conundrum

[bmakj]

background, we live in a small town (blinking red light is our major intersection, no FT employees other than 5 officers, you get my drift). For many years town had a "functioning" LL. Generally, there was tball, a 9/10 team, and then for a few years a 11/12 team as well. had some softball too, but this died before my girls were out of tball. I know last couple of years were rough for softball, basically I think last year was one team of 8-12 yr olds getting pretty much crushed in 11/12 division. basically, held together pretty much by a few diehards, and a core group of kids & parents (really talented kids too). however, the league we played in (we had to align with a neighboring league since we only had one team each in a couple of divisions) is in an entirely different county, and our kids actually attend schools in a school district whose local LL is in a different LL district. long story short, our LL went defunct a few years ago, and all our kids got dispensations/releases to play in neighboring LL from different LL district, where they all go to school (thinking was keep them playing with same kids they go to school with, easy for HS coaches to get to know, maybe provide help, etc.)

Now, rumors are that the LL district admin from the old LL district (but that we would technically still belong to) who lives in our town wants to revive our local LL. Don't know him personally, but does this seem odd to anyone. Not certain about bball, but I know for fastpitch, no way our town can generate enough girls to field either a 8u, 10u or 12u teams, my fear is that we will get stuck again with a 7-12 softball team that gets continually crushed, with little development for any of the girls given the age ability disparities the team would have. I know for a fact that only our twon only has about 3-4 girls in each age bracket interested in playing softball. Have a feeling baseball might barely be able to field a team in each age group, but just, and talent would be a crapshoot (vs adding our kids to neighbring LL, and all are pooled in a single draft).

If he revives league, do we have a recourse to keep our girls in the other league/district based on not enough girls to field a team. don't want to cause waves, but playing in neighboring LL has been working for a number of years (and LL baseball is competitive in district and regional all stars, and fields multiple teams in most age brakets all the way through juniors, and always at least one senior team), our kids are treated no differently, they play with/against kids from their schools, etc. i don't see point of trying to revive something that can only limp along on life support, now knowing from one year to next if there will be enough kids. Am I worried about nothing? (I tend to do that)

 

[MacLobo]

background, we live in a small town (blinking red light is our major intersection, no FT employees other than 5 officers, you get my drift). For many years town had a "functioning" LL. Generally, there was tball, a 9/10 team, and then for a few years a 11/12 team as well. had some softball too, but this died before my girls were out of tball. I know last couple of years were rough for softball, basically I think last year was one team of 8-12 yr olds getting pretty much crushed in 11/12 division. basically, held together pretty much by a few diehards, and a core group of kids & parents (really talented kids too). however, the league we played in (we had to align with a neighboring league since we only had one team each in a couple of divisions) is in an entirely different county, and our kids actually attend schools in a school district whose local LL is in a different LL district. long story short, our LL went defunct a few years ago, and all our kids got dispensations/releases to play in neighboring LL from different LL district, where they all go to school (thinking was keep them playing with same kids they go to school with, easy for HS coaches to get to know, maybe provide help, etc.)

Now, rumors are that the LL district admin from the old LL district (but that we would technically still belong to) who lives in our town wants to revive our local LL. Don't know him personally, but does this seem odd to anyone. Not certain about bball, but I know for fastpitch, no way our town can generate enough girls to field either a 8u, 10u or 12u teams, my fear is that we will get stuck again with a 7-12 softball team that gets continually crushed, with little development for any of the girls given the age ability disparities the team would have. I know for a fact that only our twon only has about 3-4 girls in each age bracket interested in playing softball. Have a feeling baseball might barely be able to field a team in each age group, but just, and talent would be a crapshoot (vs adding our kids to neighbring LL, and all are pooled in a single draft).

If he revives league, do we have a recourse to keep our girls in the other league/district based on not enough girls to field a team. don't want to cause waves, but playing in neighboring LL has been working for a number of years (and LL baseball is competitive in district and regional all stars, and fields multiple teams in most age brakets all the way through juniors, and always at least one senior team), our kids are treated no differently, they play with/against kids from their schools, etc. i don't see point of trying to revive something that can only limp along on life support, now knowing from one year to next if there will be enough kids. Am I worried about nothing? (I tend to do that)

Not sure if it's the same where you are, but in our city, you can sign-up and play in a LL outside of your district. You just aren't eligible for all-stars.
I think all you have to do is submit a waiver.

 

[WOODY123]

I run a softball LL program. Last year we picked up a couple girls from a neighboring league because they couldn't put together a team for there age group. We waivered them in thru the district and they where eligible to play All Stars. Because they have played with us for one season they are now eligible to continue to play with us without a waiver.

LL allows you to sign up for the league you live in or go to school in.

 

[bmakj]

thanks for the info, also found out a lot more last night. as usual the mess is driven by politics and parents unhappy with kids PT and all star status instigating some of this (kind of wanting to make pond smaller so their fish is relatively bigger). I think the DA for the district our league technically is in wants to push some of that talent back into his district, not necessarily have our league actually field teams, just get them to register in district, then move over to one of his other leagues. Our league's fields might not even be available, as there is a controversy about who the fields belong to (very complicated situation, another example of crazy adults all in a pissing match instead of working together towards compromise to benefit all the kids).

Good to know my girls (and any other kids who have been playing there) can continue to play in the league they have been in for 3 years now. Follow up question for anyone in the know, can they register off the bat with the league they go to school in, or do they first have to register in inactive league then move over? got mixed signals on this from someone pretty knowledgeable (but not infallible) about LL rules (he has coached baseball all stars at various levels for about 5 years now, and always has his ducks in a row as far as eligibility). He is concerned that this could foul up registration, draft, # of teams, etc. for the league we have been playing with.

sometimes I think this whole LL WS (baseball and softball) is now more detrimental to the game overall than it helps. I know the publicity helps to grow the game, and the stories can be inspiring, but the shenanigans it inspires in adults may just be more trouble than it is worth. maybe time to think about maybe taking it to state champs and leaving it there? This is in the end a GAME played by kids.

For such a small frickin town, we have enough drama for a major metropolis.

 

[OlatheDad]

How far away us the nearest big city? Can you pull enough girls together to field teams and play ASA, USSSA or one of the other alphabet organizations? In your situation your best bet might be to break away from LL and travel to play in ASA or USSSA. This way you do not have any boundary restrictions and you can pull a together a team consisting of anyone who is willing to drive to your practices.

 

[quincy]

Figure out pitching, a lot of other Issues will go away.

 

[bmakj]

only feasible travel team for 10u in area is run by person in charge of softball for LL, one of his requirements is girls must be registered with a LL (I think reasoning is he does not want to kill LL, he has passion for sport in general, if a little misguided sometimes). Looking at having her go out for TB possibly next year (she is LA8 for 2016 spring season, currently has a travel soccer commitment for spring, next fall she will have to choose, travel softball (which would include LL fall ball) or travel soccer, cannot do both (time wise, financially, etc.).

I just feel like the people wanting to reactivate small town LL are beating a dead horse. The town will on occasion be able to field a team in one maybe two divisions in a given season. All the other kids will have to play elsewhere anyway, why keep it on a respirator? Let the charter expire, and let the league that includes the schools our kids attend extend boundaries to include our town. Only real issue is the DA for district our league is in now (lives in our town, different district than the league where our kids actually play) will fight it, would diminish his empire.