An Open Proposal to Little League
This post sponsored through the pepperjamNETWORK by:
Let Ricky Martin tell your sister that she is the best! Visit Post Cards From The Stars Today!
I was reading an article the other day on a girls fast-pitch website that was discussing the options for a player, boy or girl, once the Little League spring season was over. The article, titled That Time of Year, told the plight of a parent who was looking for options once the spring season of Little League ended. He went on to tell about finding a fall program that was less than stellar and then discovering the hyper-competitive, and VERY expensive travel ball. Unfortunately, he says, there is no “middle ground”.
I have discussed this with many friends on a regular basis, and he (Dave) is dead on here. There are no middle options. Don’t get me wrong, travel programs have their place, and as kids get older and are serious about their careers showcase teams are a must, but for everyone 12 and under, why do they have to end their life for the game?
My 9 year old son this year kept a schedule that every week included 2 Little League games, one Little League practice, one pitcher-catcher practice, one travel ball practice, and a travel ball double header on Sunday. And our travel team wasn’t really all that active compared to the others!
Why do we do this? Because we want more than Little League and travel ball is the only option. Don’t get me wrong, I bleed red and blue of Little League. My son had way more fun playing against his friends in Little League than against strangers in travel ball. Even though the talent level was much less.
But how about creating a middle ground? I hear about parents not wanting to leave on Friday night for a tournament and return Sunday evening every weekend. Little League is uniquely positioned to offer a solution that suits the middle ground kids.
Face it, the extreme kids that love the game and are potential college or professional players are going to play extreme level travel ball, as they should. But in any Little League, those kids comprise less than 1% of the players at most. Little League cannot meet their needs, if they play, that is a bonus, but there is no way to offer a solution to them, they are where they want and need to be.
But, what about the stars that don’t want to play baseball or softball 7 days a week and twice on Sunday? Where do they turn? Right now, the answer really is nowhere, that’s where Little League comes in. Little League can fix this problem!
Currently for 12 and unders, Little League offers their competitive program, Majors, an instructional program, Minors, and a t-ball program. After the season ends, most District managers hold some version of a Tournament of Champions, and then on June 15th All-Stars are announced and begin practicing.
Why not add one more division? Call it “elite”. In my Little League hometown of Sterling, VA, where I cut my teeth, they have one of the best softball programs in the country. But it is Pony League. Or at least it was when I lived there over 10 years ago. They actually host the Pony National Tournament and World Series there, or they did then.
The structure of their league is a majors/minors equivalent, with a travel program as well. The top players in the league play on one team and travel and play against other teams in the area, while the rest of the kids play in the local version of the league. Additionally, the travel players are spread amongst the local teams and play there as well. Bingo, problem solved!
What positions Little League uniquely to accomplish this, and better than any other program in the world, is their District alignment setup. They already have hundreds, if not thousands, of districts set up all over the world that include 10 or so teams in them. It is the first level of play during the all-stars.
Why not have each league put together an “elite” team that plays against all the other league’s “elite” teams during the season? This provides the league structure that travel programs lack, the ability to still play with all your friends, a truly competitive environment, and a commitment that doesn’t cost you $10,000 a year or your entire life!
Little League could impliment this next year if they wanted. They have the structures in place and the lines of communication from Williamsport to the local leagues are impecable.
So what do you say Little League International? How about an “Elite” division for the spring of 2010?
Related articles by Zemanta
- Keith Hernandez, Pure Baseball (thelittleleaguecoach.com)
- Pitching Drills For Little League (stevenellis.com)
- Eight Athletes Who Played the Wrong Sport (bleacherreport.com)
- Economy hits ‘Field of Dreams’ (cnn.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=338ad78b-8e90-40ef-8e49-e66b9dc8e67d)
3 comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Hello…
Found this post just the other day. We’re from Washington State, and have experienced the exact same problem. No Baseball from July to August, and then Fall Ball is not competitive enough for the “Elite” players.
We’re actually considering pulling out of Little League next Spring and having our team play Local tournaments during the Season, then Regional Tournaments in July.
Then, in August and September we’re considering holding our own SMALL invitational tournaments against local All-Star teams who don’t want to spend the money traveling.
The ultimate goal is to keep competitive baseball going for another couple months. Non-competitive “Fall Ball” may do as much harm as good for the kids because they go from extreme conditioning to a lackadaisical attitude about the need for simple stretching.
We hope we are able to find enough teams in our area who would rather stay in the area and play competitive baseball then shell out thousands of dollars traveling up and down the coast.
I must respectfully disagree. You can play travel ball yes, but the fall season for Little League is a GREAT time for a new player to start, a player to try to move up a division, a player to learn a new position. These kids need rest, their bodies need to recover. Playing year round is resulting in far too many injuries.
Hello…
Yes, you are probably right. Fall Ball would seem to play an important role for a lot of kids.
But, to be honest, for a lot of the better kids in our area, it is almost year-round baseball. Even some of the youngest kids have a very rigorous winter schedule. So, for the kids that are not blessed with natural talent, they need to stay involved on a year round basis in order to compete.
Anyway, we would still like to see the season extended somehow for the kids that don’t make it to the State Tournament and can’t afford to be on a travel team.