Road to the LLWS 2023 edition

[The Man In Blue]

Fair enough. And I don't think showing the LLWS is bad for the sport. But I do think more coverage of the best youth players in the sport would be better.

I would be very interested to watch a tournament of the best players from each state battling it out, regardless of whether they play LL, PGF, Alliance, USSSA or any other division.

Maybe those players should play LL and we could find out? Just saying ... they are the ones with the infrastructure already in place to do that.

 

[UKCATSFAN76]

@UKCATSFAN76 ... I've never looked into this ... How do other sports line up across NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA?

For D1 football it’s 85, 36 for D2, D3 doesn’t offer any, NAIA is 24, JUCO appears to be 68 from a quick search if funding is available.

Huge disparity knowing football is the money maker for D1 sports.


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[BucketDud]

Maybe those players should play LL and we could find out? Just saying ... they are the ones with the infrastructure already in place to do that.

I would say the reason most don't is because LL doesn't have the infrastructure in place at the local level. My oldest started in LL. Half the kids showed up without bats, helmets, gloves. It wasn't because their parents could afford them they just thought the league should provide. But in reality it ended up being me as the coach buying or finding them.

The games were umpired by HS kids who didn't know the rules. Most of the parents sitting in the stands didn't either, but didn't stop them from yelling like they did. I enjoyed teaching kids the game and they improve at lot in the beginning.

After a couple years of that she wanted to move on to something more organized and competitive. Maybe in other parts of the country it is different, but here TB has exploded because LL isn't well-organized.

 

[Vertigo]

Half the kids showed up without bats, helmets, gloves. It wasn't because their parents could afford them they just thought the league should provide.

This was my whole HS team back in the 90’s. No one had their own equipment except a glove and cleats. Bats, helmets, and catcher’s gear were provided by the school. Same for the other high schools in my county. Then again, there wasn’t much money where I grew up - not sure if that was the reason or not.

Maybe it was the same for your League’s parents back when they were kids and this is why they thought equipment was provided by the league? I know ours does provide the equipment but most kids do bring their own.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

This was my whole HS team back in the 90’s. No one had their own equipment except a glove and cleats. Bats, helmets, and catcher’s gear were provided by the school. Same for the other high schools in my county. Then again, there wasn’t much money where I grew up - not sure if that was the reason or not.

Maybe it was the same for your League’s parents back when they were kids and this is why they thought equipment was provided by the league? I know ours does provide the equipment but most kids do bring their own.

I always donated my girls old bats, gloves, bags, and helmets to our local LL. I don't donate the bats anymore because they're way too big for the LL girls now, but I always try to give back to the organization that gave my girls their start.

 

[BucketDud]

This was my whole HS team back in the 90’s. No one had their own equipment except a glove and cleats. Bats, helmets, and catcher’s gear were provided by the school. Same for the other high schools in my county. Then again, there wasn’t much money where I grew up - not sure if that was the reason or not.

Maybe it was the same for your League’s parents back when they were kids and this is why they thought equipment was provided by the league? I know ours does provide the equipment but most kids do bring their own.

Possibly. And I know everyone's financial situation is certainly different, some truly couldn't afford it. But when the parents are standing there holding a $1,000 new iPhone, but can't spend $100 for your kids bat, helmet, glove.

They rarely said thank you or even questioned where the gear came from. Maybe they thought the $25 league fee covered it all.....haha.

 

[lostcreek1]

You never hear of anyone playing LL around here. No ideal if there are any in the whole state.

 

[The Man In Blue]

I just now realized that your screen name is not BucketDAd ... Shame on me ...

Anyway ... yes, the local infrastructure is where things fell apart. Little League fails to keep up with the times that we live in. The move to allow the Senior League players to not play a LL season may be the first recognition of that. It's not a good move for the mission of the organization, but it was the right move. Try to bring some attention back to the local aspect of the game and hope that local programs begin to grow,

Like any of these national orgs though, they are only as good as the locals who are providing 99% of the experience for the kids. You can have really poorly run tournaments for any national org, as long as the local TD pays his tithe to the national org.

I would love to see community based programs make a come back. The game has become largely inaccessible to a large population of the potential players. It has become a game of money and elitism (yeah, I'll say it), not the game kids want go play all day on their own in the summer. Community ball will never come back as the national organization doesn't pay anything downward and insists on everybody (even umpires) being a volunteer while they get paid. Don't get me wrong, LL provides great training opportunities for coaches and umpires, and provides this national tournament structure ... but there is not enough investment in making the game accessible.

 

[Vertigo]

Our final “gasp” of the community experience was this summer when my ds played for his Sr American Legion team. It was mostly kids he played with in LL and Babe Ruth, as he attended a different HS than they did. What amazed me the most about it was the dedicated local fans who followed the team.

I got to know this one gentleman who played Legion many moons ago, didn’t have any kids or grandkids on the team, but always came to every game, home and away. He would bring his buddies out and cheer the team on. Same as some kids who were in college or a few years post-college who had played on the team. They would all come out and support the current team. It was so nice to see the community support and I’m glad it was ds’ last baseball experience before heading off to college this fall. I wish the girls had something similar…

 

[Lance Steckler]

i just saw in an different forum, a local to me LL is advertising for fast pitch teams. The problem is that historically, the people that are behind this, are the same ones with the absolutely worst run and minimal skill level teams. think C/Rec at best.

No higher level player is going to seriously consider joining these teams. They will stay with their travel teams, playing in competitive tourneys, playing in front of college coaches and improving their skills.