Anonymous wrote:This is very true in our experience.

Also, for some sports, the criteria for what make a kid talented are more subjective. In a sport like baseball there may be less room for judgment calls--if a player never gets any hits, it would be tough for even his most ardent fan to argue that he should be playing in place of a kid who gets home runs every at bat. But in a sport like soccer, you have less sophisticated coaches who will happily pick a tall kid who runs fast but is utterly incapable of trapping a ball or making a smart play over a smaller more skillful kid who could well help the team a lot more if the coach knew how the game is meant to be played.

Basketball and football have been the worst, in my experience. The varsity basketball coach preaches defense, effort, crisp passing, and low turnovers. My son is more of an athlete than a basketball player but he is a willing defender, has decent handles, and gets a fair number of steals and rebounds. IMO- he's a solid role player who can do everything well except score. The coach mostly plays low IQ chuckers who score 10 points on 15 shots, commit stupid fouls, and turn over the ball. Basically the opposite of what he says he values. Those kids' parents are constantly in the coaches ear, often at the local watering hole. The team is single-digit win bad. Again- my kid isn't great at basketball but neither are those kids. They all just suck in different ways.

Football is pretty bad too- especially on the OL and DL. Any of the "unskilled" positions where stats are difficult to quantify, I've seen blatant examples of favoritism. Coaches will overlook holding penalties and personal fouls by some kids because in their minds, the kids are great despite evidence to the contrary.

Anonymous wrote:No. At that age and level they want to win. You son is likely not as much of the top as you think he is.

If he was the top you wouldn't be complaining about no playing time. Unless he is kot playing as much because he has a bad attitude. I could see that happen.

Of course they want to win. In my experience, the problem is that coaches- just like parents- have a distorted view of kids' abilities. They're much more likely to overlook errors by some kids and give them a long leash while other kids get yanked quickly. Its basically confirmation bias. They honestly believe their kid can pitch out of a jam but have no faith in another kid.

As for kids with attitude problems- some of the worst have been the sons of the daddy coaches. Years of entitlement play leads to lazy practice habits and poor performance. And over time, most kids can't skate by on natural ability- especially if they're old for their grade. Eventually the regress to the mean. At least that's what I've seen.

In my son's case, he was sometimes passed over for the select teams while the daddy coaches' kids went. Now he's 17, started on varsity, played corner outfield and batted 4th. For the season he went .368 with an OPS of 1.064. Most of the daddy coach kids didn't play varsity. But a couple kids still had a much longer leash than others- especially the 1st baseman who had a TON of fielding errors at 1b.

So, its not so much that my kid is so super awesome- its that their kids aren't all that great either.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.

I would guess that if it is extending into high school and beyond (college? Minor leagues?) your kid is likely NOT the top player on the team.

BS.

HS is known for some of the biggest BS around. They also take the politiciked crew off the travel teams.

I know many kids that don't play HS soccer for this reason and are on some of the top teams in this country.

Politics comes into team sport selection at every level. You should see it at the National team level. It will blow your mind.

No. At that age and level they want to win. You son is likely not as much of the top as you think he is.

If he was the top you wouldn't be complaining about no playing time. Unless he is kot playing as much because he has a bad attitude. I could see that happen.

They are losing every game--so apparently they don't care about winning. They stop taking the kids with Dad's head up their ass---they might have been able to win some.

Playing time wasn't mentioned, btw.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.

I would guess that if it is extending into high school and beyond (college? Minor leagues?) your kid is likely NOT the top player on the team.

BS.

HS is known for some of the biggest BS around. They also take the politiciked crew off the travel teams.

I know many kids that don't play HS soccer for this reason and are on some of the top teams in this country.

Politics comes into team sport selection at every level. You should see it at the National team level. It will blow your mind.

No. At that age and level they want to win. You son is likely not as much of the top as you think he is.

If he was the top you wouldn't be complaining about no playing time. Unless he is kot playing as much because he has a bad attitude. I could see that happen.

They are losing every game--so apparently they don't care about winning. They stop taking the kids with Dad's head up their ass---they might have been able to win some.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High School and college coaches are there to win. It would be highly unlikely that the best 9 (or 11 for football, whatever) are not on the field at any given time.

You'd be wrong. Coaches have strong biases with "favorites". Some kids can make a dozen mistakes while another will make one and get yanked.

Obviously, this isn't true with every coach and every school. We're painting with a broad brush here.

But if you think politicking and bullshit goes DOWN as the stakes go UP, you're naïve.

This is very true in our experience.

Also, for some sports, the criteria for what make a kid talented are more subjective. In a sport like baseball there may be less room for judgment calls--if a player never gets any hits, it would be tough for even his most ardent fan to argue that he should be playing in place of a kid who gets home runs every at bat. But in a sport like soccer, you have less sophisticated coaches who will happily pick a tall kid who runs fast but is utterly incapable of trapping a ball or making a smart play over a smaller more skillful kid who could well help the team a lot more if the coach knew how the game is meant to be played.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.

I would guess that if it is extending into high school and beyond (college? Minor leagues?) your kid is likely NOT the top player on the team.

BS.

HS is known for some of the biggest BS around. They also take the politiciked crew off the travel teams.

I know many kids that don't play HS soccer for this reason and are on some of the top teams in this country.

Politics comes into team sport selection at every level. You should see it at the National team level. It will blow your mind.

No. At that age and level they want to win. You son is likely not as much of the top as you think he is.

If he was the top you wouldn't be complaining about no playing time. Unless he is kot playing as much because he has a bad attitude. I could see that happen.

Anonymous wrote:High School and college coaches are there to win. It would be highly unlikely that the best 9 (or 11 for football, whatever) are not on the field at any given time.

You'd be wrong. Coaches have strong biases with "favorites". Some kids can make a dozen mistakes while another will make one and get yanked.

Obviously, this isn't true with every coach and every school. We're painting with a broad brush here.

But if you think politicking and bullshit goes DOWN as the stakes go UP, you're naïve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.

+1

Its incredibly frustrating. But you know what- sports really isn't that important in life. It isn't. Our son is now 17 and will be a HS senior in the fall. They just had a nice playoff run. But you know what? Varsity playoff games just didn't seem as important as they did when he was 10.

Just take a deep breath. It sucks and it likely won't ever change. You can get involved as an assistant coach- if your kid is really good, they'll want you as an assistant (depending on how the player draft works).

But in the grand scheme of things- it doesn't matter. Use these as life lessons and try to make the best of it. Trust me when I say that in 8 years- you won't really care anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.

I would guess that if it is extending into high school and beyond (college? Minor leagues?) your kid is likely NOT the top player on the team.

BS.

HS is known for some of the biggest BS around. They also take the politiciked crew off the travel teams.

I know many kids that don't play HS soccer for this reason and are on some of the top teams in this country.

Politics comes into team sport selection at every level. You should see it at the National team level. It will blow your mind.

OP. Substitute 'baseball' for 'soccer' and I FEEELLLLL your pain.

This happens in every sport--but it happens much more frequently in a type-A area like this.

I would switch teams. It's the only thing that will fix the situation.

You should see the absolute duds that are on our top soccer team. They get beat consistently by the lower teams---but the lower teams don't have the politicking parents.

High School and college coaches are there to win. It would be highly unlikely that the best 9 (or 11 for football, whatever) are not on the field at any given time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.

I would guess that if it is extending into high school and beyond (college? Minor leagues?) your kid is likely NOT the top player on the team.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to volunteer to coach or make friends with them. It's not all about skills, same with life #LifeLessons

OP here. Yeah, DH and I are not baseball coaching material. That's why we contribute to the team in other ways. And we are friendly with the other parents -- we just don't see them outside of baseball because we aren't in the same school district. Little League should not be limited to kids whose parents know enough about baseball to coach.

Yes, but that is life, especially in this town. If you want your child to have the best chances, you need to be involved in the "politics". Not saying it is right or wrong, but there it is. Also you don't have to coach, just get involved.

Her DH does field maintenance and helps at practice and she scores the games. Those are two important ways to be "involved."

OP, what scoring system do you use? Are you keeping a paper book? I recommend looking at Gamechanger. It's a good way to keep the stats cumulative and help illustrate your points about how players are performing.

You knew what I meant.

No, actually, I didn't. Because you seemed a bit clueless when you wrote it. I didn't know what you meant. At all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but how could a kid who never hit the ball all season, as you assert, make an all star team? That's so weird.

Yep, the kid struck out most of the time and got walked the rest of the time. Never hit the ball. Dad is the assistant coach.

I have never heard of this sort of all star selection. It is possibly a first in the history of baseball. Pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but a followup question. Does this kind of favoritism/politicking extend to high school sports? Do the high school coaches actually pick and play the best players? Do we just need to stick out the nonsense in Little League to get to a system that is more equitable?

Yes, and beyond, even if your kid is the top player on the team. BTDT.