My son has been in TWLL since 2003 and played in Majors for the first time this year as an 11-year-old. He has been an all-star every year and, until this year, has lived and breathed baseball. I have managed and assisted as coach, and my wife and I have kept score and helped out in multiple capacities. We did not sit quietly on the sidelines letting others do all the work. We’ve been very actively involved wherever we could.
This is an important issue for all TWLL parents. For years we were warned, “just wait ‘til you get to Majors” – that there were lots of politics in play. We didn’t think much of it at the time. Even having a disappointing losing season in AA, we had a good run. The kids lost a lot of games that year, but they were always competitive.
We thought we could just stay out of the politics, but then we got to Majors. I want to make all parents aware of this so no one else’s child has to go through what the kids on our team went through this season.
If you have a child in Majors this season, then you are probably already aware of the controversy over redrafting teams each year. Up thru AAA, you expect your child to be on a new team each year. But that’s not the case in Majors. Currently TWLL does NOT redraft the Major division teams each year. Instead, my understanding is that the kids that are league-age 12 this year move on, and those that are younger than league-age 12 can return and play in Majors BUT MUST REMAIN ON THE SAME TEAM AS THIS YEAR. New players are then drafted to fill the open slots.
Some teams can have the majority of the team be new inexperienced players, while other returning teams may have several excellent players that are now seasoned and become a superior team. Several of the new candidates for the TWLL board are running exclusively to vote against a redraft to keep their teams of returning players together.
As you can see, this system makes it possible for some teams to be stacked with highly talented and experienced players while others can end up with mostly inexperienced players, creating a huge disparity in performance among the teams in the Majors division. When you couple this with individual managers, coaches and parents that know how to take advantage of the system, forcing trade deals after the draft is over (allowed by player agents), the corruption creates a severe balance problem.
The goal of the draft is to ensure that abilities of the kids on all the teams in each division are as balanced as possible. If it were required that every player was put back into the pool and new teams were drafted from scratch every season, the difference in ability between the #1 team and the #8 team would not be as wide, and even if a team had a losing season, they would more than likely be able to play their best and enjoy the efforts.
What happened this season caused our entire team to lose confidence in themselves, and good players who love the game, like my son, to be so frustrated as to nearly quit baseball altogether! That should NEVER happen, and it should be the responsibility of individual board members to put their personal interests aside and vote in favor of a policy that is best for the majority of the kids in the league, not just for a few favorites.
If this is your first time hearing about this issue, I encourage you to call the candidates individually and ask them to explain where they stand, how they will vote and why. You can also post and review opinions at http://twllredraft.blogspot.com . Please feel free to post a rebuttal, comments or questions in this open forum.
Whichever system is truly best for the kids, that’s what we should have in place at TWLL. I pray that no child ever has to go through the frustration, humiliation, teasing at school, lack of confidence, loss of enthusiasm and caring, and loss of love for the game that our kids experienced this year. It could have been prevented. It CAN STILL be prevented.
My understanding is that these candidates are in favor of a redraft. If you agree that this is a good idea, please consider voting for them. Mark Copeland Don Magee, current board member David Manzer Cole Othmer, current board member MaryAnne Othmer, current board member Rhonda Weiderhaft, current board member
Again, my understanding of who is currently on the board AGAINST the redraft are: Jay Boston Dan Castillo Pat Doherty Carolyn Dutcher Tim O’Donohue Mike Peterman
Those that are NOT on the board that are running and are AGAINST the redraft are: OJ Dutcher Leanne Martin Kathy Ricks Jim Wolfe Laura Wolfe
Also, if you agree, please forward this email to others you know personally in the league and discuss it with them.
First off, I want to say how proud I am of Chris Jacobson and the courage it took bring this issue up with TWLL parents and the Board. I am 100% behind Chris and the re-drafting of Majors at TWLL. Every other division at TWLL re-drafts each year, why should Majors be any different? I have a AAA son that will be heading off to Majors next year and I cant imagine if he were to come up to me and say "I want to quit baseball" that would break my heart. We need to let kids be kids and enjoy this short period of time in little league. My hope is that the TWLL board will re-consider the vote of re-drafting and realize that "this is for the boys" not the parents.
Here is a simple way to let parents and childern enjoy baseball again.Board members should consider this. At try outs every year have managers rate player's in three categories. Level A (real good player),level B( good player) and level C(player).Board members put all level A's in a pool,level B's in a pool and level C's in a pool. Board members: if we had eight or ten teams, place one level A player on each team,one B level player on each team and one C level player on each team (just as is done in AYSO). Give each manager a team and do not allow any trades period.If a manager complains get a new manager. If a parent complains tell them to take it (play on that team) or leave it (go to another program. If all manager's had to do this it would even the playing field for everybody involved. Manager's , Coach's , Parent's ,and Player's would have a great experience with little league. This should not only be about the majors,but also "AAA"&"AA". Board members let's forget about the banners and let all player's compete on a level playing field.
REDRAFT CONTROVERSY – BE INFORMED BEFORE YOU VOTE
ReplyDeleteMy son has been in TWLL since 2003 and played in Majors for the first time this year as an 11-year-old. He has been an all-star every year and, until this year, has lived and breathed baseball. I have managed and assisted as coach, and my wife and I have kept score and helped out in multiple capacities. We did not sit quietly on the sidelines letting others do all the work. We’ve been very actively involved wherever we could.
This is an important issue for all TWLL parents. For years we were warned, “just wait ‘til you get to Majors” – that there were lots of politics in play. We didn’t think much of it at the time. Even having a disappointing losing season in AA, we had a good run. The kids lost a lot of games that year, but they were always competitive.
We thought we could just stay out of the politics, but then we got to Majors. I want to make all parents aware of this so no one else’s child has to go through what the kids on our team went through this season.
If you have a child in Majors this season, then you are probably already aware of the controversy over redrafting teams each year. Up thru AAA, you expect your child to be on a new team each year. But that’s not the case in Majors. Currently TWLL does NOT redraft the Major division teams each year. Instead, my understanding is that the kids that are league-age 12 this year move on, and those that are younger than league-age 12 can return and play in Majors BUT MUST REMAIN ON THE SAME TEAM AS THIS YEAR. New players are then drafted to fill the open slots.
Some teams can have the majority of the team be new inexperienced players, while other returning teams may have several excellent players that are now seasoned and become a superior team. Several of the new candidates for the TWLL board are running exclusively to vote against a redraft to keep their teams of returning players together.
As you can see, this system makes it possible for some teams to be stacked with highly talented and experienced players while others can end up with mostly inexperienced players, creating a huge disparity in performance among the teams in the Majors division. When you couple this with individual managers, coaches and parents that know how to take advantage of the system, forcing trade deals after the draft is over (allowed by player agents), the corruption creates a severe balance problem.
The goal of the draft is to ensure that abilities of the kids on all the teams in each division are as balanced as possible. If it were required that every player was put back into the pool and new teams were drafted from scratch every season, the difference in ability between the #1 team and the #8 team would not be as wide, and even if a team had a losing season, they would more than likely be able to play their best and enjoy the efforts.
What happened this season caused our entire team to lose confidence in themselves, and good players who love the game, like my son, to be so frustrated as to nearly quit baseball altogether! That should NEVER happen, and it should be the responsibility of individual board members to put their personal interests aside and vote in favor of a policy that is best for the majority of the kids in the league, not just for a few favorites.
If this is your first time hearing about this issue, I encourage you to call the candidates individually and ask them to explain where they stand, how they will vote and why. You can also post and review opinions at http://twllredraft.blogspot.com . Please feel free to post a rebuttal, comments or questions in this open forum.
Whichever system is truly best for the kids, that’s what we should have in place at TWLL. I pray that no child ever has to go through the frustration, humiliation, teasing at school, lack of confidence, loss of enthusiasm and caring, and loss of love for the game that our kids experienced this year. It could have been prevented. It CAN STILL be prevented.
My understanding is that these candidates are in favor of a redraft. If you agree that this is a good idea, please consider voting for them.
Mark Copeland
Don Magee, current board member
David Manzer
Cole Othmer, current board member
MaryAnne Othmer, current board member
Rhonda Weiderhaft, current board member
Again, my understanding of who is currently on the board AGAINST the redraft are:
Jay Boston
Dan Castillo
Pat Doherty
Carolyn Dutcher
Tim O’Donohue
Mike Peterman
Those that are NOT on the board that are running and are AGAINST the redraft are:
OJ Dutcher
Leanne Martin
Kathy Ricks
Jim Wolfe
Laura Wolfe
Also, if you agree, please forward this email to others you know personally in the league and discuss it with them.
Thank you,
Chris Jacobson
First off, I want to say how proud I am of Chris Jacobson and the courage it took bring this issue up with TWLL parents and the Board. I am 100% behind Chris and the re-drafting of Majors at TWLL. Every other division at TWLL re-drafts each year, why should Majors be any different? I have a AAA son that will be heading off to Majors next year and I cant imagine if he were to come up to me and say "I want to quit baseball" that would break my heart. We need to let kids be kids and enjoy this short period of time in little league. My hope is that the TWLL board will re-consider the vote of re-drafting and realize that "this is for the boys" not the parents.
ReplyDeleteHere is a simple way to let parents and childern enjoy baseball again.Board members
ReplyDeleteshould consider this.
At try outs every year have managers rate player's in three categories. Level A (real good player),level B( good player) and level C(player).Board members put all level A's in a pool,level B's in a pool and level C's in a pool.
Board members: if we had eight or ten teams, place one level A player on each team,one B level player on each team and one C level player on each team (just as is done in AYSO). Give each manager a team and do not allow any trades period.If a manager complains get a new manager. If a parent complains tell them to take it (play on that team) or leave it (go to another program.
If all manager's had to do this it would even the playing field for everybody involved.
Manager's , Coach's , Parent's ,and Player's would have a great experience with little league.
This should not only be about the majors,but also "AAA"&"AA".
Board members let's forget about the banners
and let all player's compete on a level playing field.
Kevin Kyriss