Is there a wind of change blowing at Goleta Valley South Little League?
Since its inception in 1968, the league has operated under the rules of the national organization Little League Baseball.
That relationship could change for next season.
A proposal will be presented Monday at the GVSLL general membership and election meeting at Dos Pueblos High about changing affliations from Little League Baseball to the Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth Baseball League.
If approved, it would give the South Coast area three youth baseball organizations: Little League (Dos Pueblos and Carpinteria), PONY (Santa Barbara) and Cal Ripken.
According to GVSLL president John Nesbit, in a letter to league parents, the idea of changing affliations was first brought up in May during a meeting with managers and coaches. The league’s board of directors researched the Cal Ripken League, looking into the pros and cons of joining the organization.
The board reviewed the information at its July meeting and the majority of the members saw the benefits of switching organizations.
Those benefits will be explained at the meeting.
“We want to present the information we have been analyzing to the general membership at our meeting to explain it in detail, answer questions, and ultimately get your support for moving our league in a more viable, sustainable and positive direction,” Nesbit wrote in his letter to league members.
“The BOD believes that the goal of the league should be (among other things) to provide the best baseball experience to the largest number of kids possible, and that is what the BOD thinks this change will help promote. Surely, we provide a great experience to a lot of kids today, and we have made some wonderful improvements lately, but there are some significant shortfalls as well.
“The top 10 percent of our players have a very different experience than the rest of the league. They play All-Stars and get lots of additional coaching, practice, and experience through that. They play travel ball with leadoffs and steals and graduated field sizes, they benefit from development programs and private coaching not generally made available to the majority of players. Their experience is more exciting, fulfilling, and motivating than our current Little League system allows the rest of the kids. A very small percentage of our players ever go on to play beyond their 12 year old season. They never have the experience of diving back to first base as a pitcher tries to pick them off, never lead off and steal a base with the catcher trying to throw them out. Most of the players drop out after their Major division experience at least in part because they look at the jump from 60 to 90 foot bases and get intimidated. Our goal should be to enrich all of the players’ experience not just the 10 percent. All the kids could have a better, more full and complete baseball experience with the changes being proposed.”
The proposed organizational change has its opponents.
Jeff Ross, a member of Goleta Valley South’s Big League Division Little League World Series championship team in 1982, wrote in a letter to the GVSLL that the structure of Little League Baseball is more beneficial in teaching and developing young players.
“Without this structure it is very easy for rules to vary to the point that there are unfair advantages to some and not to others,” Ross wrote.
“Kids of Little League age, especially at the 10-12 year old level, are continually developing, but have a long way to go before they are ‘veteran’ baseball players. As a result, baseball fundamentals are critical in their development. In order to best focus on fundamentals, you have to control the environment so they can focus on a limited number of skills and not be overwhelmed by too many game variables better suited for older kids. Little League does a good job at providing this control.
“I think Cal Ripken asks a little too much of the kids at this age,” he continued. “Longer bases, deeper fences and especially the ability to steal at the 12 year-old age may overwhelm some kids and they may lose their confidence or sense of fun. There will be the top percentile of kids that can handle this expansion, but you need to think what this will do to the ‘average’ player. I think you’ll find games becoming sloppy, less fun and not developing kids the way you think it will. There is plenty of time for development between the age of 12 and when they reach high school.”
Ross, who now resides in Frankfort, Ky., said regardless of the league, there will always be those kids who excel at the sport at a faster rate than others and there are “opportunities for expanded training” outside of any league.
“However, you have a lot of kids in your league that aren’t “all-star” quality that you must consider,” he wrote. “They have the potential to develop into better players, but will need confidence, good instruction and a controlled environment to do so. Little League provides this without the need to change your charter.”
Nesbit emphasized in his letter to league parents that “this is not a done deal, or has your BOD operated in any sort of secretive fashion around this.”
He said the announcement was delayed due to the success of the league’s all-star teams. GVSLL won District 63 championships at three levels, ages 8-9, 9-10 and 10-11, and its 11-12 team reached the championship game.
Nesbit said another benefit to joining the Cal Ripken organization is it would expand the boundaries to draw players and families. He noted that enrollment has been shrinking.
“The larger boundary we would operate in from Gaviota through Carpinteria, would give us a much broader platform of families, and a greater number of players, which translates into more people to help and more money to spend,” he wrote. “We could create nicer facilities, improve coaching clinics and training, we could greatly expand our player development programs making them affordable and available to all kids (we started to try this in our recent season) and help level the playing field and improve their experience, have paid umpires, and generally have more opportunity to expand and improve as desired.”
There will be no voting on the issue at the Monday meeting.
