|
Post by scrapper on Jun 27, 2007 8:02:30 GMT -8
It would be great to go down to three league, however, you cannot cut the size of the boundary. Doing so will cut your own throat.
Since the talent is so watered down, we should only have two major teams per league, that would create good competition, if only 24 kids from each league were eligible.
That's the ticket, or three leagues six major teams yea that is the way to go. That is going to be the best for Turlock Little League.
|
|
|
Post by Greenie on Jun 27, 2007 8:07:14 GMT -8
So we have a Major Division that consist of 12 year old only. I do agree we don't have the talent to field all the teams we have but it's only going to get worse. All the young talent will be leaving LL very soon.
|
|
|
Post by Chris on Jun 27, 2007 8:12:29 GMT -8
Little League is not dying fellaz. Some fresh blood and renewed enthusiasm will help. It was a fun year and the leagues are on the right track. I thought this year was head and shoulders above the last few years. Hell, Jenson is now talking about wanting to play Juniors. Little League will have to evolve but minus the inconsistent leadership A/AE experienced I think it will be fine. I'm proud of what N/NS accomplished this year despite some of our petty differences.
|
|
|
Post by crash23 on Jun 27, 2007 8:21:04 GMT -8
So we have a All the young talent will be leaving LL very soon. Exactly. And continuing to include cities that already have a baseball program is stupid. They are not going to eliminate their program - and even if they did it's highly unlikely we would draw many of their players b/c they would just play county ball like other "small" towns already do (Patterson, Gustine, Orestimba, etc). If we don't eliminate these areas from our boundaries we do not reduce our size, so the argument (to LL) to reconfigure doesn't exist. But we have valid reasons to reduce our leagues (by one, maybe more) because we can show that the cities now included in our population count a. have their own program and/or b. do not have players participating. Why continue to include the 5,000 counts of Keyes, Hilmar, Delhi, et al if they don't participate. Historically those numbers have never been very big. Bottom line - it's time to change.
|
|
|
Post by tmurphy on Jun 27, 2007 9:19:48 GMT -8
My 2 cents if it really matters from the travel ball side of things. Since Tyler has been playing with the Nor Cal group and me not coaching and being able to talk to other people about their programs. I will let you guys in on a little secret, alot of the top programs in the area next year are going to implement a no play clause in order to be a part of their organizations. What that means if you play for some of the elite teams in the area you can not play little league or Cal Ripken or any other type sport while you are with the organization. So the leagues could be loosing even more players next year because of this rule alot of the teams will be implementing because of the amount of money they spend to play these tourneys and travel. I know people hate change but as Crash has said it is time to go in a different direction. The numbers have been on a decline in the last few years for whatever reason you want to throw out there. Turlock has the talent that could really wake some people up through out the district and even more. It is time the BOD's try and manage this talent in a way so we do not loose it . So if we need to shrink whats the big deal the league and the city will be rewarded in the long run. When I first joined little league and all these new houses were being built we were going to get all the new kids and the leagues were going to grow,grow,grow but it has not happened it has went in the other direction. I know for A/AE this year we all know the situation there if it had not been for Randy the league would have flopped flat on it face. I think if we make some of these changes that have been discussed our leagues would be stronger and also would probably get more volunteers involved. As far as minors a week long coaching clinic would also be a huge success as far as teaching fundamentals. Turlock is full of baseball talent so it is time to step up and do things better before we loose it to else where.
|
|
rocko
LL Board Member
Posts: 209
|
Post by rocko on Jun 27, 2007 10:13:19 GMT -8
I'm sure we draw loads of kids from Mt View and Chatom! lol We pull between 40-55 players into the league each year from Chatom. Definately worth keeping as a participating area. With respect to the discussion on who to include. We need to evaluate the LL system to work best for Youth Baseball in Turlock for the families and children and not evaluate how to make baseball in Turlock work for the best interest of LL. There is a different the former places unity of the town, families and athletics as core goals in this community. I know some may not agree. But I feel Youth Baseball in Turlock via the Little League system is the best guiding value. By doing this you set in motion a series of discussion. 1) A unified Youth Baseball Complex for the Town (via master plan discussions with the City of Turlock) 2) Establishing a developmental method at the machine, coach pitch and minor levels (i.e. Fall Clinic for developing mechanics for players and knowledge of the game for would be coaches in the upcoming year) 3) Interleaguing at all division levels 4) Developing a program that sends the best competitive contingent to represent turlock in World Series Run 5) Co-Existence Discussion with the evolving Travel Ball Culture 6) Connection to local high schools baseball programs 7) Community Umpire Program for Jr. and Sr. League Players....model the Bel Passi system. I was at a game this year and their were atleast 25 teen umpires on the Bel Passi Umpire Roster.
|
|
|
Post by crash23 on Jun 27, 2007 10:38:44 GMT -8
There's a lot of great ideas/dialogue getting started. We definately need to see where the kids are coming from (yes, based on those numbers Chatom is worth keeping) and eliminate the towns that do not participate (heavily) in our program.
I agree, Little League is an integral part of the Turlock community and we should not lose it... but it needs to continue to evolve and adapt otherwise it will go the way of the dinosaur.
We have most of the data to drive the decisions - and whatever we may lack we can get. In addition to the numbers (who's coming from where) we can find out from the city where the growth is anticipated in the next 20 years and create boundaries that (hopefully) will enable each league to grow at a similar pace.
Rocko makes a great point in that we need to form an alliance and begin lobbying the City to build a viable baseball complex. Little League will can assist in funding. Wouldn't it be great if Julien & Soderquist could be used for Minor games and new 225 foot fields could be used for majors???
Meeting of the minds next Wed @ 8:00???
|
|
|
Post by scrapper on Jun 27, 2007 10:42:24 GMT -8
[glow=red,2,300]alot of the top programs in the area next year are going to implement a no play clause in order to be a part of their organizations. What that means if you play for some of the elite teams in the area you can not play little league or Cal Ripken or any other type sport while you are with the organization. So the leagues could be loosing even more players next year because of this rule alot of the teams will be implementing because of the amount of money they spend to play these tourneys and travel[/glow]
If that is the case than the decision has to be made. I am saying this in general, If you do not want to play little league than don't. I understand about investing a lot of money into something and for some teams now are losing players to Little League, so who is it that is killing little league. But the other way is ok. Just a question.
Everybody talks about little league has to do this and little league has to do that, but yet there are only a few people that want to put the work in to change it. Because, it is hard work and we don't have time.
For example, this year is a perfect example with Interleague, It took a lot of people to tell Randy and Chris how to put it together, but it was Randy and Chris who put it together, so that everybody could critique it. If just those two people said, you know what we aren't going to do it, how many of us would have stepped up to do it.
And we would all be pissing and moaning about how the leagues are not playing each other. If one person can make a difference, than what about 15-20 people pushing and build momentum for building little league up and making some rule changes that would allow little league to expand and grow. To bad ltl Murph didn't play little league, he probably would have had a good time. But you have your reasons, and I am not wanting to get into whys and how comes. Maybe next year.
|
|
|
Post by scrapper on Jun 27, 2007 10:47:15 GMT -8
Rocko, You should run for President. But I agree with everything you have said,
[glow=red,2,300]5) Co-Existence Discussion with the evolving Travel Ball Culture[/glow]
If the ELITE PROGRAMS, don't want there kids to play little league, how are we to compete with there new rules.
|
|
rocko
LL Board Member
Posts: 209
|
Post by rocko on Jun 27, 2007 11:30:34 GMT -8
Well that is a major issue. These "elite" teams and their manager need to contain perspective. We know who those teams are in the area, and the managers behind them. They need to decide what if any commitment they have to Turlock. The reality is that the elite teams are primarily filled with players that have been fortunate to have been exposed to good coach and lessons at a young age. I see many L League Players that are just raw and poorly prepared to play the game. It would benefit local travel ball teams to join forces the with local Turlock LL community. What Ceres, Modesto, etc. does is their business.
Again here is where I feel the separation stands between having LL in your town and developing a Youth Baseball Culture Second to None in Turlock. The Vision is larger than LL or Travel Ball. It is Baseball in Turlock.
|
|
|
Post by Greenie on Jun 27, 2007 11:40:42 GMT -8
You don't. Very few kids from Turlock play for these elite programs. We need to build up Little League first and then have teams like the Rangers, Renegades, Thunder and the other team for which I don't know the new name that you build up so the local players who want the travel ball experience can still do both.
We need to get a group to go in front of the City Council and start the process of a new complex. During AS we should gather pictures of these much smaller cities that have a nice complex.
|
|
|
Post by crash23 on Jun 27, 2007 12:30:06 GMT -8
I know what you mean Greenie, but you'll have a hard time with that. Truth be told, most teams that play on our fields wish theirs were as good. I heard more than one kid say last year (as I was prepping Julien between AS games.. lol ), "they get to play on this all the time!" The only complex that comes close to ours is Madera. I don't count Riverpark because that was built with corporate sponsorship. But there's an idea... Wouldn't it be smart of Costco to build a complex right next to their store? ? Or for a committee to solicit corporate funding? I'd love to have new fields with artifical turf (at least on the IFs, if not the whole thing). Then again, instead of wasting a lot of money re-creating what we already have (two decent fields) why not solicit donations to improve what we have now? Julien could use more cement, better bull pens, a batting cage, turf infields, more lighting, improved snack bar, better seating. And Soderquist was vastly improved last year. There were a lot of great changes that derived from last off-season's meetings, I think we can make similar improvements this year... but let's get started sooner (like ASAP).
|
|
|
Post by tmurphy on Jun 27, 2007 12:44:45 GMT -8
no LIl Murph would not have had a good time because he was drafted by a coach that did not want to put the time in to develop other kids and the team as a whole the only game they won was the one Murph pitched before he decided to go back to travel ball. Practicing once a week is not enough to develop kids by no means. Travel ball is not loosing kids it is growing by leaps and bounds. What I am saying making the local leagues better more competitive could draw some of the travel ball players back to the leagues but with it being watered down the way it is, it will never happen. I am all about working to make our local leagues better and more competitive. I love baseball in general even if Lil Murph is not playing I want to see our local kids succeed and if I can be a part of that so be it. Crash what ever I can do to help this move forward just let me know and you can count me in.
|
|
|
Post by tmurphy on Jun 27, 2007 14:11:26 GMT -8
Hey Scrapper enough negativity has been said instead lets form the forces we need and attack this right away. We have enough people right here on the forum that could make this happen if we pull together and put all our differences aside and do what is best for all the kids and not just ours. By the way Rocko I was one of those travel ball coaches that everybody thought I was trying to destroy Little League and resented me for it and for that my kid has been vented against for the last couple years but that is water under the bridge. I am all for waiting for little league to be over and then travel ball kicks in if the league is strong enough and we have coaches that are willing to pay the price and put the team first. Developing players is what it is all about not just riding the 2 or 3 studs you have to win a championship. Bring the other players up to try and match the studs level. That is what should be the main priority. Example look at the AE Cubs Craig did an outstanding job with that team there was not one certain kid that stood out every game. It seemed like every game there was a different kid making a play or getting a hit that put them over the top. Craigs reward and the players reward was everyone including myself thought they were done and instead the kids stepped it up and won the City Championship, now that is what I call developing a team. Craig did an outstanding job of developing a team instead of just 2 or 3 players trying to carry them the whole way.
|
|
|
Post by scrapper on Jun 27, 2007 14:56:02 GMT -8
I agree with you whole completely Murph. I want to make Little League the strongest program, where kids develop their skills to make it to a higher level.
Even though we cannot elect board members until later all of up coming board meeting, we can discuss the some of the issues that Rocko brought up.
I think N/NS has there board meeting July 7, but I am not sure.
|
|