All,

I wanted to toss my 2 cents in after attending Congress in Williamsport this past week. Yep, I was there representing both District 5 and District 13.

It’s a big “change” year for Little League, and given the issues in Ukraine – there were some interesting conversations around Congress. (I bought a T-Shirt that supports Ukraine Little League, I can get you in contact with the ADA there if you want to support them – the T-Shirts are $25 each… their DA is fighting on the front lines and the ADA (Assistant District Administrator) was there reporting to Congress about what is going on in Ukraine with Little League)… But I bought the shirt, and it’s cool… Let me know if you want one -- -I’ll send you the ADA’s name – he’ll mail one out to you…

Also we held a moment of silence for the shooting victims in Uvalde. Of the 17 kids that were killed, 10 of them were Little Leaguers… What happened there, and in all school shootings is just wrong… the horrible nature of the tragedy was driven home when the DA of that District came forward to accept a gift from LL International ($5000) and prayers from the attendees. The other thing Little League did was send down mental health specialists to work with the kids and parents of the school to help them cope with the loss. Tough. Just plain tough.

As a country we need to figure out how to stop anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to shoot up a school. It’s inconceivable we have let our society get to that point. But here we are.

The bulk of the sessions were about how Little League is adapting to changing culture around the world, and in the US. We forget the immensity of the Little League organization and that Little League, while distinctly American and founded in Williamsport, has grown to be the largest youth sports organization in the WORLD. There are immense considerations that the executive management of Little League have to wrap their heads around to keep kids playing and volunteers involved.

There were several items of discussion in panels, meetings, and presentations. No vote was held this Congress, as they wanted the DAs to go back to their Districts and ponder the recommended changes to the rules, policies, and operations of Little League. The voting will be held in about 2 weeks. In general, the focus of Little League has not changed. Their goal is to get kids playing, guided in the ways of being responsible citizens, good team members, and generally better people. For the most part, Little League has been more about that, with just a little focus on playing baseball. Baseball has been the vehicle to carry kids to a better adulthood. I don’t think that part has changed, how we are going to get there may be changing.

Items that were discussed – in brief:

DA Selection – Williamsport is tired of DAs in underperforming Districts that are not serving their leagues. They want DAs that develop the Districts, and the leagues within those Districts, or they want the DA gone. They figure the kids, families, and communities are not being served if the DA is lazy. So they suggested some plans for us to vote on regarding appointment/assignment, and evaluation of DAs in a District… I think it’s necessary to have the DAs held to a standard, and to enforce that standard… when Little League operates as it should, the players, families, and communities. Williamsport wants to be able to come in, remove a DA, and replace them with someone (the leagues may not have voted in). The difference between now and what they are proposing is that the leagues would not necessarily vote on the DA for their District… it would be an assignment from Williamsport. I’m good either way, so long as the DA builds the District and holds leagues to a standard, and brings the resources to the table to get the Leagues improving… how we get there, I don’t care.
Rules Changes – There were several rules changes discussed. Most significant were the “tournament” philosophy for teenage divisions, DH rule, coaches in the dugout during tournament time… In general most DAs liked the idea of going back to 3 adults in the dugout regardless of the roster size. DH rule was split down the middle some liked it, some did not. The majority of the DAs liked the idea of a “tournament” travel team style schedule for the teenage divisions (in other words, let the regular season be comprised of a series of tournaments on weekends like travel ball, with the occasional league game)… This competes more with travel ball… And finally, leaving the base early in Majors… again split down the middle, with many DAs liking the penalty for leaving the base early being an OUT. Seems tough, but certainly changes the type of game being played. Also, they discussed the intentional walk rule… some amendments were suggested to all of these so we are anxiously awaiting the amendments, and the ballot on the rules.
Boundary Rules – The concept here is to do away with boundaries. They identified a few more rules to keep the “recruiting” down, but this is a definite departure from the “standard” Little League line. The idea is to have NO boundaries. When a player registers in T-Ball, or whatever division they first enter a team in that becomes their “home league”. To transfer out of that league, they would have to do 2 things… first get permission from the President and Board to transfer to another league, and second, they would have to sit out a year on the transfer. They could “red shirt” which means they could play and practice regular season games, but would not be tournament eligible. After listening to the discussions around this, it seems as if it trips over the “soul” of Little League being the home town community league vs. being essentially better organized travel ball. We’ll see how this one turns out. IT definitely opens the door to more “travel ball” style play… but goes against the grain of Little League’s long held community first mantra.

These are the “big” categories… most of which seemed to make a lot of people mad on one side or the other. Even the CEO Steven Keener asked us to open up our minds and come up with suggestions on how to implement a more flexible Little League structure. We saw the new logo for Little League unveiled (again), and talked about how to push the LL Brand out to more people.

We also attended sessions on conflict resolution in your leagues, techniques and resources for coaches development (OUR DISTRICTS need this), players mental health, how to develop GRIT in your players, coaching staff, and volunteers, and more.

Now to our District Tournament – as a District I look at the District tournament as a way to show off the leagues to the communities and reward kids for their hard work all season. Most parents look at it like a hassle. We need to work to change our culture and focus on District tournament from the very first board meeting of the year. Why ? Because it is a prize to be attained that helps the leagues grow, find volunteers, and develop a better environment for the player. When the goals are clearly defined, agreed upon, and the path there is open to all, then everyone benefits. How do they benefit? The kids have fun, they learn stuff, and the community coaleseces around something they can all work with – Little League Baseball. The boards have to be functioning and thinking correctly, the players have to be able to develop, and the parents need to be involved. That takes effort, planning, and commitment. If it is done right, the Leagues prosper and more people enjoy the season.

I am training up 2 new DAs that will be involved with the District Tournaments this year. Stacy Ashcroft in District 13, and Brennan Moore in District 5. I am going to be pressed to execute the District effort at tournament time and I am relying heavily on these two to carry some of the weight. They can review affidavits, help settle protests, and administer the tournaments with the Tournament Directors. They have met many of the “big wigs” in Williamsport and Western Region and are learning the DA “ropes”.

Please lean on them for information and details about the tournament.

Remember the President’s meeting and Manager’s meeting on Sunday the 26^th…. The schedules have been published… We hope to grow the Districts and tournament each year!

See you all at Districts!

Regards

DA WA5/13