The Big Goodbye

I said goodbye to my last Little League team last Saturday.

I have said this in the past, and I'm starting to sound like Brett Favre.  This time is really the last time through.  I want to discuss the last team before telling why it's over after 11 seasons.

On the field, this was a team with talent, but not much pitching.  We had five pitchers, a nice problem to have.  Let me rephrase: we had five girls who could throw strikes.  Pitching involves more than one pitch, locations, strategy.  We just didn't have that.

It's not the girl's fault.  I didn't teach enough over the years to teach a second pitch.  We didn't have enough coaches who taught pitching: we taught throwing strikes.  It was gratifying to teach some of these girls from scratch.  It was frustrating to not get them to the next level.

However, we made plays.  We learned about adjusting to the hitter and sometimes the situation.  We learned about getting the bat out early and trying to get bunts down.  We improved, but not enough.

To me, it was what other people said about us that hits right in the heart.  A fan approached me after a game and said he wished his daughter reacted like we did to mistakes: smile and resolve to learn from it.  Another fan, whose daughter helped us reach nine players one night, talked about how our girls accepted her daughter, a fantastic pitcher, when that didn't always happen with her regular team.  Every coach, even from one team that we didn't get along with, remarked what a great bunch of girls we had.  Character still counts for something.

It is time to move on from Little League.  My ability as a coach is good, but when it comes to teaching higher levels, I don't have enough.  Unless I can learn huge amounts this summer, I shouldn't be in charge.  Stats, assistant for defensive purposes, maybe comic relief, but high level coaching, no.

The biggest reason my daughter and I aren't returning have to do with administration.  We were scheduled for 12 games by the District, and due to my schedule, the weather, and the overall scheduling by schools and other organizations, we played 8 1/2.  It was disappointing.  Especially after the original schedule had 15 games on it.  Enough games would have salved the wound and maybe even improved the players.

I did everything I could to get more games.  Doubleheaders, rescheduling around concerts and vacations, we got to 15 scheduled games.  The weather took away the rest.  Shouldn't have had the problem.

I must say at this point that I appreciate the volunteers that put the time and effort in to make things happen.  I have spent time on our board.  I understand how hard it is to make this work.  I also understand how adults have exploited the Little League system over the years, creating a rule system that sometimes contradicts itself, always works in the advantage of the Little League and no one else.

However, Little League seems more interested in protecting it's television money that feeds the monster than growing the game.

Locally, I saw too many things done halfway.  I've seen good kids left to rot by the politics involved.  I've seen good coaches given hopeless teams, driving people to other programs.  My daughter, ever the optimist, said it looked like a kid who did half of the homework and tried to go with it.  The best players decided to play elsewhere, and it's a matter of time until the quality shows at the highest level, the International Championships.  When it does, the TV money will be gone and we lose an American Icon.  Gotta wonder if it could ever happen.  Poor work at the local levels could definitely make it happen.

So...am I off base?