What’s Wrong with Teaching Competition?
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The Minor Divisions
Everyone knows that the major divisions of Little League are competitive. But what about the Minor League Divisions? The rule book identifies them as instructional, but does not reference competitive. How is a local board of directors supposed to interpret that? It says instructional, not non-competitive.
Teaching Competition is Instructional
My opinion is that teaching competition IS being instructional. That said, this should be VERY carefully monitored by the local leagues. The way our league set the season up this year is we had a 2 game round robin end of the season seeding for a minor league tournament.
It was our opinion we were taking 9 and 10 year olds with NO competitive experience and throwing them into the highly competitive 9/10 Little League International Tournament. They were getting creamed! So we decided to start the season instructional, make the last 2 games against each team count ONLY for seeding our end of year tournament, and then play a double elimination tournament in which ALL teams competed.
The Board’s Creation
In our opinion, this created the best of both worlds. We played games early in the year that didn’t count at all. We also play other leagues in our district, those games don’t count towards the standings either. Some of those intersperse with the round robin as well, so this gives the teams a minor respite.
Then we play games that count, but only towards seeding in the end of year tournament. So, while they count, they really don’t. Then, just before all-stars, we are holding a double elimination tournament between all the teams that is intended to be competitive.
We have successfully melded instruction and competition and taught both.
How do you run your minor league program? What suggestions do you have? Please let us know!
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