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Post by lboullion on Jul 3, 2006 10:50:55 GMT -8
Just thought I'd like to mention my team got to play 8 games over 4 days. Our lead off batter had 24 plate apearances along with most of the other kids and one player got to pitch 11 innings (low pitch count). Plus kids didnt need to sit out much because we had 10 players.
I know little league all stars may have given kids 1 or 2 at bats in 1 game and some kids who are pitchers didnt even get to pitch. And 13 are on the roster.
L Boullion
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Post by Randy Edwards on Jul 3, 2006 12:51:47 GMT -8
You know I totally agree with all things that you said will make a better player, but I think your forgot a couple of things about the All-stars and little league itself.
1- Allot of those All-stars are going to be on those travel teams as soon as the All-stars end so that is a choice the kids have made for them self’s. Most have chosen All-stars over travel ball at least for a small time.
2- If Turlock is one of the last towns to be on little leagues bandwagon I hope that never changes. Because no player will be turned away because of cost or ability. And I would bet it’s the main talent pool that you draw from. I myself have heard you recruiting at the league games!!!
Lance, I know you have a bad taste in your mouth about little league. But like all adults it something we need to get over, on both sides of the fence. Just a thought
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Post by Chris on Jul 3, 2006 14:00:29 GMT -8
Little League has some innate attraction. Its home town boys playing for bragging rights. No travel involved & its cheap. Its been said before baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. Its Americana.
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Post by crash23 on Jul 4, 2006 10:25:34 GMT -8
As we've discussed before, both have their place. As far as which produces the better ball player I say it doesn't matter. How much time a player puts in refining his game on his own is generally what determines how good a player becomes... As the adage goes, the harder you work the luckier you get.
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rocko
LL Board Member
Posts: 209
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Post by rocko on Jul 4, 2006 12:15:58 GMT -8
Well said Crash.
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Post by scrapper on Jul 4, 2006 16:37:16 GMT -8
I agree with crash. I think the more you have the opportunity to play the game, the better the player will become. I mean in little league if you play 6 innings all the time and in travel ball you have split 3 w/somebody, It would be better to play LL.
The reason why I want my son to play travel ball is so he could keep playing and the enjoy the game.
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Post by bubba on Jul 6, 2006 15:36:50 GMT -8
I would like to hear what everyone thinks if this is applied to Major versus AAA. If a player has the opportunity to play more innings at the AAA level or 2 innings at the major level will he in theory become a better player if all other things equal. Not to mention his confidence level by staying down, getting successful at bats.
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Post by lboullion on Jul 6, 2006 21:59:27 GMT -8
. Because no player will be turned away because of cost or ability. And I would bet it’s the main talent pool that you draw from. We have never cut a player or turned any one away. We have kids on our team who can't afford to play on our team but they still do. We have kids on our team who would never make another travel team but are on ours. We have kids with disabilities that still play! LL and other rec. leagues are probably the best to draw from because it is not right to steal players from another travel team. We cant go out and get kids who dont play baseball at all so it makes since to draw from rec. leagues. You are right, they gotta start somewhere. Turlock has a lot of talented kids and they only get better when they play year round. I just think it will be very hard for pitchers who have been playing LL pitching from 46 feet to go to 54 feet in August when they move to 13's and start playing travel again. L Boullion
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Post by scrapper on Jul 7, 2006 7:51:39 GMT -8
I will tell what will not make you a better player. Not even making the MPR in an all-star game and only having two at bats in 11 innings.
I knew there would be a thread I could rant on after reading the playing time some of those kids got in travel ball, After watching what happened to the ltl scrapper, you really need to put in perspective about what is important. When a player get selected for all-stars, they expect to make a contribution . The last couple of games has been the most devastating experience for my litl scrapper. After seeing the fiasco last night and some of things that have happenned to him, I do not know if I can get him back for this portion of the tournament.
You teach your kids to work hard, improve your skills and good things will happen. You teach your kids to get in the top nine in the lineup and then the top six. You teach your kids about attitudes and sportsmanship and all of the good things will allow them to play, and then they get face smashed in the dirt and ignored and thought of as an afterthought. Can't wait until soccer season.
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Post by lboullion on Jul 7, 2006 23:00:12 GMT -8
Well Scrapper, you and I are the only ones in Turlock who feel this way.
Did you hear how American ruined the all star chances of two kids, only 10 year olds, because they said they didnt have the right forms to play. Turned out the kids did have the right forms afterall. It was two kids who do not live with their real parents, one group home kid too. As if they dont have enough problems in their life, they get cut from the All Star squad at 10 years old because of somebodies mistake. Cant even be an alternate either cuz the spots are filled now.
Turns out the two kids attend my school, one was in my class and the other in the class next door. They are the best kids around too. Had I known in time what was happening to them I would have fought that battle.
I saw one of the boys passing by and we talked about it and he was devastated! He gets to sit around the group home all summer and has no sports to play!
How could anyone let this happen espicially to these kids.
ANYONE WHO WANTS TO TELL ME THAT LL IS FOR EVERYONE AND EVERYONE GETS TO PLAY NEEDS TO ASK WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE TWO KIDS.
LOVE TO HEAR YOUR RESPONSE NOW RANDY.....
L Boullion
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Post by Rodney L. Voumard on Jul 8, 2006 5:20:07 GMT -8
Here is my two cents...........and opinion. "The more you play the better you get..." Last year in LL ( 05 ) was the ROOKIE YEAR for Nick in MAJORS-- played left bench and got his AB - The 12's on the team were the "STAR PLAYERS" The team never got close to a playoff game. on to 9/10 AS, then FALL BALL - then to Travel Ball- RANGER 11U's. All the time working w/ Soderstrom... FAST FORWARD to LL 06- Last years 12's are gone ( most ) the 10's as 11's now need to STEP UP and become impact players... WOW the NS YANKS go on to CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS....with the majority of our players 10's / 11's.....in the line up... who would have guessed it ?? Just give these kids a chance. For us it was TRAVEL BALL----but I must give credit to CRASH as the model for the RANGERS is not to win at any cost, but to work hard and stay the course. We will see ( soon ) players such as LTL SCRAPER will become the impact players in our League. No excuse for what is happing in this years AS. I remind Nick- SUCCESS, "THE HARDER YOU WORK THE LUCKER YOU GET"
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Post by Randy Edwards on Jul 8, 2006 8:09:52 GMT -8
Sorry, Lance I can not respond to a statement that I have no facts about. However I will look into this and if this is what happen. I will endevor to never let this happen again!!! You would not need to take that fight up your self I would be right there with you.
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Post by dennisserpa on Jul 9, 2006 15:46:37 GMT -8
Just had to chime in from another point of view. Justin played with the 10u Rangers last year though he was only 9. He played outfield all season and 2 or 3 innings per game unless they were short players. He also played a torunament with the 11s to fill in. He was there whenever they needed him but got bored with it towards the end. He was done with baseball after that. He was not excited at all about little league so we comprimised and allowed him to play travel basketball if he joined the Angels with Denny. He became a major contributor on the Angels as a 9 year old because of his travelball experience. I think Mike and Kalani did a great job with the Ranger 10s last year and Justin not enjoying his experience had nothing to do with them or the players. The team welcomed the two youngest, Justin and Robert and, from what I saw, always encouraged them. He is a competitor and wants to play just like every other kid but I think in the long run he will benefit from playing on a team where he is not one of the best. The hard work did make him better but don't try to over do it. Let them experience more than just baseball if they want to. Justin has his sights set on some "old man's" 20 year old high jump record and playing on the THS hoops team and still play baseball. Hopefully kids get over the bad taste of a bad coach or their role on a team, I'm sure some don't, but in the end the friendships and experiences they have will make them better people. Which is really my goal with my kids.
As a coach and little league board member, it's too bad what happened to those two kids. Little League requires certain paperwork for a reason. All those cheaters in the past. From what I've seen, travel ball is very lax on it's rules. For the most part it is up to the parents and coaches to police the players. I don't think I heard of one tournament director going over teams paperwork to make sure the players are legal. I know of several teams last year that used players one or two years older than was legal. If you play travel basketball in Sacramento torunaments it's the same way. People are more about winning that following the rules. What does that teach our kids?
In defense of the Turlock American Board of Directors and little league, they followed the rules. Everyone knew the orininal birth certificate was a necessary item. It's up to the parents or guardians or someone who cares to step up and help these kids. NO ONE DID. Probably the story of those kids' life, unfortunately. At least they got to play little league.
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Post by scrapper on Jul 10, 2006 8:16:56 GMT -8
After writing the post, seems thing are equaling out. I have always said that you need to earn your time. I told the litl scrapper when he came up he was going to have to learn to deal with ltl playing time. Then what did he do, he went out and proved that he could play on this level.
"The more you play the better you get..." Iagree totally Mr. V
SUCCESS, "THE HARDER YOU WORK THE LUCKER YOU GET", that is what I told the ltl scrapper, just keep your head up and things will happen. I was really proud of him in the last game. A hit and ribby and a pretty good catch out in Center.
"Hopefully kids get over the bad taste of a bad coach or their role on a team, I'm sure some don't, but in the end the friendships and experiences they have will make them better people. Which is really my goal with my kids." -- I think the ltl scrapper has gotten over it and so has his (whiner parent) -- good thoughts Denny.
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Post by kbond on Jul 10, 2006 13:56:41 GMT -8
Hey everyone I would like to throw my two cents into this topic. I agree that playing time is important to improving a players ability, But if you do not challenge yourself all your doing is perfecting yourself at that level of ability your not really improving yourself. For example i had an eleven year old on the Braves that was a great ballplayer. However he had a tough time hitting for a year and a half and ended up quitting. All he kept telling me was i don't understand it I used to hit the ball off the fences when i was in the minors i wish i was back in the minors. He just couldnt handle the learning curve. I know every kid is different but i think if they have the talent to play in the majors they should come up as soon as possable. Even if it does mean sitting on the bench. I believe they could learn alot from just watching the older kids play the game. I know my nephew and Jr learned alot from players like David Trujilo and other players that were on the Braves there first year as nine year olds. About those two kids in the American league its a shame that they couldn't play in the all stars. but there are rules that the league has to abide by like them or not they have to follow them.
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