NWLL baseball scandal

[Anonymous]

We went to a tournament where kids had fake/siblings birth certificates. Nothing surprises me in children’s baseball anymore. These are 11 and 12 year olds!

[Anonymous]

No one is willing to say anything - everyone knows.
And it is a fantastic message to teach our kids.
Yeah - everyone knows _________ does not live here or go to school here - but we want to win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is willing to say anything - everyone knows.
And it is a fantastic message to teach our kids.
Yeah - everyone knows _________ does not live here or go to school here - but we want to win.

Unfortunately a lot of these parents (ahem…dads) have a lot of power and can screw your kid over for years to come, if you cross them. Most have a strong foothold in the local travel team scene as well. Sad as that may be. So- people keep quiet.

[Anonymous]

Is NWLL even a good league? Does it produce talent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is willing to say anything - everyone knows.
And it is a fantastic message to teach our kids.
Yeah - everyone knows _________ does not live here or go to school here - but we want to win.

I’m pretty sure the seven other little leagues in DC would have quickly said something if this were remotely true. If a talented player magically appears on a 12U tournament roster after not playing at the 10U or 11U levels there will be questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live out of the area but our area LL team is going to the WS and the amount of drama involved in the lead up to it, including initial team selection, all-star team selection, etc. was ridiculous. There are always shady boundary allegations and I am 100% certain kids on the roster whose actual residences are outside the boundaries are using grandparents’ addresses. That seems to have replaced birth date/certificate drama as the ever-brewing scandal around us. The “looking the other way because they want their kids to be chosen” phenomenon is real.

Our LL is run by corrupt dads. I’m still mad because we were given the option for a season refund in 2020. I asked for it. They kept it anyway and said they wouldn’t be issuing refunds after all.

Yep. My kid was on a team that made it to regionals (they lost and are out now) and there were kids on the roster that don’t meet either the residential or school attendance requirements. We were told they got a “waiver” and did not dare ask further (crossing “those dads” would come back on my kid for sure). And yep- we kept our mouths shut and looked the other way- but we don’t and never have held coaching or board positions either. That was just the tip of the iceberg- so much BS. The drama was unreal and I am so sooo glad little league is over. The board raised an absolutely enormous sum on gofundme to “pay for team and family travel” - and families didn’t see a dime of it. They did pay for some of the kids meals and transportation with it but 2/3 of it went unspent and back into the league fund. Whole thing was unreal and incredibly expensive. We don’t need the $ but many of the families were counting on it. I could go on and on, but don’t want to put myself. People knock travel ball, but LL is SO much worse. When it is bad, it is really really bad. I’m left disgusted by the entire experience.

does your kid's team rhyme with "MCLL"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live out of the area but our area LL team is going to the WS and the amount of drama involved in the lead up to it, including initial team selection, all-star team selection, etc. was ridiculous. There are always shady boundary allegations and I am 100% certain kids on the roster whose actual residences are outside the boundaries are using grandparents’ addresses. That seems to have replaced birth date/certificate drama as the ever-brewing scandal around us. The “looking the other way because they want their kids to be chosen” phenomenon is real.

Our LL is run by corrupt dads. I’m still mad because we were given the option for a season refund in 2020. I asked for it. They kept it anyway and said they wouldn’t be issuing refunds after all.

Yep. My kid was on a team that made it to regionals (they lost and are out now) and there were kids on the roster that don’t meet either the residential or school attendance requirements. We were told they got a “waiver” and did not dare ask further (crossing “those dads” would come back on my kid for sure). And yep- we kept our mouths shut and looked the other way- but we don’t and never have held coaching or board positions either. That was just the tip of the iceberg- so much BS. The drama was unreal and I am so sooo glad little league is over. The board raised an absolutely enormous sum on gofundme to “pay for team and family travel” - and families didn’t see a dime of it. They did pay for some of the kids meals and transportation with it but 2/3 of it went unspent and back into the league fund. Whole thing was unreal and incredibly expensive. We don’t need the $ but many of the families were counting on it. I could go on and on, but don’t want to put myself. People knock travel ball, but LL is SO much worse. When it is bad, it is really really bad. I’m left disgusted by the entire experience.

does your kid's team rhyme with "MCLL"?

Nope

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is willing to say anything - everyone knows.
And it is a fantastic message to teach our kids.
Yeah - everyone knows _________ does not live here or go to school here - but we want to win.

We live in Montgomery County and the residency fraud is so rampant in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

What was the alleged boundary violation? DC is weird with kids going to schools far from where they live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was the alleged boundary violation? DC is weird with kids going to schools far from where they live.

Certain players received "waivers" to play for NWLL, despite not living in nor attending school within the approved NWLL boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the alleged boundary violation? DC is weird with kids going to schools far from where they live.

Certain players received "waivers" to play for NWLL, despite not living in nor attending school within the approved NWLL boundaries.

In my LL district, in order to get a waiver, you have had to have lived in bounds or attended a school in bounds at some point. And you have to send all of that documentation to the district for them to sign the waiver. The waiver, along with the documentation goes in the all star binder that is checked at every game. Like you have to have a hard copy electricity bill from 5 years ago, does none of this happen?

And as a side note - this is why LL votes every year whether to remove the boundaries or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the alleged boundary violation? DC is weird with kids going to schools far from where they live.

Certain players received "waivers" to play for NWLL, despite not living in nor attending school within the approved NWLL boundaries.

In my LL district, in order to get a waiver, you have had to have lived in bounds or attended a school in bounds at some point. And you have to send all of that documentation to the district for them to sign the waiver. The waiver, along with the documentation goes in the all star binder that is checked at every game. Like you have to have a hard copy electricity bill from 5 years ago, does none of this happen?

And as a side note - this is why LL votes every year whether to remove the boundaries or not.

That process is essentially correct but you can appeal to the District of Columbia State Little League and they make boundary exceptions.
https://www.dcstatell.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the alleged boundary violation? DC is weird with kids going to schools far from where they live.

Certain players received "waivers" to play for NWLL, despite not living in nor attending school within the approved NWLL boundaries.

As is sadly often the case, even someone who doesn’t know anything about baseball could have easily correctly identified which were the “waiver” players on that team.

[Anonymous]

The letter explains all the waiver issues at great length for anyone who cares to read. There are criteria for granting a waiver and a process that needs to be followed if a player is eligible under the criteria. According to the letter there were a number of cases where players did not meet the criteria, the process was not followed, or both. And when other board members asked for documentation or explanations they were not provided. These are all allegations at this point but this is what the letter says.

[Anonymous]

I’m not in NWLL but I’m not surprised. Leagues are ruthless in trying to keep travel teams together on LL teams so they have the best chances of competing. So much for the fair play and sportsmanship LL pledge.