14U team DQ'ed at LL World Series for social media post

Rocketech1 said:

It's kinda a joke to have travel ball teams come back to Little League (rec league) for the spring just so they can go trophy hunting against inferior competition. We had something similar happen in ASA "B" 10U all-stars one year. A bunch of very good players from travel ball teams from different areas decided to join a local rec league in the spring to be eligible for summer all-stars, displacing the regular players who had been with the rec program for many years. This "super team" ended up going undefeated in 6 tournaments including Districts, State, and Western Nationals when they should have been playing "A" level travel ball.

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We think it is bizarre, but this is how it works in baseball leagues (at least locally). All the Ripken leagues are filled with kids who are on travel teams. After the Ripken season ends (and all star tournaments) they all join their travel teams for the fall. I want to say some do travel ball at the same time as All Stars as well, but it's been a few years since I've followed some of my friends' teams and could be remembering this wrong.

I'm not so sure that the softball model is better, the Ripken leagues are thriving around here while the USA rec leagues are floundering. And the baseball players don't seem to be negatively affected by waiting on travel ball.

Rocketech1 said:

It's kinda a joke to have travel ball teams come back to Little League (rec league) for the spring just so they can go trophy hunting against inferior competition. We had something similar happen in ASA "B" 10U all-stars one year. A bunch of very good players from travel ball teams from different areas decided to join a local rec league in the spring to be eligible for summer all-stars, displacing the regular players who had been with the rec program for many years. This "super team" ended up going undefeated in 6 tournaments including Districts, State, and Western Nationals when they should have been playing "A" level travel ball.

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I agree. When my DD played all stars it was because her travel org was affiliated with the LL and it was required all players 10u and younger also participate in Spring LL . I can only speak for my family we weren't particularly interested in her playing LL but it was a requirement that year. Travel ball took a hiatus during that time, so her all star team was comprised mostly of travel players and took District Championship as well as 3rd in the state. At 12u and after, however, it became hugely unfair to have travel ball players participate in LL (and none of the 12u and above travel players were particularly interested in playing LL at that point anyway). If you are that good you should just play A travel ball. It's what most teams do. I'm not sure why Atlee travel players are playing in the Little League world Series. My DD's 14U team has played against many of those players in travel ball this year and they can hang in travel.

Our little league for boys was filled with TB players, but not as a team. They were drafted like everyone else.

Rocketech1 said:

It's kinda a joke to have travel ball teams come back to Little League (rec league) for the spring just so they can go trophy hunting against inferior competition.

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I don't have a problem with it. That is assuming that you have to play for the LL district in which you live. Isn't that the case? How is that different than top TB players high school ball? They're representing their communities, having fun, bringing up the quality of their local Little Leagues.

CoogansBluff said:

I don't have a problem with it. That is assuming that you have to play for the LL district in which you live. Isn't that the case? How is that different than top TB players high school ball? They're representing their communities, having fun, bringing up the quality of their local Little Leagues.

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By definition, rec league is recreational who's primary purpose is participation by all with a strong emphasis on fun and social aspects of the sport on a fair and even level. There are no cuts, if you want to play, you are guaranteed a spot and most rec leagues have minimum playing time on the field.

On the other hand, travel and club ball is competitive by nature, for the dedicated and serious athlete who wants to continue to improve, and many times is looking for an athletic scholarship to play in college. There are tryouts and cuts and no guarantee of playing time.

Lastly, high school ball is the opportunity to play for your school, some programs are competitive and others are not. There are no other options, you either play softball for your HS or you don't play school ball. Most high school programs have rules about recruiting players from other high schools and districts to create powerhouse teams. For example, a now prominent HS football program near me was recently reprimanded with possible sanctions for recruiting players from outside the school district (e.g. Compton) when the school is located 40 miles away in a affluent city.

The bottom-line is if you are have reached a certain athletic potential in rec league, you should move on to a more competitive team and program and leave the rec leagues to the less committed players. There is a reason, for example, USA/ASA has three levels of play (A, B, and C).

Rocketech1 said:

By definition, rec league is recreational who's primary purpose is participation by all with a strong emphasis on fun and social aspects of the sport on a fair and even level. There are no cuts, if you want to play, you are guaranteed a spot and most rec leagues have minimum playing time on the field.

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But we're talking about the Little League organization, not rec ball in general.

What does LL say about the purpose of its leagues and organization? Does it explicitly discourage more serious players from participating? Or does LL welcome travel players and want the quality of play in the LLWS to be stronger as a result?

CoogansBluff said:

But we're talking about the Little League organization, not rec ball in general.

What does LL say about the purpose of its leagues and organization? Does it explicitly discourage more serious players from participating? Or does LL welcome travel players and want the quality of play in the LLWS to be stronger as a result?

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Maybe its different in California, but LL is like PONY baseball here, 100% rec league. You want to play competitive softball, you join a travel team that plays in PGF, TCS, and maybe ASA "A" tournaments. Some of the new and/or developing TB teams might play NSA and USSSA.

Rocketech1 said:

Maybe its different in California, but LL is like PONY baseball here, 100% rec league. You want to play competitive softball, you join a travel team that plays in PGF, TCS, and maybe ASA "A" tournaments. Some of the new and/or developing TB teams might play NSA and USSSA.

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The travel teams don't enter into little league - its the individual players. A player would play on both a travel and a little league team. Like someone mentioned above - in LL players have to play in their hometowns so while most of the players might also play travel they play for different teams.