Little League Coaches decison leads to controversy

**the_alienist** · August 15th, 2006, 03:29 PM

You beat me to it.....I totally agree....also, any sport involves not only skill, but strategy. He wasn't targeting the kid simply b.c he walked the opposing teams strong batter. It would have been just as unfair to the cancer survivor if he had treated him as such, and not as a just another player up to bat for the opposing team.

**TheBeast** · August 15th, 2006, 03:43 PM

I do believe the cancer survivors coach put him in the lineup right behind the strong hitter strtegically to keep the other coach from walking the strong hitter to get to the weaker "cancer survivor" and causing just such an uproar. I commend the coach for walking the strong hitter to get to the weaker one, they need to learn how the real world works and little league is a good a time as any. The real bad guy is the kids coach that used him to make his best player look better by making sure everyone pitched to him so they wouldn't look like the heel.

**imported_Counts** · August 15th, 2006, 04:04 PM

I got the impression that the kid was in for his mandatory at bat could be wrong though

**R0cketer** · August 15th, 2006, 04:09 PM

Curious about it, since the kid didn't think he would get to bat (2 outs, runner on). That means they had him most likely in the 5 hole (assuming that the power hitter was in the 4 spot), which if he was just to get an at bat, why wasn't he in the second spot or something where he would have been given a mandatory at bat, as opposed to a position where he wasn't looking like he would have.

**imported_Counts** · August 15th, 2006, 04:20 PM

I have seen stranger things I know one of the articals on this situation branched out talking about a situation where a kid did not get an at bat in so the team he played on started walking batters on the other team to tie the game so that the kid could get an at bat and avoid the forfit the other team seeing this ploy was swinging at pitchs 3 feet off the base in order to lose so that they would win by forfit.....LL is strange

**1inStripes** · August 15th, 2006, 04:28 PM

It almost happened between GC and Bristol in 11-12's I believe. Unfortunately GC's batters didn't realize what the coach was telling them, and ended up tieing the game in the top of the 7th, so Bristols batter still got to bat. GC then won in 10 I believe.

**imported_ut1** · August 15th, 2006, 04:41 PM

Not my take on it at all. Another example of teaching kids to win at all costs, as long as you stay "in the rules". The older I get, the more adamant I am about the kids learning the game, as opposed to focusing only on winning the game. After all, winning does very little in building character. Its how we learn to deal with life's disappointments that make us who we are as much as anything else.
I would have pitched to the "big hitter". Even "big hitters" fail to get a hit 60-70% of the time. If my team wasn't good enough to stop him, they had no business winning anyway.

**Danny1979** · August 15th, 2006, 04:44 PM

True: Winning isnt everything; yet on the other side of the same coin, something can be gained in losing as well. For instance, his coach did not substitute another batter for him--ie., his coach believed in him (seemingly more than the parents do), and knowing that can go a long way. These parents have denied their son that right. I question how much winning meant to them--perhaps too much.

**Unchained** · August 15th, 2006, 05:01 PM

I firmly believe that learning, having fun, and playing the game are very important,however I also firmly believe that there is indeed a place for winning as well as losing. In life we set goals for ourselves. The goal is to succeed, not to fail. When my son's team loses, I can see the look of disgust on his face. This encourages me. It lets me know that he is not content settling for losing. I know that he as well as his teammates are going to work harder to achieve their next goal, which is to win the next game. I do believe in handling defeat with class and dignity. I have taught this to him, and seen him hide his dejection more than once to walk over, smile, shake the other team's player's hands,hide his tears with that smile,and say "good game". I think that sports and life go hand in hand, and lessons you learn on the field can carry off of the field. If you are content to settle for second best on the field, then you are going to be second best off of it. It is when parents get crazed and go overboard that I get angry. The world gets tougher and more competitive each day. I have no problem with a kid who has a fire and competitive spirit. Learning to harness that is the trick.