Honest league officials

I have a question for all of you..........what should I do???

The ASA softball commissioner in my area and the President of our league are fairly close friends; it is blatantly obvious that the President manipulates our league to benefit her child and the friends of our commis... . She allows certain teams to benefit in the draft; she schedules the tournaments so that her kid’s team and her friend’s teams to have the bracket that is without competition, always sending them to the championship game. These practices are so unfair, it's just plain sickening! What this does is create a couple teams that never lose and the balance that struggle, it also costs us numerous girls who leave our league and go to other teams or to "a" ball! What can I do, is there any governing body that I can report this tremendously unfair practice to, or am I and our girls out of luck???????

What age level are you talking about? How about finding a nice travel team to play on?

We play in 12u............moving up to 14u next season, although my little girl is 11

And also, I really don't want to lose out on the family fun of our rec league, in my opinion when you move up to "A" or travel ball you lose allot of the comroudery that you experience. I really want my little girl tohave fun most of all, she is a very good player and loves the game, but shes only 11 and I really think its better to have fun, at least at this age!!

There is nothing you can do about rec ball other than try to take over the program. Rec ball programs are notorious for being political.

As to not having fun--I honestly don't understand. My DDs played travel ball since they were 10 and played even in college. I asked them recently if they enjoyed it now that they have a chance to look back and reflect. They both say that it was a blast and they loved it.

When my older now (now 24) first announced she wanted to try travel ball at the age of 12, my wife and I had some of the same concerns. She wasn't exactly a stellar player in rec ball and we worried whether she would play, how much she would play, and whether it would be a positive experience. But she wanted to give it ago. We signed her up for both travel and rec ball, just to be sure she had fun playing softball.

The double sign-up was unnecessary. She stepped up to the challenge and had a lot more fun playing travel ball than rec ball. In fact, we had to force her to play the last half of the season in rec ball to meet the commitment we and she had made. Once they experience playing ball with other kids who are actually into it, they don't much care for the lack of commitment from typical rec players.

That being said, if you insist on staying I recommend you start talking to other parents and officials in your league to build support for your run for office. There is no governing body to complain to. If you want things to change, you have to change them from the inside.

Honest Dad said:

And also, I really don't want to lose out on the family fun of our rec league, in my opinion when you move up to "A" or travel ball you lose allot of the comroudery that you experience. I really want my little girl tohave fun most of all, she is a very good player and loves the game, but shes only 11 and I really think its better to have fun, at least at this age!!

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My $.02

Make the change to travel and unless your DD is a SPECTACULAR player, do NOT move her up!

My wife and I had the same concerns about our local rec league and DD not having as much fun playing travel ball. Boy were we wrong! We finally pulled the trigger and joined a travel team in the fall. DD has made some new friends who want to play softball at the same level as she does; there are still politics, but not near as much as in rec.; DD is having much more fun playing ball now and can't wait for next season!!!

As for not moving your DD to 14U yet... If she is 11 and a good player, she should really enjoy playing at a higher level with kids her own age. I would let her be one of the stars of a 12U travel team for a year or so before throwing her into a 14U situation. Remember that some of the girls in 14U are in highschool; some of the conversations in the dugout and at practice are unsuitable for younger ears...

Honest Dad said:

We play in 12u............moving up to 14u next season, although my little girl is 11

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If your daughter is only 11; DO NOT MOVE HER UP to 14 U! I don't care if she is really good 1yr makes a lot of difference, 2-3 years difference is a different intensity and ball game.
Let her stay in 12U and develop physically and mentally.
Town ball never has the same intensity as travel because priorities for the girls are different. Let her try out for a travel team. Once she is on a travel team she will better bond with girls her age than she would with girls that are 2-3 years older than her. She will get the comradeship your looking for; it just takes a little time.

peace/out

Ken Krause wrote "We signed her up for both travel and rec ball, just to be sure she had fun playing softball.

The double sign-up was unnecessary"

We are doing that exact same thing this year with our 10 and 11 yo. They seem exited about the extra play. 5 of the girls on the travel team are also on our rec. team. The idea is to use the rec. expierence to build skills and confidance in between tournaments. I know that doesn't sound fair to the rest of the rec. team, but this is my fifth year coaching rec. and to be honest I am starting to put more effort into the players that actually want to be there for the game, than the ones that don't seem to care. If things go well this will be our last year for rec. but my question to Ken is, was there any burn out for your daughter or did she just like travel better. We are scheduled to play 6 tournaments from march to early july, and rec season is 16 games from april to june.

Thanks
Mike

Mike said:

If things go well this will be our last year for rec. but my question to Ken is, was there any burn out for your daughter or did she just like travel better. We are scheduled to play 6 tournaments from march to early july, and rec season is 16 games from april to june.

Thanks
Mike

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Really, she just liked travel better. The travel team had all good (although not necessarily great) players who, like you said, really wanted to be there and loved the game. The rec team had mostly kids who seemed like their parents signed them up so they'd go outside for a couple of hours a week. My kids all have inherited their father's competitive streak to some degree, so they don't enjoy playing with kids who just don't care.

As a postscript to this story, two or three years later my daughter had become a pitcher and got to be pretty good. She decided she wanted to try the rec league again so she could dominate hitters -- something she didn't do in travel ball, although she was successful. By the end of the season yes, she dominated hitters, but the trade-off was anyone who put a bat on the ball usually got on base. A pop-up to first base would hit the ground before the first baseman would go for it, that sort of thing. It was the last time she ever thought about being a big fish in the little pond. She was very happy when that season was over.

The burnout didn't come with the number of games. More with the caliber of play.