All volunteers must 1) complete a background check and 2) complete the BASE Abuse Awareness Training.
1) Pre-approval of all prospective volunteers for Little League volunteer is MANDATORY. To comply with the Little League Child Protection Program, all volunteers are required to complete the online process. All local Little Leagues are required to conduct background checks on volunteers who will provide a regular service or who have repetitive access to players or teams. This includes: Board of Directors, Managers and Coaches, Practice Coaches, Umpires, Team Parents, Snack Bar Workers. Only adults who have been approved as volunteers should be on the field with players.
2) In 2018, the “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and SafeSport Authorization Act of 2017” became Federal law. As part of SafeSport, abuse awareness training has been highly encouraged for participants and volunteers in the Little League program. Beginning in 2024,this training will now be a required part of the annual Little League Volunteer Application, along with the annual background check. The training must be completed before any individual can assume any duties for the current season.
It is important that all volunteers in a league complete the training on an annual basis. Even though it may be a training an individual has completed in the past, it is important to keep the information that is taught through Abuse Awareness Training fresh in everyone’s mind. The more individuals involved in a league that have the information that Abuse Awareness Training provides, the better. USA Baseball’s
BASE Abuse Awareness Training is a FREE online training that is SafeSport-compliant. This course can be completed in approximately 30 minutes online, producing a certificate of completion that you will share with the individual at your league who is responsible for overseeing your league’s background checks to verify you have completed the training.
Visit LittleLeague.org/SafeSport for information on USA Baseball’s BASE Abuse Awareness Training and for more information on this Federal law.