Buckeye 2015 posted:Chico Escuela posted:Buckeye 2015 posted:The thing people don't understand is that these same kids play travel ball all summer....some of them on the top name travel teams we've all heard of for years. ...
This is an important point. My son's LL had travel teams at each age from 9-12 that played a handful of weekend tournaments during the spring LL season and the fall. The rosters of those teams generally were almost identical to the all-star teams. It was a good system--the ability to experience both LL and some travel ball kept a lot of good players in the league, and kids got to see some of both LL and travel ball.
The thing I don't like is that many kids (at least in my state) ONLY play LL during their 12 year-old year, and then only come to about half the regular season games. There was a LL rule that required all-star players to have played about 50% of regular season games unless injured--so far as I know, that is still the case. A lot of leagues appear to be recruiting kids to play on their 12s all-star teams by promising them a shot at Williamsport if they will just show up for the bare minimum number of LL games as 12 yr olds while still playing a full travel schedule.
IMO, the problem with Williamsport is that it is supposed to be a competition between real LL teams, but because of the hype adults can't resist cheating. I'm not a fan of the idea of travel teams that fly kids in from around the country to play together on weekends. But those teams aren't breaking any rules, and if they pound my kid's team at a PG event, then that's just how it goes. The LLWS is supposed to be something different. I have watched a couple of LLWS games at Williamsport. It's an exciting atmosphere and it would have been really cool if my son could have played there. But I choose not to watch on TV--it just seems overblown to see it on ESPN. Clearly a lot of folks feel differently about that, which is perfectly OK with me.
I don't get the disdain some here have for for LL. My son had a great experience, and I coached his teams and others for years. Part of the LL experience is learning to be teammates with kids of wiiiiiiiiidely varying abilities--you know, like adults have to do at work or in other aspects of life. Some of the kids I coached or watched went on to D1 baseball. Some played other sports in HS or college. And some just weren't good athletes--but they had fun (most of them, anyhow), got some exercise, learned some life lessons... I loved high-fiving the kid who had struck out every AB for his first 13 games of the season, but who was over the moon because he reached first on a squib grounder in the last regular season game of the year. Baseball isn't just about trying to maximize your shot at making MLB, especially for kids who are still in elementary school.
I get that....but keep in mind, you still need to be from the LL District to play on the all star team. My son played both travel and LL....he didn't make it to every game...but he made more than the required number. If you took only the "full-time" LL kids and no part-timers who also played travel, you'd have a much different LLWS. Heck, the kid from NY yesterday blew 3 easy fly balls to left in one inning....and he's on a team at the LLWS. It was hard to watch....but would be even worse if you had 2 or 3 kids on a team doing that....like you see when you go to your local LL games.
I don't think we disagree. Not all LLs create teams to give their players the option to play travel ball. In my area most do, but that began within the last 6 to 8 years.
My son missed a couple of LL games per season and a few practices because of travel soccer, which ended around the middle of the LL season as I recall. His coaches weren't thrilled, but they understood he wanted to play both sports. If his LL hadn't offered a travel baseball option, my son might have played on an outside baseball team and missed more LL games (or dropped LL altogether).
My point is not that kids shouldn't be able to do both travel and LL, but that I don't like the idea of a kid with no real ties to a league essentially being recruited purely to play as a 12-y.o. all-star. On the other hand, I think some 12s decide they want a shot at the LLWS and ESPN, so they just choose to play LL for one year. That's not really what the LLWS is supposed to be about, but I wouldn't try to stop those kids (and maybe as adults they become supporters of LL).
My experience has been that any time you try to create a youth sports league or event designed to give less-than-top-tier talent an opportunity, you end up with kids who (arguably) are "ringers" and ought not to be playing at that level. I see that issue crop up with kids on the varsity squad making spot starts on JV teams in my son's HS league, for example. When the only rule is "put together the best team you can at a particular age" like at PG events, then the only potential cheating involves birth certificates, while the LLWS also has to deal with place of residence and participation in LL, among other potential ways to game the rules.