contact the Director of Scheduling.
In-progress games should be stopped if thunder is heard.
Scoreboard Controllers
Scoreboards should be turned on prior to the start of each game. Home team is responsible for the scoreboard and coaches are encouraged to find a volunteer to score the game. Scoreboard controllers are typically stored in the JoBox and can be recharged at either the Field 1 press box or Field 2 equipment shed.
Practices
If the infields are muddy, please limit practices to the outfield grass and batting cage areas.
Post-Season
Equipment Return
The Director of Equipment will notify coaches shortly after the season regarding where & when to return equipment bags.