No Peeking!

In 2022, TEAM REGISTRATION IS FREE!

(A sponsor will cover the first $120 team fee as a welcome back this season!)

Note in 2019 the team fee was reduced to $120 minimum per team ($12/player)
due to USA Softball team-based insurance policies!

Thank you for your interest in the Congressional Softball League, celebrating its 48th year organizing casual softball teams this season.  

Registration is scheduled to begin on March 23rd for the 2022 season this spring, BUT MAY BE A FEW DAYS LATE DUE TO MAJOR WEBSITE UPDATES.

NOTE general information and options on this page were for the last completed 2019 season...and should be the same for 2022!


The registration process is divided into two options:

1. Register your team in the Congressional Softball League

Fee: $12 per full-time player (10-player roster minimum per team required) provides $5 million LIABILITY insurance for non-player accident, personal injury or property damage insurance. Insurance covers sponsors, players, coaches and spectators.  Teams receive an electronic ASA insurance identification file in the manager's section.

CSL TEAMS NEED NOTHING MORE TO QUALIFY FOR FIELD PERMITS...IF TEAM INSURANCE IS A REQUIRED OPTION.

2. Register as an individual player into the Congressional Softball League

Fee: $12 per full-time player (may be listed in a player pool or placed on a team) receives $5 million liability insurance THAT COVERS INJURY TO OTHERS, NOT PLAYERS, who are involved in an accident, personal injury or property damage. Insurance has $500 deductible but can be portable onto any USA team for an entire calendar year anywhere in the United States.

E-mail the CSL Commissioner for more information.

Registration for 2022 should begin on March 23ed and concludes in mid April with games beginning in late April or early May.  Games usually begin between 6:30 PM and 7 PM, according to when the captains schedule their games and when field permits begin.

Players who do not have a team to register but wish to join a league team should e-mail me for more detailed information and assistance (Commissioner's link below).  Anyone with a team may also register in the league.  We have Capitol Hill teams, agency teams, nonprofit organizations and alumni clubs, to mention some of those teams playing in our league.  We hold a year-end tournament that has had as many as 70 teams who play on the Saturdays in late August and early September to determine our league championship.  Our teams enter the tournament playing in groups for the first rounds, and conclude with the last ten teams playing in a double-elimination round.  Every team is guaranteed to play at least two games in the POD group format. 

As was past practice, rosters will be initially limited to 30 players during the team registration process, but that was only a limitation due to our registration software.  Teams may add as many full-time and part-time players once the team pages open.  Captains have a separate area in their team pages to add players.

Teams will once more determine when and where they play as they make their own schedules with teams from the league or outside the league.  Some teams acquire field permits near the monuments or at schools and universities in January.  The list of teams will indicate which teams have, and the day of the week for, those permits.  We suggest that new captains let their opponents find the field for the first few games until they understand the process of staking out a field.  The commissioner will provide detailed information to further explain league procedures to captains in mass e-mails throughout the season.

During the start of scheduling, captains can receive as many as 100 e-mails from other captains asking to fill open dates...NOTE THAT YOUR E-MAIL OF RECORD WILL INITIALLY RECEIVE MANY E-MAILS, BUT ONLY FROM OTHER CAPTAINS AND ONLY ABOUT SOFTBALL.  Please PLAN ACCORDINGLY FOR THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF SCHEDULING.  The Commissioner will host a happy hour for captains and free agents in April at which each captain will receive rules books, scorebooks and information about field permits and insurance for players.

We continue to feature our teams and sponsors on the web site.  The team rankings and schedules are visible to the public from the home page, but teams still have a separate team page in a private, password protected area where managers will once again make schedules and update rosters.  We also continue working on greater security to protect our data.

REGISTRATION, INSURANCE and FEES

More than a decade ago, our league joined the Amateur Softball Association (now USA Softball Association to participate in the Olympics) to cover our players, teams and sponsors with liability and/or accident insurance.  Surprisingly, over the years our insurance policy has paid out claims amounting to thousands of dollars to cap several teeth, for a Mercedes dented by a foul ball, for players' facial plastic surgery and reconstructive knee and hand surgery, for serious injuries to passersby and vehicles hit by an errant ball along the Mall.  The fact remains that regardless of how casual our league, a hard hit softball becomes a potentially lethal missile when games are played near sidewalks and streets.

Fortunately, our league dodged a multi-million dollar suit, not once, but TWICE when tourists were hit by balls on the Mall.   Therefore, as part of our league fee, our league provides teams, SPONSORS and their core full-time players with insurance through USA.  This insurance covers sponsors, teams, spectators and players with $5 million of liability insurance...all for just $12 per player (teams must have a minimum of 10 full-time players).  Part-time player slots on a roster will cost $3 each, and bundled in lots of 4 in what we call a "flex slot."  They can be upgraded to full-time status during the season.  Please see below for the details of insurance coverage.

As a result, the league registration fee will vary per team and depend on the number of players (and others) registered and placed on a team roster.  However, since fees are on a per-player basis, managers should plan THEIR ROSTER MAKEUP BEFORE REGISTERING.

CSL TEAM REGISTRATION OPTIONS

Managers should plan BEFORE REGISTERING for who will be on their initial rosters and on how to register their teams (either initially register the entire roster or only register the 10 minimum full-time players and then register other players — both full-time and part-time at a later date).  MANAGERS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ENTER AT LEAST 10 FULL-TIME NAMES ON THEIR ROSTER DURING THEIR INITIAL REGISTRATION.

Once a team is registered with the initial 10 core players, managers can simply instruct other full-time players to register on their own and pay separately afterward. The league will provide a SEPARATE REGISTRATION LINK FOR PLAYERS TO INDIVIDUALLY REGISTER throughout the season which will also automatically add the players to the league team roster of their choice from a drop-down menu.

Each player, coach, umpire, scorekeeper and anyone registered full-time on a team will be covered with liability insurance.  The liability insurance will also cover the team as an entity, team sponsors and the league.

The USA insurance will cover each player for ANY team (or multiple teams) throughout the nation that the player is on or league under USA sanctions in which that player participates in practices, clinics, games or tournaments for the entire calendar year.  The insurance is also automatically renewable next season.  Remember, this coverage stays with a registered player regardless of the number of teams or where that player participates throughout the nation.

To track players covered, our league's web format will require that all registered players be listed on at least one league roster or on the "Player Pool" roster category for those registered with the league but not on an individual league team.  Managers will be able to move a player to the free agent roster called the "Player Pool."  However, roster additions can only be changed by the commissioner.  Only the players' names will be visible on each team's "team web page" to other teams in the private, password protected league area.   Managers will be able to keep confidential e-mail addresses and phone numbers – visible only on the area of the team page open to fellow team members.

Due to the multi-million dollar risks the league faced in the past, the league will vigorously enforce the rosters of all teams.  The good news is that the league has made it easy to float part-time players through "flex slots" that allow 4 players per flex slot to be added to the rosters for a fee of $3 per player.  This allows reasonable coverage of summer interns and part-time fill-in players throughout the season.

Teams can take comfort in knowing that the registration fee is quite reasonable (compared to Arlington County, for example, that does not provide team insurance coverage but last year charged $850 per team with an additional fee of $30 per each non-county player on the roster).  Be assured that if an insurance-related incident occurs with any of our CSL teams, the USA insurance will cover that team, its players and its sponsors for liability regardless of the opponent's insurance status or league affiliation. 

It is unfortunate that the severity of liability suits has dictated that the league protect those who play and are affiliated with our casual league...but at least nobody will lose a home or future wages as a result of an errantly hit ball.

Please feel free to contact me for further information.

Gary Caruso
Commissioner

Contact the Commissioner.

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