You are required to make up any rained out DIBs.

The Bennington Baseball League (BAL) recognizes the role of volunteers in our league is vital to the overall success of each season. In order to keep league costs accessible to the families, the BAL relies on family volunteers to help maintain the complexes and concession stands during the season. Each year, our family volunteers contribute over 3,000 volunteer hours. 

As part of the player registration, the BAL requires each player to complete five (5) hours of volunteer service each year; 10 hours per family. In the event the family does not complete their volunteers hours, the amount of $350.00 will be charged to the family on August 1st.

Sign up for your volunteer hours on the Dibs tab. It is first come, first served! You must sign up or else the board will assume you wish to forfeit your $175 per child deposit.  Once the deposit is processed, it can not be refunded under any circumstance!

Please READ the Concession Duties/Rules before your shift:

Concession Shift Checklist

Please see the FAQ's below:

Q: How do I claim a DIB?
A: You will first need to create an account on the BAL site (www.balonline.org) or if you are an existing user, you will log into your BAL account.
Second, access the DIBs list by either

•  DIBs Tab – YYYY DIBs Season
• Home Tab – DIBs Info – Click Here to See YYYY DIBs (right side)
•  Click here for step-by-step instructions.  If you still have problems with your account, please email support@tstmedia.com.

 

Q: How many hours do I get to volunteer each season?
A: Each player is asked to complete 5 hours, maximum 10 hours per family. If you have one player in the league, it is 5 hours. If you have two players, 10 hours. If you have three or more players in the league, it is 10 hours.

 

Q: Who can claim and work a DIBs session?
A: Only family members aged 15 years and older can work volunteer hours. You must claim a DIBs item for EACH family member. Two family members CANNOT claim the same DIB item and receive credit for two DIBs.

 

Q: Are there any positions within the league that fulfills my DIBs?
A: Yes, the following positions complete the 10 hours of family DIBs:

• BAL Board Members
• Official Head Coach
• Official Assistant Coaches. See the chart below for the number of assistant coaches per level.

Premier Baseball & Elite Softball Teams	Rec+ & Rec Baseball	Modified Select & Rec Softball	Coach Pitch & TBall
3 Assistant Coaches	2 Assistant Coaches	2 Assistant Coaches	2 Assistant Coaches

• If you are not sure if you are listed as an official coach, please communicate and confirm with the team’s head coach. 

 

Q: I volunteered to be a Dugout Coach. How many DIBs hours does that fulfill?
A: It would fulfill half of a player’s DIBs.  For example, if you have one player in the league, it is 2.5 hours of the 5 hour required. If you have two players, it is 5 out of 10 hours required.

 

Q: I am an official coach. When will my DIBs be marked complete?
A: All coaching DIBs are marked complete at the end of the season when all coaching responsibilities are met.

 

Q: I claimed a DIBs session, now what?
A: You will receive an email confirming your DIBs session was claimed.

• Three (3) days prior to the DIBs session, you will receive a reminder email.  Please take a moment to re-read the DIBs details as to the time and location of the DIBs.

 

Q: If I claimed a concession stand DIBs, what do I have to do?
A: All of the instructions are listed in the Concessions Shift Checklist located on the Dibs Info link, which is on the left-hand side of the home page. The checklist is also in the Concession book at each of the concession stands.  Please note, the board reserves the right to move your Concessions DIBS to another location based upon staffing needs.  They also reserve the right to change your Opening Day DIBS or Tournament DIBS based upon needs.  At the end of the day, we are trying to run a smooth operation.  Your flexibility is greatly appreciated.

 

Q: If my DIBs session gets rained out or the game is canceled, do I have to make it up?
A: Yes. You will need to log into the BAL site and claim another DIBs session.

 

Q: I cannot work my assigned DIBs session. What should I do?
A: You must cancel your claimed DIB item and pick up a new one. Log into your BAL account, go to the DIBs season and locate the DIB session.
 *Please note that for ALL DIBs, you cannot cancel within 48 hours without finding a replacement and/or receiving admin approval.  It is your responsibility to ensure proper planning and ability to fulfill all your volunteer hour requirements.  If you are canceling towards the end of the season, it may be difficult to claim another DIBs session.

 

Q: I don't have all my required hours claimed and I don't see any at all that I can grab. They appear to all be claimed?
A: There are enough sessions for everyone to claim 10 credits/family. Please know we will add more DIB assignments as soon as we have finalized tournament dates and ongoing facilities projects.  In addition, coaches are still adding games, thus the need for more concession hours. If you waited too long into the season to claim a DIB, then you simply might be out of your deposit.

 

Q: I worked my DIBs session. How do I get credit?
A: You and a BAL board member MUST sign the book that will be located at the BAL Complex Concession Stand in order to get credit. For Concessions, there will always be a board member that closes.  If you don't get both signatures in the book, NO credit, NO exceptions. Credit is usually applied to your account within a week of completion of the DIBs session.

 

Q: Why do I see both MY OWN profile as well as my child's profiles showing I have hours that need worked?
A: This is an error as it should only show your child's name (sub-profiles to you).  Make sure to only claim DIBS on your child's profile then please email Shelly Kloster to fix and remove the hours required from your (Parent) profile.  

 

Q: I signed up for our DIBs and managed to get 10 hour for one child and only 0 for the other....oops.  Do I need to cancel it or is that ok?  What if I go over my required hours?  For example, I work 7 hours on one child and 5 hours on the other?
A: We do not mind if you work more.  It helps us if you claim AT LEAST 5 hours per child for record keeping.  

 

Q: What happens if I just don't show up?
A: You are letting a lot of people down (board members, other DIBs workers who might now be working solo, etc...) Things do happen, but if you can please cancel 3 days before so that someone else can sign up. If you cancel within the three days the DIBs administrator must remove you. If it is just one day before, you need to find your own substitute.  If something happens that night and you can't make it, you need to contact the DIBs Director (Shelly Kloster Phone: 402-202-0514) so that she can try to find coverage.  If we do not have any DIBs workers, we will not open the concession stand.  If you NO SHOW two times, we will automatically charge your $175 per child.

 

Q: Can I sign up for the Hit-A-Thon Team Coordinator of a team that my child is not on?
A: No.  We prefer that your child is a member of that team as you will have to work closely with the parents on fundraising goals for that team.   There are also prizes for the most raised per team and by child. 

 

Q: I received a notification for the Hit-A-Thon Team Coordinator.   What does that mean?
A: All the DIBS require a date in the web system.  The Hit-A-Thon Team Coordinator DIB and some other specialty DIBs may not really have a specific date, but we have to enter them.  A board member will reach out to you on the times/dates you need to be concerned with for the DIB.