U10 players playing U14!!!!?????!!!!!!

[Sycotic]

Help I need some input. I am currently on the board of directors for our league as the t-ball commissioner. I am also the U8 head coach. We just had our first practice today. We had an issue that came up today and even though it does not effect me or my team i tried to do what i felt was right. So i want to recap what happened and then get some input. We were forming a U12 team. They only had 4 girls registered but said they were going to double roster 5 U10 girls. I was not a big fan of that because i feel like we will cause burn out and to me double rostering is to fill holes in absences but not to fill teams. So then they find out (after i have been telling them for 2 months) that 1 girl was to old. So her mom (the coach) decides to make the team a U14 team. So, we are moving U12 competitive team to a U14 instructional. My issue is I do not feel that that is what is best for the league as a whole and only what is best for the one girl who is otherwise ineleigible. I pride myself on having integrity. My heart is broken that no one had no qualms doing this. So now we have a few U10 players who will now be playing U14 one girl who is only 9 (but plays years above her age both physically and mentally).

At this point I am at my wits end and as much as I love coaching I am willing for my wife and I to resign our board positions and leave the league. I do not want to be affiliated with a league that I feel makes their decisions based off of the personal interests of the board members and not what is best for our league as a whole. Am I overreacting? By the way this is not the only discrepancy that has led me to this decision but this is just the most recent.

 

[marriard]

Ok,

So the REAL problem is you really don't have anywhere near enough girls for a 12U team (and now it is 14U because one of those was over age). But the league doesn't want to lose what girls they have...but it turns out you really only have three 12U and one 14U... That doesn't make a team either way without filling in with the younger girls.

What you have not stated is what YOUR solution would be. The 14U decision is clearly not a great one and even the original double rostering 10U girls idea is not ideal, but what would you have them do?

 

[Sycotic]

I recognize that there are no "good" solutions. One way or another something has to give. However, there is more backstory to this. The 12U team was developed for the 13 year old. Her mom joined the board and said she would coach 12U and wanted to because she needed a place for her daughter to play. She also said she had several other girls that were going to come with her. I am okay with developing whatever teams we actually have players for. If we have girls for 14U then lets do it. We have enough players for 12U lets do it. You need two players to double roster in case of accidents I'm okay with that. You want to move girls up 2 divisions. I am not okay with.

The other issue with this league is if it wasnt for a board members child they would have sent her to another league to play. They did it all through sign-ups for mustang and we ended up turning way enough players to come close to making a full team. We only run pinto for boys. T-ball is coed and 1 8U team 1 10U team. So, I asked why not move pinto to mustang and have the people we turned away make a team (We struggled to make a pinto team and even moved up a few t-ballers to fill the roster, including 1 girl). So, my issue is that it is not equal treatment for all. My advice would have been when we were struggling with sign-ups let go off the 12U team and let them go play somewhere else if they wanted to play. (Most girls were begged into playing and would not have played if our coach did not call them so we would not have hurt anyones feelings.) Financially we will be paying out FAR more then we take in with this many girls double rostered. We only charge them one fee if double rostered yet we supply more uniform. So, even financially it would have benefited the league to not run the 12U team without being able to provide more girls at the actual age group.

The other issues is the 10U coach and the 12/14U coach want to run separate practice so now you have 9 and 10 year olds who are practicing 4 or 5 days a week. Plus games, all for a rec league. We are not a highly competitive travel league or anything like that. I believe this is way to much for girls of this age. People would think I was nuts if I wanted to move 8U girls up to 12U. So, how is this different. As a board I think we need to limit how far a player may jump. As a board we have to make the same decision we would have made last year and the same decision we would make next year. If it wasnt for this coach being on the board this would be a non-issue. I can say that because we sent a mustang player his money back because we didnt have a team.

So, like I said there is a lot more to this. However, the board is to protect ALL children in our league and make decisions that are best for ALL children and not just the one or 2. I am not saying whether or not the girls playing can be competitive. That is a non-issue to me. We are not moving them up because they need the extra challenge. We are moving them so 1 girl can play (who's mom has said she will not play next year she will do summer theater) So, then next year we wont be able to field a 12U nor a 14U. If they disbanded 12U and had enough 12U and 14U girls to make one team of 14U I would be okay. My issue is the 2 division jump.

 

[MNDad]

Quitting on the t-ball and 8U players for a beef you have at the 12U/14U level doesn't make much sense. This sounds more like a personal issue with the Mom.

 

[marriard]

I recognize that there are no "good" solutions.

So, like I said there is a lot more to this. However, the board is to protect ALL children in our league and make decisions that are best for ALL children and not just the one or 2. I am not saying whether or not the girls playing can be competitive. That is a non-issue to me. We are not moving them up because they need the extra challenge. We are moving them so 1 girl can play (who's mom has said she will not play next year she will do summer theater) So, then next year we wont be able to field a 12U nor a 14U. If they disbanded 12U and had enough 12U and 14U girls to make one team of 14U I would be okay. My issue is the 2 division jump.

Really? Because the core issue isn't jumping two age divisions because 12U or 14U it is still a disaster. That is just a symptom of the issues. Even if it was 12U you only have 3 eligible players. The issue is as a league you haven't figured out how to get enough players to call yourself a league. Safe bet that numbers have been dropping year over year and nothing materially has been done to try to stop it. Right?

You don't have enough players for 12U or 14U (or whatever your league is calling them - I assume it is PONY which technically does allow young players to play with much older players for small leagues). There isn't much you can do about it this year and you can forget those girls after this season. Doesn't sound like they wanted to come back all that much anyway. The parents of the 10U girls playing up will make their own decision on what is too much/too little - frankly if I was them I would probably just pick one practice and turn up for games for whatever division and teams I have agreed that my kid will play in (since I doubt you have enough for 'subs' anyway so you are going to play). I don't know who you play or how that is setup and I am not sure it makes much difference anyway - it is not going to be good for this division.

So... in the end what you really have is enough girls for one 8U team and one 10U team...The organization is in big trouble, because based on what I have seen, unless you do something major, you wont even have that shortly. Since you are not involved in 10U+ as far as I can tell, you can concentrate on your team in 8U for this season, help some t-ballers out, hopefully avoid having to deal with the disaster the older 'team' is going to be, and at some time decide what is going to happen in the future - is there a chance it can be salvaged and can you be part of that, or is it time to move on and find a new league.

 

[Sycotic]

No this is not a beef with the mom. In fact my wife and I have spent time at her house on several occassions. I still have nothing against her.

As far as the ball club. We are a small always struggling ball club that plays in a small local softball league. I have only been involved for the last 2 years and both years I was only in t-ball. At that time as parent and coach I didn't know anything about who the board was or anything. I was always concerned about the lack of organization and communications (the main reasons for their declining numbers) but then I reluctantly joined the board thinking I could actually help (I was concerned because both of the previous years they had mass exodus from board members).

The other issues with this organization is they do not know nor follow their own bylaws. Even when I or my wife point that out they don't care. My wife is the secretary and can't even get the paperwork she is supposed to have according to the bylaws. The current treasurer has all of it (she was former secretary but won't let go...and no she is not the 12U coach). Then I helped her create some documents to keep track of everything and audit our registrations that we created on Google docs. Well now she unshared them with me even though I helped her create them. So I guess she is mad at me but she has never told me this. So I don't know why.

So again like I said I am more concerned about the integrity of this board. With numerous violations of their own bylaws and at one point someone saying play the team at 12U and when we get caught just have the league pay the fine...yeah no. Like I said morally, ethically, and with integrity i have many issues with this board.

So yes the issue isn't 12U 14U that just happens to be the current boiling point for me.

Yes this is a sinking ship the way it is going.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

 

[marriard]

Like I said morally, ethically, and with integrity i have many issues with this board.

So yes the issue isn't 12U 14U that just happens to be the current boiling point for me.

Yes this is a sinking ship the way it is going.

OK, now we are getting at the heart of it. You have two choices that will make you happy... either make a move to take over the board at the next election and run the org yourself like you would like to see it run or after you have finished your commitment to the players you have committed to this season, move on.

 

[Cat5]

We've had similar situations and have found that allowing it sets a precedent for subsequent years eg 'well so&so was allowed to play up so why cant X'? Then it results in many players playing up and then it becomes the standard 'well...Missy is 9 so she'll be playing 14U right?'. Then it escalates to players playing up 3 age divisions and so on where if someone is deemed unsuitable to play up with kids 4 or 5 (or 8!) years older than them, their parents consider the board unfair and unreasonable even when it's for the safety of their child.

Is there a way your club can make an appeal to the League and request an exemption for the one older girl to play 12U? That's the path I would pursue.

 

[djcarter1966]

I would approach this from a couple different angles, first you are the T-ball commish, make 100% sure that T-ball is run with the integrity and honesty you are expecting from the rest of the board that should be your #1 priority.

Second at a board meeting and via the minutes I would express your concerns about what is going on and voice your objections. Remember parents should have to authorize the kids to play up; the 9 yr olds parents should simply state when asked about double rostering say NO. You are already down this road for this year so there is probably not a lot that can be done. I would also check BEFORE you play a game with your governing body those girls playing up to 14U may NOT be eligible for 10U All Stars depending on the rules

Before next year I would start the process of re-writing the by-laws so this can not happen again. Should be a minimum number to form a division NO double rostering you only play one division, etc. whatever rules you think need to be in place to stop this non sense. If not you can resign the board if there are not other options I would coach my DD team and not be involved with the politics of it all.

 

[nicelag]

Sounds like a lot of daddy, mommy and friend ball (which never works) for the past few years which as stated before is probably the reason for the small league numbers. It is very difficult to draw lines in the sand, and make stands, when there aren't enough players to form divisions of age appropriate girls. It sounds like you really don't have much of a choice here. You either have to let girls play up to make it work, or send girls away which doesn't leave enough players to form teams for 10U and above.

The bottom line is it's too late to do anything about it now. I would maybe start talking to other leagues in your area about joining up next season. If you have 3 smallish leagues you can join and form one league with solid numbers. With solid numbers you can all put your heads together to amend rules and bylaws to properly run your league which starts with making sure the girls' happiness is the first priority "not the parents".