League & Program Responsibilities

In exchange for each Member Program's commitment, Baystate will:

• Create weekly game schedule for member teams (8 game regular season)
• Maintain master league game schedule via TeamSnap
• Schedule umpires for all league games
• Provide a central communication forum for all member teams via TeamSnap
• Access to a central registration, team roster and communication system via TeamSnap

Individual Town Programs/Teams are responsible for their own equipment.  All goalies must wear proper field hockey goalie equipment (where applicable). In addition to providing equipment, each member  program is responsible for: 

• Obtain necessary field permits and provide game field availability dates/times to the Baystate Scheduler
• Schedule additional non-league games, as desired, and secure umpires independently
• Payment of Umpires (utilizing the rate card below)
• Comply with Baystate League Processes 

The League was established to created a more consistent playing environment for all, with an emphasis on learning the game and having fun. The League aims to keep games friendly but acknowledges  competition as players and teams progress. Town programs agree to the following:

• Provide balanced teams in an age group in an effort to compete successfully against teams from other towns (No A Teams, Equal Distribution Only)

The League has expanded on the above Classic Team Program, to provide higher level of competition and opportunities for our young athletes to further develop their skills prior to entering their high school years. Just as established within the Classic program, the league looks for a consistent playing environment for all, with an emphasis on sportsmanship. Town programs agree to the following:

• Provide a Select Team within the outlined age group (i.e. 7th graders can not play for the 5/6th grade team to fill out a roster), comprised of team members from the Classic Teams currently established within the League. 
• No players from other communities can be rostered without explicit consent from the Baystate League prior to the season starting. 
• Select Teams are optional for any program and are only established for the 5/6 & 7/8 Grade Divisions

The League will coordinate umpires for all league games per the responsibilities agreement above; however, it is the responsibility of all home member teams to provide payment for all umpires, whether scheduled by Baystate or individually. If games are played at a neutral site, it is the home team that is responsible for payment, unless coordinated with the opponent prior to the game.

Please note that some programs may need to host more home games due to constraints of other member programs have with getting fields within their own communities, in these situations, the away team may need to be responsible for paying the umpire fees. Program Coordinators should work together to make that determination prior to the game. 

Additionally, in an attempt to keep umpire fees lower for programs, for the 1/2 and 3/4 Division, a single Junior Umpire will be assigned. The 5/6 Division will be assigned an adult + a junior umpire. The 7/8 Division, as well as Select Teams, will be assigned 2 adults. This should help for budgeting purposes.