The DBB Child Protection Plan was developed to protect our minor participants and assist the leagues in complying with the Safe Sport Act. This overview (see attachment) is a brief summary of the DBB Child Protection Plan that will give you the tools to protect the youth in our leagues and help you become compliant with Federal Law. The complete plan that a league must adopt is located the “League Risk Management” tab on the DBB website at www.dixie.org/boys.

The Safe Sport Act requires our league affiliates to report suspected child abuse (including sexual abuse) within 24 hours to law enforcement, to establish procedures to limit one-on-one interactions between an amateur athlete who is a minor and an adult (who is not the minor’s legal guardian) at an event or facility under the jurisdiction of the league, to provide consistent training to all adult members who are in regular contact with amateur athletes who are minors. And subject to parental consent, to provide information for parents to train their children regarding prevention and reporting of child abuse. DBB and its affiliated leagues must prohibit retaliation against any individual who makes a report under the Safe Sport Act.

Taking steps to protect our youth is paramount in the DBB program. The purposes of this risk management plan is to reduce and/or prevent the occurrence of misconduct in DBB and affiliated league baseball programs as well as to reduce the liability potential for DBB and its leagues. Misconduct can negatively impact participants, league officials/staff members, family, friends, and the sport.

Opportunity Available in 2023

Tournament Team Franchise Form Can be Requested!

A growing number of community-based local leagues are playing other local leagues through an interlocking schedule to make a league viable and more enjoyable. Each local league/community must franchise separately and pay for a minimum of two teams before participating within an interlocking league. DBB remains fully committed to ensuring all youth have opportunities to take part in league play!

Recognizing that some of the smaller leagues are at a competitive disadvantage, DBB has developed a policy that further accommodates leagues that participate in the program through interlocking schedules. A separate tournament team could be formed from all players that participated in a current year through an interlocking league. Furthermore, (based on established criteria) a boundary as defined by: (district, county, parish, school, region, etc.) will have added tournament privileges. Players located within a defined boundary as established by the state director (district, parish, etc.) would be eligible to play together on a single tournament team. The added tournament participation clause compliments the local league structure by allowing more youth the opportunity to compete in tournament play. Local leagues will retain their rights to their tournament privileges (two events per division) with no changes!

A “Tournament Team Franchise” designation requirement includes filing an application form with the DBB National Office. Upon approval of the state director and the Commissioner, the national office issues a tournament franchise number. The absolute deadline to apply for a tournament team franchise is June 15th. Tournament teams must also submit a non-refundable franchise fee of $300. All franchised tournament teams must adhere to the requirements as found in the tournament rules as well as the policies of DBB, Inc.

Contact your State Director for further details!

Baseball has declined over the years leaving many parks with one or two teams. We want these teams to join Dixie Baseball. We have a tournament that will let these small leagues play each other with a chance to win the tournament. Contact Jimmy Smith for more information.

We need help! We have several openings across Georgia for District Directors. Please contact Jimmy Smith, State Director !

Come help run the program, no experience needed.

 "DBB Video":http://youtu.be/GTYQNanKw74

 ******  Local Leagues have the option to allow 12 year old players to play in Dixie baseball**********

DBB’s ultimate goal was to determine the set of supporting rules (MLB – NFHS) that are easiest to administer while also having the capability to fully supplement the existing rules of the program.  In all situations, we will continue to administer our Dixie rules as found in our book and then revert to the use of the supporting rules of NFHS for any rule not covered in our book.  An electronic copy is located on our website. Some editorial changes were made  to replace the wording Major League Baseball with National Federation of High Schools.

As with any significant change it is important that we relay the information to our current franchised leagues, potential 2022 teams/leagues, participants, and the umpires. Communication by everyone involved with the program will be essential to conveying the change.  We will always have the opportunity to institute rule change suggestions for any rule that would be found in any current year NFHS Rule Book.  In other words, DBB rules are the prerogative of the organization and this will not change.  If anything, going forward the organization will have much more of a say in the rules that govern the organization.  

Not all National Federation High School rules and/or Major League Baseball rules are the best fit for our program.  As a prime example, Boys/Majors Baseball should be very proud of the steps taken regarding our pitching rules.  More people than ever before are now at least looking at instituting pitch count rules instead of the traditional innings pitched rules.  I am proud to say that we were a leader in the movement to protect those that pitch in youth baseball.

Our mission is to provide all youth the opportunity to play baseball.  We have a wide range of ages and skill levels among our participants.  It is important that we never lose sight of what might be beneficial for a high school age participant might not be the best fit for a young man that has not reached puberty.  For this reason alone it is important that we have the flexibility to determine our rules.  The leagues are in the best position to know what works at the local level.  Equally the board of directors through their experiences with youth baseball should be fully attuned to the needs of the participant.