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  1. #11
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    That sounds crazy. We don’t have little league, just rec leagues that sponsor travel teams as well. It’s pretty hard to make a travel team (and it’s political as well with parent coaches) but rec is a no tryout option available all the way to high school.

    Are his friends even on the B team? If not, I would definitely see if a neighboring town offered a more inclusive program.

  2. #12
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    KpbS is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    I'm sorry. That totally stinks. I wish there were some alternatives. Where we live, you can play in one of several leagues. One in our city proper and three in bordering areas.
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  3. #13
    hellokitty is offline Pink Diamond level (15,000+ posts)
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    Yes, this us exactly how it is in our area too. And yes travel teams are super political. We are transplants to the area and my older son, even though he was a good player, was simply a back up substitute for the travel. He didn't want to try out for the travel team at a different organization, because he knew kids on the one associates with our school district. The boys on the team were on the team because all the parents went to high school together! How the hell do you get your kid on the team if you didn't grow up there? Yeah, crazy!

    My youngest one is on a travel team now and my husband is the current coach. However when they started the team 3 years ago under a different coach it was by invitation only, no try outs. My son just happened to get invited because another kid dropped out and then they went to spring training camp to scout kids out. The coach who scouted happened to have had my son on his rec team before, so remembered him and he was invited to take the last spot on the team.

    The second year the travel coach got so many complaints from rec parents who wanted their kids on travel that he did try outs. The entire team had to try out too. We ended up with 2 new kids, and last year my husband also conducted try outs and the entire team had to try out again too. He invited two new kids, only one accepted, lost another kid to a more intense travel team (ours isn't as crazy as the ones that travel overnight every week, many of our families are in professions where they have to do some weekends (in our case my husband is on call) and we have several single moms who can't do it due to work schedules. We still have mostly the core group and every year one or two kids are new. Our travel team does not have the same cliquey flavor that others have, we consider ourselves more of an Allstars travel team. It is a lot of work, there needs to be fundraising or asking for corporate donations. Our out of pocket though is way less than the intense travel teams, where they pay thousands to register and that doesn't even include food, travel and equipment costs. Because we are a travel team under a rec organization, our boys are required to play rec too... they split them evenly amongst the teams so no team ends up stacked (because that also used to happen under the era of rec that my older son was in because it is super dependent on who the baseball commissioner is and our school district went open enrollment, which has busted up this kind of cliquey crap).
    Last edited by hellokitty; 06-09-2021 at 12:36 PM.
    Mom to 3 LEGO Maniacs

  4. #14
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    elektra is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    This doesn't sound like Little League to me. Their mission is around everyone playing. I don't know all the dynamics of where you are but a few things could be going on. 1- The season for Little League Baseball is Spring, not Summer. Any Summer league tends to have way less participation and isn't as organized at the local level. 2- Your town's Little League may not have enough kids to field multiple teams. Where I live my local Little League has this problem. But in the surrounding areas that also have Little Leagues ( still less than a mile from our house) there is much better organization and participation. Some kids I know play in that league instead. The only caveat is that they are not allowed to play on that league's all star team if they might be good enough to make it. But it sounds like that wound not be an issue for you.
    So I would:
    -Try again in Fall or Spring. As I said, Spring is the main season, but many leagues also have good Fall participation/organization.
    -Look at surrounding towns and what leagues they offer.
    -Ask around locally what other parents do. You can't be the only one in this pickle.
    -Try some of the camps. Yes they may not really have the full competition of a game. But they can still be fun. My son who currently still plays on a travel baseball team, LOVES the local baseball camp where they swim, play goofy games, and can focus on the their enjoyment of just playing, regardless of skill or technique.

    It is very true that youth sports are becoming less accessible to underserved kids or kids who can't or don't want to take private lessons. Many people are trying the change that, and hopefully some people local to you are fighting that good fight. You may have to do a little hunting to try to find them, but they are out there!
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  5. #15
    Philly Mom is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by elektra View Post
    This doesn't sound like Little League to me. Their mission is around everyone playing. I don't know all the dynamics of where you are but a few things could be going on. 1- The season for Little League Baseball is Spring, not Summer. Any Summer league tends to have way less participation and isn't as organized at the local level. 2- Your town's Little League may not have enough kids to field multiple teams. Where I live my local Little League has this problem. But in the surrounding areas that also have Little Leagues ( still less than a mile from our house) there is much better organization and participation. Some kids I know play in that league instead. The only caveat is that they are not allowed to play on that league's all star team if they might be good enough to make it. But it sounds like that wound not be an issue for you.
    So I would:
    -Try again in Fall or Spring. As I said, Spring is the main season, but many leagues also have good Fall participation/organization.
    -Look at surrounding towns and what leagues they offer.
    -Ask around locally what other parents do. You can't be the only one in this pickle.
    -Try some of the camps. Yes they may not really have the full competition of a game. But they can still be fun. My son who currently still plays on a travel baseball team, LOVES the local baseball camp where they swim, play goofy games, and can focus on the their enjoyment of just playing, regardless of skill or technique.

    It is very true that youth sports are becoming less accessible to underserved kids or kids who can't or don't want to take private lessons. Many people are trying the change that, and hopefully some people local to you are fighting that good fight. You may have to do a little hunting to try to find them, but they are out there!
    I think this is correct here and what I thought about when I read OP's post. Here, LL is in the spring. Anyone can do it. At the end of the season, there was a try out for the all star team that plays against other towns' all star teams with the hope to go to the LL World Series. It is competitive and a big deal. The kids I know who play travel baseball made the team as well as some other kids who are just good athletes but baseball isn't their primary sport.

  6. #16
    mmsmom is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    I agree former town Little League had tryouts but only to create even teams... everyone got a spot for the Spring season. They did have a summer league as well that apparently was more of an invitation thing but I don’t know for sure as we were never interested. But true Little League allows anyone to play.

  7. #17
    mom2binsd is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    It is so strange that there isn't a rec type league. Even our small city of 150K has two rec baseball organizations, grouped by age, and you just sign up/you can request to be on a team with friends especially if the parents coach, but random kids get put on teams, no cuts, cost is about 200 and runs May thru mid July (they don't call it Little League here though). One of them has a parent volunteer requirement to work concessions at their fields, the other is more just pay and play. There are lots of travel teams that have tryouts starting at age 8, but so many kids don't want to do that or parents don't want the time and money commitment, is there any way to find out what other leagues are around? If he isn't up to the travel skills, I'd just encourage either play on a team where he actually gets to play or focus on soccer.

  8. #18
    marinkitty is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    I'm really sorry. We have been there over the years and it really stinks.

    I know this is the BP, but if you are interested in feedback, here is what I'd do. Encourage him to stick with he practices and use the opportunities he gets to play in the games. Hire a high school baseball player (should not be too pricey) to work with him one on one to develop his skills.

    This is a cruddy deal, but it's also a great life lesson. If you help him learn to persevere and work hard now, it will serve him well many times in the future. I have a DS who isn't as naturally athletic as his friends. He has never gone into a tryout as a sure thing - he sometimes makes the team, sometimes doesn't and sometimes makes the team below his buddies. He loves to play and he has gotten really good at certain sports and has over time decided to drop others, but even those he dropped late in middle school or for high school, he had fun playing way beyond age 9. I hope he can find the joy in the game, make some friends on the B team and maybe the next time it will go his way. Good luck!

  9. #19
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    I concur with others that it doesn’t sound like little league. We have both; LL and recreation through our township offering all kinds of sports in their seasons. The LL teams get all players in for practices and games, whereas our rec is more relaxed with the tryouts more of placing everyone with even skills and heights.

    I would abodutely try again this fall and next spring. Look into your recreation department program for the fall options, as the summer programs are usually clinics, different organization with paid version that’s more of camp like. DS2 just wrapped up his 2nd year of rec baseball yesterday, and really loves it to try out for travel team next spring.

    The A/B team is not a new concept, DS1 is on A team with his travel soccer. But the key is everyone still play at games. No benching 100 % for games. That really sucks for your DS, I would talk to the board or committee team of that team to get the reasoning behind it and find out if it’s funding or covid related issue.


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  10. #20
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    I’m so sorry. This happened to us as well. DS was cut at age SEVEN from our town’s soccer program. Completely ridiculous, and frankly if this is what the sports culture has become, it’s toxic.

    I was able to get DS onto a neighboring towns travel team, where he has played for the last several years and really enjoyed it. But to your point, he hasn’t been able to play with his local friends and it becomes harder and harder every year to get back onto our town’s team.

    Most parents in my town are extreme sports parents, who truly believe that you need to start playing a sport in kindergarten, and have private coaching and camps in addition to participating on a team. This all sounds completely crazy to me, and we will never be that focused on sports! Which unfortunately means that our kids will never be viewed as “competitive”, and will never really have the opportunity to pursue a sport longer-term.

    Sorry, no real advice but I completely empathize on this topic!


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