Post by mflema on Jul 10, 2006 14:00:14 GMT -8
Okay now, you got me involved with the two players who did not get to play because of paperwork.
Actually it is more them just them, and it is in all of the leagues not just in Turlock. There are rules that have to be followed. Since All Stars is a tourney that builds up to the World Series, at the beginning of the All Star season, rules have to be followed. This is to guarentee that when a team gets to the WS they are playing against the same age as their selves. I am sure all of the traveling teams understand this, since their tourney's have the same thing, all building up to a final tournement.
First I want to deal with why there is only 11 kids on a team this year in National (N), and Sth Nat (SN). The ground rules for our two leagues states that the players place the first 3 players on the team, the group of managers then place the next 6, and the actual All Star Manager finishes filling out the team. These managers have opted to only place 11 on the team. If for some reason, a team lose a player due to vacation, illness or injury, those players can be replaced. Turlock has an advantage to have a Assistant District Administrator in their midst. Tony can approved a player (provided that they have the correct paperwork) to replace another player. This can also be done at the next game to be played, but sometime a Tournment Director (TD) feels uncomfortable doing this, and so with Tony Lema right here, if he approves no one can question it later. All of the N and SN teams have players who were nominated that can be called up to replace a player if neccessary. The manager just has to do it.
Second, The two players from American that did not get to play. One of these players is a group home resident, and with enough time we could of more then likely gotten this player eligible. But it was going to take a huge effort to do this, and also comes down to having an ADA in the same town. Tony could of gone to the group home office and seen the paperwork if they had it. There were lots of other problems with this player also. For instance, the address that the player was signed up under is really in the National League. It is the home office for the group home. The player really lives in American League, but we were going to have some big problems getting the address requirements to work. Second, the group home insists that they don't have a original BC. There are ways to work around this, but it can not be started at All Star time, but months before this. The other problem was that the group home did not make this a priority, and as much as we want kids to play AS, the adults in charge of the kid has to want it also. We can not do it by ourselves. The league has to have help from the quardian or parent also. The Player Agent from American or American East, Shelly Herd, did all he could. District 10 did all they could to get this player legal. Shelly was also handling both leagues as the other American Player Agent has a family crisis and could not help. Tony and I, representing District 10, would of gone to the Office if it was going to be possible, but time was against us. What needs to be done now is to prevent this from happening again. Make sure that the boy is signed up under the correct address, that the address verification brought to registration is correct, alone with the birth certificate. If no BC, then start working on getting the LL's In Lieu document.
The other boy is not a group home member, but lives with a guardian. I personnally saw the paperwork to qualify this young man, and he was qualified when the guardian got one more copy of a document that was needed. The young player was going to be picked up, and the quardian "Dad" was told to get this document not only from me earlier, but also by the manager of the team, and the American Player Agent. The dad said no problem, and then waited 4 days to get it. Again, it is a case of LL people wanting this player to play more then the "parents or guardians". I agree it sucks. No problem with that, but it takes cooperation from a lot of people to get all the players ready and legal to play. Can you imagine how mad the parents and others would be at the local board or the district staff if we okayed players that were not legal, and then that team could not play at a certain level because of this. That maybe they would get by District, and sections, but at Division, or Regional, or even the World Series it is caught and the whole team is disqualified. You guys would be pretty pissed off at District or League then if that happened.
What really doesn't help if for people to miscommunicate problems and blame people for this and that when they don't have all the information. I agree that it is bad when a player does not get to play All Stars because of a technicality. That is my biggest nightmare. But I can not do it all for a player, and the players parents or guardian has to get involved also in order to have it all work out. Think of all the other players whose parents or who ever went to the trouble to get the correct paperwork, took time off to drive to LA to get the right BC, or what ever they needed. Is it fair to them that we let others "slide" and not get the right paperwork. Is it fair to the whole team that gets disqualified because someone did not want to follow the rules. Like for instance, say a player plays in a traveling team game during all stars, and this is found out. That player can no longer play allstars, because it is a rule prohibitting this. Is that fair? They know the rule (parents) but choose to defy it, and put at risk the whole teams all star season. No of course not, and I am sure that no one wants to do that to a team, but it is the same situation. We must keep everyone legal to insure that the team is not disqualified.
Now, remember, I just enforce the rules. I am not saying that I like them or even agree with them. But since I have joined LL, I must follow the rules. Even if the rules change, it is my responsibilty to stay on top of this so that I don't do anything to hurt a player by causing him or her to be disqualified for any game for any reason.
Sorry that this is so long, but you were asking for a clarification on this. I had the answers so I thought I would give them to you. Remember, you can always call me or Tony if you have a question about any thing. WE WANT QUESTIONS SO THAT WE CAN NIP ANY FALSE INFORMATION IN THE BUD.
Melody
Actually it is more them just them, and it is in all of the leagues not just in Turlock. There are rules that have to be followed. Since All Stars is a tourney that builds up to the World Series, at the beginning of the All Star season, rules have to be followed. This is to guarentee that when a team gets to the WS they are playing against the same age as their selves. I am sure all of the traveling teams understand this, since their tourney's have the same thing, all building up to a final tournement.
First I want to deal with why there is only 11 kids on a team this year in National (N), and Sth Nat (SN). The ground rules for our two leagues states that the players place the first 3 players on the team, the group of managers then place the next 6, and the actual All Star Manager finishes filling out the team. These managers have opted to only place 11 on the team. If for some reason, a team lose a player due to vacation, illness or injury, those players can be replaced. Turlock has an advantage to have a Assistant District Administrator in their midst. Tony can approved a player (provided that they have the correct paperwork) to replace another player. This can also be done at the next game to be played, but sometime a Tournment Director (TD) feels uncomfortable doing this, and so with Tony Lema right here, if he approves no one can question it later. All of the N and SN teams have players who were nominated that can be called up to replace a player if neccessary. The manager just has to do it.
Second, The two players from American that did not get to play. One of these players is a group home resident, and with enough time we could of more then likely gotten this player eligible. But it was going to take a huge effort to do this, and also comes down to having an ADA in the same town. Tony could of gone to the group home office and seen the paperwork if they had it. There were lots of other problems with this player also. For instance, the address that the player was signed up under is really in the National League. It is the home office for the group home. The player really lives in American League, but we were going to have some big problems getting the address requirements to work. Second, the group home insists that they don't have a original BC. There are ways to work around this, but it can not be started at All Star time, but months before this. The other problem was that the group home did not make this a priority, and as much as we want kids to play AS, the adults in charge of the kid has to want it also. We can not do it by ourselves. The league has to have help from the quardian or parent also. The Player Agent from American or American East, Shelly Herd, did all he could. District 10 did all they could to get this player legal. Shelly was also handling both leagues as the other American Player Agent has a family crisis and could not help. Tony and I, representing District 10, would of gone to the Office if it was going to be possible, but time was against us. What needs to be done now is to prevent this from happening again. Make sure that the boy is signed up under the correct address, that the address verification brought to registration is correct, alone with the birth certificate. If no BC, then start working on getting the LL's In Lieu document.
The other boy is not a group home member, but lives with a guardian. I personnally saw the paperwork to qualify this young man, and he was qualified when the guardian got one more copy of a document that was needed. The young player was going to be picked up, and the quardian "Dad" was told to get this document not only from me earlier, but also by the manager of the team, and the American Player Agent. The dad said no problem, and then waited 4 days to get it. Again, it is a case of LL people wanting this player to play more then the "parents or guardians". I agree it sucks. No problem with that, but it takes cooperation from a lot of people to get all the players ready and legal to play. Can you imagine how mad the parents and others would be at the local board or the district staff if we okayed players that were not legal, and then that team could not play at a certain level because of this. That maybe they would get by District, and sections, but at Division, or Regional, or even the World Series it is caught and the whole team is disqualified. You guys would be pretty pissed off at District or League then if that happened.
What really doesn't help if for people to miscommunicate problems and blame people for this and that when they don't have all the information. I agree that it is bad when a player does not get to play All Stars because of a technicality. That is my biggest nightmare. But I can not do it all for a player, and the players parents or guardian has to get involved also in order to have it all work out. Think of all the other players whose parents or who ever went to the trouble to get the correct paperwork, took time off to drive to LA to get the right BC, or what ever they needed. Is it fair to them that we let others "slide" and not get the right paperwork. Is it fair to the whole team that gets disqualified because someone did not want to follow the rules. Like for instance, say a player plays in a traveling team game during all stars, and this is found out. That player can no longer play allstars, because it is a rule prohibitting this. Is that fair? They know the rule (parents) but choose to defy it, and put at risk the whole teams all star season. No of course not, and I am sure that no one wants to do that to a team, but it is the same situation. We must keep everyone legal to insure that the team is not disqualified.
Now, remember, I just enforce the rules. I am not saying that I like them or even agree with them. But since I have joined LL, I must follow the rules. Even if the rules change, it is my responsibilty to stay on top of this so that I don't do anything to hurt a player by causing him or her to be disqualified for any game for any reason.
Sorry that this is so long, but you were asking for a clarification on this. I had the answers so I thought I would give them to you. Remember, you can always call me or Tony if you have a question about any thing. WE WANT QUESTIONS SO THAT WE CAN NIP ANY FALSE INFORMATION IN THE BUD.
Melody