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by Peter SchwormBoard members are squabbling over league rules, and jockeying for control. Managers are allegedly stockpiling talent in the minor leagues. Lawyers are involved.
No, this isn't another labor dispute in Major League Baseball. This contentious state of affairs comes courtesy of Little League - ages 9 to 12.
The Parkway Little League - one of the state's oldest leagues, known in Boston as an intensely competitive winning machine - is awash in controversy, beset by bitter disputes over how the 14-team league is run and who should run it. The infighting has dragged on for months, delayed league elections and the annual player draft, and resulted in the league's charter being suspended amid allegations that it has run afoul of a host of Little League rules.
C.W. Post News
February 2, 2010
BROOKVILLE, N.Y - C.W Post in co-sponsorship with C.W Post Student - Activities, the East Coast Conference, and Long Island Women's Institute is proudly celebrating the 24th Annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day on Tuesday Feb. 2 in the Hillwood Commons Lecture Hall from 6-7 PM.
Special guest speakers will include Assistant Commissioner of the Northeast Conference Joyce Bell, Associate Director of Athletics at Columbia University Jacqueline Blackett, Director of Athletics at St. Francis College Irma Garcia, Director of Women's Basketball Ops at Rutgers University Michelle Edwards, along with Lisa White Head Athletic Trainer for The New York Liberty.
You know that one guy. The one yelling from behind the backstop. "Hey ump, you're missing a good game here!" Or worse.
It's usually a parent on the other team, right? Maybe it's even a parent on your own kid's team.
It might even be you.
Just this summer in Colorado Springs, two girls were charged with fighting and an adult arrested for third-degree assault after a conflict at the Four Diamond Sports Complex.
The disagreement started when a softball player was hit by a pitch and charged the mound during a game between Cheyenne Mountain and Wasson High School club teams. The umpire ejected the girl and stopped the game, but tempers flared in the parking lot. Police reports say up to 30 people were involved, some with bats.
Kristen Browning-Blas
July 20, 2009
The Denver Post
RIALTO, California (CNN) -- The baseball diamonds and bleachers are filled with tales of moms and dads pitching in to put their kids on the field -- Foreclosureville's version of "Field of Dreams."
Jim Underwood says the league has provided parents and children with relief from the economic hard times.
1 of 3 North Rialto Little League has seen its annual $45,000 sponsorships shrink to a mere $3,000. Parents have lost their jobs, even houses, amid the nation's economic woes.
But the families in this corner of California's economically ravaged region known as the Inland Empire have kept the aluminum bats swinging and the crowd roaring.
Not a single game has been missed because of hard times. "Even though we are in bad times, it still brings out something good," says Janis Strong, the president of North Rialto Little League. "What worked for you a long time ago, it'll work for you now. ... That's what we're supposed to do, have family involvement."
via cnn.com
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) -- Leaning against a dugout wall at Lamade Stadium, 12-year-old Evell Nelson's eyes lit up as he thought about the future.
An early-season tournament for urban Little League programs from around the country did not satisfy the slugger from Seattle.
"We all want to come back here to play in the Little League World Series," the third baseman said.
Once considered a weakness of Little League Baseball, inner-city and urban organizations such as the Seattle Central league are growing -- a bright spot for a youth program that, over all, has seen a 13 percent decline in participation over the past decade.
As Little League looks for ways to reverse declines, mainly in suburban and rural areas, leaders view the Urban Initiative program as an avenue to get more children to pick up a glove and ball.
May 30, 2009
The New York Times
by Fred Bowen
The Washington Post
May 25, 2009
I recently read a new book called "Until It Hurts: America's Obsession With Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids," written by Baltimore sportswriter Mark Hyman. It is not a kids' book, but it's about kids' sports. Hyman argues that some adults -- parents included -- take youth sports too seriously, and that can spoil the fun for kids.
Here are some of the things I learned from the book that kids and their parents should know.
Overuse injuries from kids playing their sports too much at an early age are way up. They include sore ankles and knees from playing soccer or basketball year-round and sore elbows from pitching too much.
Lyle Micheli, a sports doctor in Boston, estimates that in the early 1990s, 20 percent of the injuries to kids he treated were from overuse. Now, he estimates, 75 percent are from overuse. Micheli says overuse injuries could be cut to almost zero if coaches and parents would simply let kids: (1) play a variety of sports; (2) take it easier; and (3) rest a day or two from sports every week.
Hyman tells the story of Whitney Phelps, an older sister of Michael Phelps, the Olympic gold-medal swimmer. Whitney was a great swimmer, maybe as good as her famous brother, but she never made the Olympics. She swam too much too soon, and she got hurt.
So if you are a kid who plays soccer or baseball in the spring and fall, maybe you should try another sport for summer camp.
by Sue Shellenbarger
Wall Street Journal
May 19, 2009
We've posted before on injuries in youth sports. As summer teams start up, you'll be hearing more about one kind of injury in particular: Knee damage in girls.
Two professional groups, one of surgeons and the other of athletic trainers, are fielding an educational campaign on the prevalence of knee injuries among girls. Tears to the ACL, or the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee, are eight times more likely in girls than in boys, research shows. Doctors hypothesize that physiological differences between girls and boys, such as weaker hamstring muscles that reduce the stability of the knee joint, or estrogen that leads to weaker ligaments, are factors.
The educational campaign comes amid rising questions about the pressures on young athletes. Mark Hyman, author of a book on the topic, says he regrets having supported his son in pitching so long and hard in high-school baseball that he injured his arm, forcing surgery and a permanent setback. And recent research on 5,000 promising football players shows high-school and college injuries haunt pro players for years.
by Monica Ho Ehlers
The Examiner
May 17, 2009
Whether it's basketball, soccer or softball, playing youth sports requires a lot of practice. But how much is too much? It seems the "mellower" average team practices and plays a combination of about three times a week. Then there are teams who practice and play about five to six times a week.
What's interesting is that the teams that practice more are no more talented or skilled than the ones who don't practice and play as often. Or at least, they don't win as often as you'd think.
Kids whose teams practice or play more than three times a week should question if there is enough recovery time for players. Like adults, children need to rest their muscles if they've exercised rigorously.
by P. Stitlon
Jackson Community
May 15, 2009
Early on as the parent of a girl who was very interested in sports, I realized there were mild differences in people's opinions on girls sports vs. boys sports. In general, boy sports were always given more social importance, baseball, football and hockey while the traditional girl sports were back seat novelties to the general community, softball, gymnastics, cheer. Even when you look at youth and scholastic soccer, the boys teams are given prominence, usually.
I sometimes remember back in high school, when the Toms River North Girls field hockey team won the state championship, the headline in the Ocean County Observer for the day highlighted the Toms River South vs. Toms River North regular season football game and the girls championship was given a sidebar mention. For me, it was alright at the time. I was a boy. I played football. Football was more important than field hockey at any cost.
Today, I received a study and excerpt from a book at GoKidsNJ that discussed this phenomena and social misunderstanding in a study presented by sports sociologist Michael Messner, a professor of sociology and gender studies at USC.
In his book he writes:
ESPN RISE and Disney's Wide World of Sports have developed a new weeklong, multi-sport event called the "ESPN RISE Games". The ESPN RISE Games, which will feature elite and competitive channel sports events, will be presented by Target. The ESPN RISE Games Presented by Target will take place July 19-25, 2009 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, the nation's leading multi-sport venue for amateur and professional sports, in suburban Orlando, Fla.
The ESPN RISE Games Presented by Target will be anchored by three elite high school sports events: the AAU 17-under Boys Basketball Super Showcase presented by Champion®, the Under Armour High School Softball All-American game and ESPN RISE's newly developed, elite high school football event Champion® Gridiron Kings. Additional sponsors for the event will include POWERADE, the events exclusive beverage provider.
The weeklong event will also feature competitive channel youth sports - baseball (10U, 11U and 12U), basketball (12U and 14U), field hockey (U14, U16 and U19) and track & field (12-14 and 15-18). The ESPN RISE Games Presented by Target is expected to host 4,000 student athletes.
May - 13 - 2009
The Tournament Guide
The slumping economy's effects are being felt all over, but for most local Little League programs, it's play ball as usual.
League organizers in the Rochester area said their numbers are holding steady, but they said some parents are being forced to choose how many sports their kids will play. Participation in Little League has dropped nationally and statewide in the past few years, but Little League officials are attributing those declines to factors other than the economy.
For some parents, though, cutting back on youth sports is not an option. Ken Metzger of Greece said he spends more than $4,000 per year for his three sons to play baseball, football and basketball, and he and his wife, Julie, wouldn't have it any other way.
"We realize how important youth sports are in our lives and their lives," said Metzger, whose sons play travel baseball, which costs more than Little League. "So we miss a trip to Myrtle Beach, and we'll get another year out of our gas grill, which we were going to replace. Not once did we talk about cutting back on youth sports. It's just not worth it."
Alan Morrell
April 18, 2009
Copyright ©2009 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
To me, there is really nothing better than a night at the ballpark--any ballpark.
I enjoy the atmosphere of a high school football game or the unbridled enthusiasm of a little league baseball park.
In the past few weeks, children of all ages, from those playing T-ball and coach pitch to those playing "more serious" games, have strapped on their cleats and ill-fitting caps,and once again brought area parks back to life.
In my years in the newspaper business, I have had the chance to cover many a little league opening day and game. And, without fail, it is the little things that make those events so special.
It is the mothers trying to tuck in a young boy's shirt before he heads out on the field only to have him rip it out on the first chance he gets. Or the yell from a father to get dirty only to have his wife sitting next to him grimace at the thought of having to wash that clay out that night.
Very rarely is the action at the plate the most enjoyable part of watching little league. It is the right fielder, who hasn't had a ball him to him in four weeks, losing interest and watching as ants build a new mound.
Tim Reeves
April 9, 2009
Clanton Advertiser
by Staff Editorial
Media General Communications Holdings
April 9, 2009
With Little League starting and other sports in full swing, we look forward to a full slate of athletic competition in the coming months.
The sound of bats hitting balls can be heard throughout Culpeper and the surrounding area these days, with high school baseball and softball teams enjoying successful seasons and local Little Leaguers making their way to the diamond.
While the Eastern View baseball and softball teams are both off to tremendous starts and battling for district championships, future high school players also have begun their seasons with a fantastic celebration.
Culpeper Little League recently marked its 35th anniversary with opening day festivities for baseball and softball, which proved to be an enjoyable experience despite rain. The Rappahannock Athletic Association also celebrated opening day last weekend. It marked the 30th year of youth baseball in Amissville.
But baseball and softball players aren't the only competitors out and about now that the weather is warming up (at least some days). Lacrosse, tennis track and field hockey are also in full swing.
And don't forget those youth soccer players who populate the fields at the county rec complex. They might learn a thing or two by stopping to watch the EVHS girls soccer team. The Cyclones are off to a 5-1 start and have won three of their four district contests.
WAURIKA -- (Note: Area youngsters are about to hit the diamonds for summer baseball and softball. Good time to repeat this piece about what kids' say they hope to get out of the experience.)
One of the neat things about young kids is that they'll usually tell you what they want and what's important to them.
Granted, some things youngsters think are vital to their lives are things adults know from experience are unnecessary, counter-productive and/or dangerous. But when the topic is what children hope to get from organized sports, if adults will listen, the kids will tell us.
Three years ago, Baylor University's Health, Human Performance and Recreation Department released results from a survey of 6,000 youngsters in the lowest levels of youth sports, kids 6 to 8 years of age, who were involved in baseball, softball, football and soccer.
Asked why they play sports, the overwhelming response from the young'uns was: f-u-n. In fact, 62 percent of the children surveyed said "To have fun" was their main reason for participating.
Jeff Kaley
April 17, 2009
Waurika News-Democrat
By George Vescey New York Times, 4-30-08
Something remarkable happened in a college softball game last Saturday in Ellensburg, Wash. At least, I am conditioned to think it was remarkable, since it involved an act of sportsmanship, with two players helping an injured opponent complete the home run she had just slugged.
Why this generous act should seem so unusual probably stems from the normal range of bulked-up baseball players, police-blotter football players, diving soccer and hockey players and other high-profile professionals.
The moment of grace came after Sara Tucholsky, a diminutive senior for Western Oregon, hit what looked like a three-run homer against Central Washington. Never in her 21 years had Tucholsky propelled a ball over a fence, so she did not have her home run trot in order, gazing in awe, missing first base. When she turned back to touch the bag, her right knee buckled, and she went down, crying and crawling back to first base.
Pam Knox, the Western Oregon coach, made sure no teammates touched Tucholsky, which would have automatically made her unable to advance. The umpires ruled that if Tucholsky could not make it around the bases, two runs would score but she would be credited with only a single. ("She'll kill me if I take it away from her," Knox thought.)
Then Mallory Holtman, the powerful first baseman for Central Washington, said words that brought a chill to everybody who heard them:
"Excuse me, would it be O.K. if we carried her around and she touched each bag?"
By kelly Lyell
February 5th, 2008
Major-league pitchers and catchers don't report to spring training for three more weeks. Position players report a week later.
Yet youth baseball and softball players in and around Fort Collins have been training for the past two months for their 2008 seasons. We've been going at it twice a week since December," said Rich O'Donnell, coach of the 13-and-under Fort Collins Cardinals baseball team. "It's not required, but the kids love it. At every practice, we probably have three-quarters of the kids."
O'Donnell and several other competitive baseball and softball teams are practicing regularly at Edge Sports Center, 4450 Denrose Court. They're hitting in batting cages off machines and live pitching, they're throwing and catching and fielding fly balls and grounders.
The Cardinals, who play at the highest level of youth baseball in the state (Division I) for their age group, will play their first tournament the first weekend of March.
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