Georgia District 8 Little League

1

Jun, 2023

Understanding Waivers - For Parents

Every year there are numerous waivers that are requested by Local Leagues that are processed for various reasons. The most common and misunderstood is an "Out-of Boundary" waiver request. I felt the need to explain some of the nuances of this process to help parents understand and better support their Local League.

Your Home League - When you are ready to sign your player up, your home league can be found by going to Little League Finder. This will tell you the league that is assigned as your "home league". The address you input is either your home or school address.

Maybe It's Not Home? -There are many reasons playing at your designated league does not fit your player's needs. This request can be made following this sequence:

YOU must make a request to the league which best suits your player. This is a simple letter that outlines the reason/s you wish to play with their league.
The request is presented to the Board of Directors by the President of the prospective league; a vote is made to accept your player or deny your request. There are many reasons a league may deny your request such as the number of players already signed up not requiring a waiver.
If the Board of Directors approves the request, the President will submit an "out-of-boundary" charter committee waiver request along with your letter to Southeast Region.
Southeast Region will review the waiver for accuracy and completeness and then notify your home league that a request has been made.
Your home league reviews the request and will either release or not-release your player. Not releasing your player does not end the waiver process.
Southeast Region will then forward the request to the District Administrator. The DA will either select "support" or "do not support" and provide brief comments validating either choice. As the DA, my default is to always support the request except in extreme situations. If "do not support" is selected, that does not end the waiver process.
Southeast will finalize the request and present it to the Charter Committee in Williamsport, PA. The committee is carefully selected with all members having many years of service to the Little League Organization as paid employees.
A ruling will be made by the committee and then sent back to the President and DA.
If the waiver is approved by the charter committee, a letter will be sent to the President of your new league and the DA. This waiver typically comes back with a "red-shirt" ruling. Here is the example wording that is usually seen:

"The Charter Committee has approved the request to allow JOHNNY SHOESTRINGS, league age 10, to participate at HOMETOWN LITTLE LEAGUE for the 2023 REGULAR SEASON ONLY...The aforementioned player(s) will be eligible to participate with full eligibility for regular season and tournament play beginning with the 2024 season."
Whatever the ruling, an appeal can be made but it must be made using new information not contained in the original request. The Charter Committee can either accept the appeal or deny. If accepted the committee will review the original ruling and make a determination to overturn or keep that ruling.

NOTE: Steps 1-10 must be completed BEFORE your player even begins practicing at the beginning of the season.

If you made it this far, here are a couple key things that I hope you as the parent take away from this explanation.

99% of the time, an "out-of-boundary" waiver request is returned with the "red-shirt" ruling; regular season this year, regular season and tournament play next year.
Make sure you notify the league you are registering with that you will need an "out-of-boundary" waiver request.
NO ONE except the Charter Committee can deny OR approve a waiver request.
Request and keep a copy of the Charter Committee waiver response.
Your case is personal to you, but the Charter Committee has to account for the overall integrity of Little League International.
Don't let your player on the field until you have an approved waiver, without it your player is not properly covered by insurance.
Waivers are not about "all-stars", it's about adhering to Little League rules.

I hope this helps a bit in understanding the process that is required by Little League rule. These rules are what has kept Little League Baseball/Softball as the premier youth sports organization for many decades. It ensures the fairness of play as best as possible.

You can find more information on waivers by following this link.

Website Manager

Georgia District 8 Little League

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1

Jun, 2023

Understanding Waivers - For Parents

DISTRICT 8 GA LITTLE LEAGUE

LITTLE LEAGUE® International