Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think those little leagues that have not tried softball should. Softball rec leagues comprising of an entire county are not true community program leagues. Little League softball is and should be the way to go.

Which softball rec leagues comprise an entire county? Some have larger footprints than other but the whole point of rec league is that they kids are playing in their own neighborhood. Little League programs focus on baseball, which is fine, but the girls never get a fair deal.

Arlington Girls Softball Association for one.

Anonymous wrote:I think those little leagues that have not tried softball should. Softball rec leagues comprising of an entire county are not true community program leagues. Little League softball is and should be the way to go.

Which softball rec leagues comprise an entire county? Some have larger footprints than other but the whole point of rec league is that they kids are playing in their own neighborhood. Little League programs focus on baseball, which is fine, but the girls never get a fair deal.

Anonymous wrote:one of the local rec softball leagues only has one board member. This league is definitely not conducting background checks on coaches either. People still ignorantly allow their girls to play in this league not recognizing the severity of this oversight

Which league? All the leagues I know of have the background checks. (Not that background checks make that much difference, seems like every week I read about a teacher getting arrested after having a history of prior offenses.)

Softball rec leagues should consider getting a little league charter

one of the local rec softball leagues only has one board member. This league is definitely not conducting background checks on coaches either. People still ignorantly allow their girls to play in this league not recognizing the severity of this oversight

let's consider that rec leagues do the same, but offer a non-safe environment driven on greed

It is disgusting that some rec softball programs allow anyone to coach. No screens, no training,. nothing.

It would be a poor parenting decision to send your child into a program that does not bother with checking credentials for the safety of their players

I think those little leagues that have not tried softball should. Softball rec leagues comprising of an entire county are not true community program leagues. Little League softball is and should be the way to go.

I for one hope that this is not about or being directed at a newly established program that has high hopes for growth and expansion. That believes in each of its players and that is helping to develop those players and provide a true community. A Softball community comprised of children who live near each other and go to school together. A community of children who will hopefully play together for years to come and some into high school.

In my opinion the other leagues giving up or ditching their established programs and going to rec are making a ginormous mistake. Not sure if this ever went through the minds of those who choose rec vs little league, but do your rec league screen coaches, do background checks, make coaches go through professional trainings to help them to succeed and to provide a safe and healthy environment for the players? Just curious because little league does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our league is in a trial period for joining little league for softball and I really hope they ditch it after this year. It is a headache for everyone. Seems wonderful and organized for baseball but not worth it for softball.

100%! Little League is a horrible option for girls and if any other rec programs exist, should not be considered. The boys outnumber the girls by such a large amount, there's no way to keep resources equal and girls will always take a backseat. Girls will always receive less attention and they're given the leftover equipment The uniforms (for older groups) are rarely female fit, but instead unisex. The age groups are too broad, it hinders development. In the youngest ages, girls always are merged with boys and it's such a disservice! Our 6U teams bat from a tee the first couple of weeks, and quickly move to coach pitch. Girls are so much more attentive than boys, they learn more and have much more fun without the distraction and should not be held back because "we need to form a complete team and don't have enough girls".

I've been in the fastpitch world for over 30 years, having daughters play LL, fastpitch only rec leagues, travel ball and college. We now run our own rec program and the difference between our faspitch only league and LL is night and day. I understand the convenience of LL if DD is practicing or playing at the same time/park as DS, but that's the only plus and rarely is the case.

Sorry for the rant, I know I didn't answer OPs question.

There's boys or co-ed rec softball? Where?
OP, how many years did your daughters play baseball?

I think he means that the Little League organization they were in had baseball and tried adding softball but the softball teams were treated like second class citizens. Not surprising at all.

I was following that from the resources perspective but then he said "In the youngest ages, girls always are merged with boys". That insinuates his LL was doing co-ed softball.

I only know the baseball side in terms of all stars, but the residency requirements were always strict and required documentation. I do know the rules have loosened over the years (allowing based on school attendance or waiver for moving to an out of boundaries league etc) but the rules were followed. Usually pretty much all the kids who made all stars also played travel. But that was the baseball side…

Our little league ran a softball program also but it wasn’t very good. Same for the neighboring leagues. Our metro area has a girls softball rec league that is much better, and most girls played there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our league is in a trial period for joining little league for softball and I really hope they ditch it after this year. It is a headache for everyone. Seems wonderful and organized for baseball but not worth it for softball.

100%! Little League is a horrible option for girls and if any other rec programs exist, should not be considered. The boys outnumber the girls by such a large amount, there's no way to keep resources equal and girls will always take a backseat. Girls will always receive less attention and they're given the leftover equipment The uniforms (for older groups) are rarely female fit, but instead unisex. The age groups are too broad, it hinders development. In the youngest ages, girls always are merged with boys and it's such a disservice! Our 6U teams bat from a tee the first couple of weeks, and quickly move to coach pitch. Girls are so much more attentive than boys, they learn more and have much more fun without the distraction and should not be held back because "we need to form a complete team and don't have enough girls".

I've been in the fastpitch world for over 30 years, having daughters play LL, fastpitch only rec leagues, travel ball and college. We now run our own rec program and the difference between our faspitch only league and LL is night and day. I understand the convenience of LL if DD is practicing or playing at the same time/park as DS, but that's the only plus and rarely is the case.

Sorry for the rant, I know I didn't answer OPs question.

There's boys or co-ed rec softball? Where?
OP, how many years did your daughters play baseball?

I think he means that the Little League organization they were in had baseball and tried adding softball but the softball teams were treated like second class citizens. Not surprising at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our league is in a trial period for joining little league for softball and I really hope they ditch it after this year. It is a headache for everyone. Seems wonderful and organized for baseball but not worth it for softball.

100%! Little League is a horrible option for girls and if any other rec programs exist, should not be considered. The boys outnumber the girls by such a large amount, there's no way to keep resources equal and girls will always take a backseat. Girls will always receive less attention and they're given the leftover equipment The uniforms (for older groups) are rarely female fit, but instead unisex. The age groups are too broad, it hinders development. In the youngest ages, girls always are merged with boys and it's such a disservice! Our 6U teams bat from a tee the first couple of weeks, and quickly move to coach pitch. Girls are so much more attentive than boys, they learn more and have much more fun without the distraction and should not be held back because "we need to form a complete team and don't have enough girls".

I've been in the fastpitch world for over 30 years, having daughters play LL, fastpitch only rec leagues, travel ball and college. We now run our own rec program and the difference between our faspitch only league and LL is night and day. I understand the convenience of LL if DD is practicing or playing at the same time/park as DS, but that's the only plus and rarely is the case.

Sorry for the rant, I know I didn't answer OPs question.

There's boys or co-ed rec softball? Where?
OP, how many years did your daughters play baseball?

Anonymous wrote:McLean Little League has a robust softball program and has gone to the LLWS at least twice. They've had multiple majors teams that have won the state tourney and gone to the regional competition at Warner-Robbins in Georgia. The McLean Magic travel team basically required all the girls to also play rec and that was super competitive because who ever was the coach of the winning rec team got to be the All-Stars majors coach.

Interesting. Are they all on the same rec team and travel team so they’re used to playing together?

Anonymous wrote:Our league is in a trial period for joining little league for softball and I really hope they ditch it after this year. It is a headache for everyone. Seems wonderful and organized for baseball but not worth it for softball.

100%! Little League is a horrible option for girls and if any other rec programs exist, should not be considered. The boys outnumber the girls by such a large amount, there's no way to keep resources equal and girls will always take a backseat. Girls will always receive less attention and they're given the leftover equipment The uniforms (for older groups) are rarely female fit, but instead unisex. The age groups are too broad, it hinders development. In the youngest ages, girls always are merged with boys and it's such a disservice! Our 6U teams bat from a tee the first couple of weeks, and quickly move to coach pitch. Girls are so much more attentive than boys, they learn more and have much more fun without the distraction and should not be held back because "we need to form a complete team and don't have enough girls".

I've been in the fastpitch world for over 30 years, having daughters play LL, fastpitch only rec leagues, travel ball and college. We now run our own rec program and the difference between our faspitch only league and LL is night and day. I understand the convenience of LL if DD is practicing or playing at the same time/park as DS, but that's the only plus and rarely is the case.

Sorry for the rant, I know I didn't answer OPs question.