Newbe revelation

[Coach Hig]

Hello DFP family. I would like to present a scenario to you that has played out at our local league and, if nothing else, simply get your instruction/advice to, "... just shut up and play ball." The scenario follows:

History: A legitimate and well established (i.e., group of young ladies had played together for approximately three years) team playing at the Major Division succeeds at "everything" local, advances throughout the state and ultimately to the LL World Series. Competes strong and finishes in the top five. Obviously, we are ecstatic and proud of our girls and celebration is on!!

Season ends. The group of girls comprising this team have "finished" Major Division eligibility and will therefore be moving [up] to Jr./Sr. division ... Forward through summer to the 2015 season.

A little more history: - The Jr./Sr. Division, in the year of all the Major Division success, has four teams; one of which is rather abruptly assembled, literally, the day of tryouts and, as a result does not benefit from adequate draft selection and thereby, is not a competitor in the pool of four. A second of the four teams is very young, with exception of about three players. This team also, is not a real competitor against the remaining and returning two teams.

SO ....

2015 Season gets underway: Here is where things get interesting. As the season nears, enthusiastic conversation is being had about the expectations of an exciting season amongst four competitive teams competing in the Jr./Sr. Division as a result of a strong group of young ladies coming into the draft. The weakest of teams from last season will have the opportunity to draft quality talent and build stronger, more competitive teams. The anticipated outcome is a favorable possibility that this seasons Jr./Sr. Division play will be well rounded, competitive and exciting. HOWEVER!, almost immediately, conversation of "an expansion team" begins to swirl about the park. The significance here, as I am sure many of you know, is that an expansion team (i.e., totally new team) will be given the first seven (7) picks. I've probably explained enough in detail and will therefore summarize from here -

- In an effort to gather enough participants, phone calls go out requesting that girls "come sign up." An 'executive,' if you will, stated, "We have to have at least fifty to have an expansion team."
- Numbers pulled in as sign ups were extended
- Coaching from previous season successful Major Division team moves up to Jr./Sr. Division
- Expansion team created
- Jr./Sr. Division now has FIVE (5) teams with seven (7) previous season Major Division players assembled
- Previous season lesser teams never having the opportunity to draft any of these incoming players
- Despite ONLY ONE coach from previous Jr./Sr. season returning; thus three existing teams NEEDED coaches
- WORST OF IT is that the teams that were not competitive last season did not get an opportunity to improve their team and as a result are getting humiliated on the field for yet another season.

I think you guys and gals understanding what I am describing here. My rant is this; I was the coach of one of those less competitive teams of last season and after watching them give A LOT to try and be competitive, here they are AGAIN going through another season of humiliation (and believe me, IT IS HUMILIATION) at the expense of a select few. An expansion team was not, is not and cannot be justified by any of the "executives" of our local league - no way that I can see anyway. And as some of you may surmise, the newly created expansion team - yeah, DD dad is the manager. What's that? Oh, yes, just so happens she is the pitcher.

Am I wrong to see this as completely and totally wrong on every level possible??? I have no beef with the young ladies - NONE OF THEM. But the antics and ethics of the league are just wrong in my opinion.

Lets evaluate the outcome: FIVE teams NOW in the Jr./Sr. Division with TWO that are competitive and ONE that has a little something to offer - emphasis on little. All the while, we (coaches and fans alike) watch these other two teams get humiliated and completely pushed aside with regard to being part of a [possibly] competitive team and MORE IMPORTANTLY - opportunity to have a FUN and PLEASURABLE season.

Am I wrong to be upset and disgusted with this or should I .... "just shut up and play ball."

Sorry for the length, but I had to give you the scenario. Please comment and thank you!

CH

 

[CoachHarley]

Not being familiar with LL, what is the Jr/Sr ages? How many kids total do you have in the league. To me, and I am the 14u/16u Commissioner for the local league, 50 kids is NOT enough for 5 teams.

Even in the younger age groups, we will not have an expansion team until we hit enough for all teams to have at least 11 players.

Oh, and every effort should be made to even spread the "talent" across all the teams. The kids that are talented will help bring up the other less experience players, that should be the goal for rec.

 

[CPEM]

From OP's comment, it appears that the teams carry over from year to year, and even age division to age division. I don't know how LL softball works, but for everything else that LL does to ensure parity, I would have thought they would require all teams to draft every year. I've heard of some leagues that get around this by allowing a certain number of "locks" for kids that played for them the previous year or their "assistant coaches" and all that does is just ensure that one or two teams are dominant. In our league, we eliminated all but one lock: your own kid/step-kid/grandkid/niece/god-daughter, whatever she is to you. You want someone to be your AC? You have to draft his/her kid. We do other things as part of the draft to ensure equitable teams, but eliminating the multiple "locks" was a big factor. So far it's working for us this season, with all intra-league games being decided by 1 or 2 runs.

 

[obbay]

Jr/Sr is basically U16
that sounds familiar. our Jr/Sr league is down to 4 teams from 6 a few years ago.

I don't know what to tell you, they definitely should've distributed those players through the league rather than create another team. in our town they have a local requirement that all Sr league teams need to roster a minimum of 14 players each because as kids get busy with High School, there are less of them available to play every game. this usually results in teams of 16 or 17 players. this year we will have 65 players divided by 4 teams. sometimes there are a couple teams that have bad attitudes and the coach has trouble getting 9 together by game time, but then there are other teams that have all 17 players show up for every game!

we keep the teams the same for every year the player plays unless the team is discontinued.

FWIW- we one time had an expansion team that started with a core of 8 all-stars. fortunately the talent level in the league was pretty well distributed at that time so they were competitive but not dominant. those kids wound up dropping out after 1 or 2 seasons and the remaining players were absorbed by the other 5 teams.

in the 13-16 age range a lot of players become less enamored with softball, drop out to spend their time on more important things like jobs, boys and/or other interests.

I liked having kids be on the same team every year- you get veterans looking out for rookies, etc, but now I'm thinking that with so few players we should probably draft new teams every year. we have also opened up our league to an adjacent town so we are playing more teams.

 

[Coach Hig]

Not being familiar with LL, what is the Jr/Sr ages? How many kids total do you have in the league. To me, and I am the 14u/16u Commissioner for the local league, 50 kids is NOT enough for 5 teams.

Even in the younger age groups, we will not have an expansion team until we hit enough for all teams to have at least 11 players.

Oh, and every effort should be made to even spread the "talent" across all the teams. The kids that are talented will help bring up the other less experience players, that should be the goal for rec.

As mentioned in the opening post, we had less than fifty prior to phone calls being made. The total number of registered players ultimately came to fifty two (52). Per the sheet handed out by the league 'execs' at the close of the 2015 draft, three teams had ten players and two teams had eleven (totaling 52) selected and placed players. Regarding age/divisions, Jr./Sr. Division is 13 to 16 YOA.

As you point out, "... the goal for rec. ..."; that is precisely my issue. THAT did not happen in a very real and unfortunate way. Conversely, in fact, the "talent" was purposely kept together by creating a new team and at the [multifaceted] expense of a lot of deserving young ladies.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

Sooo...in brief...instead of all the new girls going in a pool to be drafted by weaker teams in the next league up. They started a new team so all these girls could stay together on the same team like they did before moving up? And nothing changes in the league to help anybody.

 

[Coach Hig]

As a few of you have commented and mentioned, the girls do stay on the same team unless a written request is submitted and a player returns to the draft for choosing of another and different coach/team. OR, she may be traded during the draft provided this same request had been submitted.

This is how the younger division team came to be (see OP) "... legitimate and well established," they had played together for two to three years - the majority being three year teammates.

@Obbay - Your post is exactly how I see the matter - not this specific situation but generally speaking, the number of girls on each team. We could easily use twelve to fourteen girls on each team due simply to the percentages of day to day goings on in all of our lives - not to mention the possibilities of injuries and need for team depth. BTW, we play nine on the field (obviously). We have three teams with ten and two with eleven ... one of which is the expansion team of topic. And that was at the start of the season. I am positive those numbers have changed somewhat.

CH

 

[Coach Hig]

Sooo...in brief...instead of all the new girls going in a pool to be drafted by weaker teams in the next league up. They started a new team so all these girls could stay together on the same team like they did before moving up? And nothing changes in the league to help anybody.

Precisely.

 

[Rocketech1]

This is the problem with rec leagues in general: Politics. The rules are manipulated by the board members and managers (on the inside) who control the whole process, back-room deals, etc. If you are an "outsider" coach you and your players get screwed every time. This is one of the key reasons my DD left rec league to play travel ball when she turned 12. There is a lot less politics in travel ball when it comes to choosing teams, playing time, and daddy ball. I feel your pain...

 

[canyonjoe]

There are certain people that are in these leagues to win trophies. Anyone out to develop better players thinks this is wrong.