WS Little League Calls it Quits with White Center

[Kimberley]

It seems a little passive aggressive to bring this onto the blog instead of keeping it within the parent emails around the little league, etc.

Also, with regard to your comment (mercigal) where you stated “Would you say that maybe the incident wouldn’t have gotten out of control if someone other than parents were there (ie an umpire?) Maybe that could be a peaceful solution instead of canceling games?” aren’t most Umpires parents or friends of parents/coaches, etc., so if the blow up was between parents of the t-ballers, who’s to say the Umpire may not have been involved? I’ve heard of Coaches (who’ve also been parents of players) getting a little heated over the calls Umpires make to the point where they’ve gotten up in the Umpire’s face.

These parents/volunteers/coaches/umpires, etc. work tirelessly so that the kids can have a positive experience and if a few parents sour it, then it’s understandable that some teams may want to pull games – if someone can get everyone involved together to sit down and workout the differences, great, but if not – can the games really go ahead without parent involvement? Probably not, some parents will hold a grudge, half the team may play, half won’t – it’d be a mess.

Hopefully things work out for the best and the parents do what’s best for the kids.

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[mercigal]

@sandybeach: I am sure that Mark T is a stand up guy. I am happy that he posted his comments to clear up any confusion. I do hope he and SWLL can work to keep the kiddoes playing! I know it takes a lot of hard work to organize kids playing sports. (Thank you Mark T for your committment!!)I do work with children, so I know how hard and rewarding it can be :)

@kimberley: good points–I am not sure how helpful an umpire would be if not impartial. I was thinking more like LL appointed. I am not privvy to the LL email addresses and so I posted this to air curiosity and a sanity check (ie am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?? I could be, but let me find out!)

This has not meant to be personal at all!!!!! Just wanted to put it into perspective that some kids will be losing the opportunity to play and that hopefully the reasoning for these cancellations was well thought out.

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[flowerLJ]

As a parent of a 6 year old and considering team sports I am greatly heartbroken about the situation. I do not understand why WS thinks with 4 teams that they were so gracious to allow play with the 3 SW teams in the first place. Also why other WS teams decided they did not want to play with SW when they were not involved with the incident. I was not at the game but “heresay” says that some of the WS parents packed together to tell then SW kids to “Go back to White Center” Amazing how quickly folks are to break out their prejudices when things are not going their way. I guess I don’t need to teach my son about prejudices or racism before he goes to school in the north cluster as it seems the parents are doing teaching their kids well enough. That’s how it all starts is with kids saying cruel things that they do not fully understand. If the WS team felt that one player was causing trouble why didn’t the coach have a civil conversation with the SW coach to resolve the issue. Parents should know that kids will fall down, get skinned knees & elbows when playing any game.

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[Smitty]

FlowerLJ,

It’s neither here nor there, but WSLL has a LOT more than 4 teams and was VERY gracious (imo) to allow inter-league play with SWLL.

I have been involved for four years with WSLL and have yet to hear of any altercation like this amongst WSLL teams, fwiw.

I’m glad you are so quick to pass along hearsay.

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[sandybeach]

FlowerLJ- Wow! Playing the race card on hearsay. You seem to be forming your own prejudices against the “north cluster” parents. Maybe you are speaking of things you don’t yet fully understand? You and mercigal have now tagged WSLL parents as racist and elitist. Who now is labeling the many by the actions of the few?

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[mercigal]

@sandybeach: speaking of things you don’t understand and hearsay: “Does this have anything to do with the drunken person who had to be removed from the dugout by the police before a game? The same person who managed to cut them self pretty badly and then proceed to bleed all over the dugout? This didn’t sound like a safe place for the kids to be. I have heard this story from two sources in the last week.” Mark T corrected the record by noting this incident was not at a T-Ball game. I guess my point is that we know what we know, and the only way to find out the truth is talk about it.

You are attacking some opinions about whether the WSLL decision was well thought out. To me and others, it seemed premature, and there can be many reasons for that, including fear of safety, fear of confrontation, racism, elitism, or simply we just don’t want to play anymore. Instead of attacking opinions, let’s find the out the truth. Whatever the reason, there was some agreement to cancel games, so “the actions of the few” became the actions of the group.

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[sandybeach]

mercigal – You called WSLL parents “Elitist”. flowerlj beat around the bush and called WSLL parents prejudiced and racist -FlowerLJ’s words “I guess I don’t need to teach my son about prejudices or racism before he goes to school in the north cluster as it seems the parents are doing teaching their kids well enough.”

I understand fully what I asked – If you notice I posed it as a question. I did this because I did not know if this was part of the what you were asking about.

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[bfranklin4206]

SWLL is awesome sure some kids play rough but thats how it is dont let kids not all play together because thats where they live

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[JoB]

what does this teach children about fair play and controlling their tempers.. or are those no longer lessons taught in T-ball?

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[alki_2008]

@mercigal – The kids aren’t getting hurt. As long as the parents keep quiet and settle their differences maturely, then what’s the big deal?

The key part of your statement is “as long as”. If I know that there are two groups of parents that have issues, and that both groups would be at the game…then I’m not going to have my kid be there when it’s likely that a fight (between parents) is going to occur. Sorry, but I’m not going to depend on other parents for my kid’s safety. The world is dangerous enough, but to insert my kid into an environment that is already known to be “heated” is a risk I’m not willing to take. I want to minimize my kid’s chances of getting hurt either physically or emotionally.

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[JoB]

alki_2008…

i gotta ask..

are the kids safer in West Seattle when the parent’s disagreements become heated?

probably not.

this isn’t primarily about kid safety.

if kid safety is the issue… you simply invite an off duty officer along to the games… that tends to quell “disagreement”… and is an affordable option.

some parents obviously need to learn from their kids…

when it comes to t-ball.. it’s the game that matters.. not the rules.. not the score… not the illusion of charity and the triumph of good over evil… but the pure joy of playing.

the simple truth is that kids who don’t learn how to negotiate in a multicultural world without taking their toys and leaving the playground are going to be at a distinct disadvantage in the grown up world when those pesky demographics tip over that invisible white line.

t-ball is a very good place to start.

now.. if their parents would only let them get on with the lessons.

play ball.

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[dmtippy]

Can’t we all just remember and live by the golden rule? Treat others as you want to be treated. Enough said.

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[alki_2008]

@JoB – no, the kids aren’t better off when some parents behave badly…but that wasn’t the issue I was addressing. Sure, the parents SHOULD resolve their differences and work things out like proper adults…but just because they SHOULD doesn’t mean they WILL, so if some parents are nervous about their kids playing in games where other parents can’t behave like adults, then I’m not going to chastise them for opting to cancel the games.

Kids SHOULD be able to go out and play by themselves without the dangers of some strangers, but that’s not the world we live in and I’m not willing to risk my kids’ safety for what I’d HOPE the world to be.

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[AdmiralRob]

OK. Here’s exactly what happened! It happened to our 5 year old daughter.

No one on our WSLL team is elitist, or racist because we are in the WSLL. We have all genders and races on OUR TEAM.

The SWLL team we were playing was being extremely aggressive towards our players. Blocking the base paths as our kids were attempting to go by. The SWLL team also fielded a catcher in FULL GEAR. WSLL teams do not field catchers for Tball games. There was a coach instructing the catcher on how to be a “big league” catcher. Standing behind home plate “teaching him”. As our players reached home base, the catcher would block home plate and apply a hard tag. A number of times the tag was in our player’s face. Their coach encouraged this as the proper way to play catcher. Our parents were dismayed as the players were getting hit in the face!

One of our parents approached the coach and said things were getting out of hand, and suggested that it wasn’t very good sportsmanship. This coach came over to the backstop and said “Hey, you want to fight Mother F-er?” Unbelievable behavior in front of kids. Another one of their coaches yelled at our parents saying we were a bunch of whiners and told us to “shut up”.

The final straw was when our daughter was coming to home plate. The catcher who was much bigger than our 5 year old, blocked the plate and slammed her to the ground onto her back. The coach behind the plate jumped up over our daughter who was on the ground and yelled “YOU’RE OUT!”… Then congratulated the catcher on a great play as our daughter lay shaken on the ground. They never even attempted to help her up or see if she was OK. The game was halted after this… She was shocked and scared for quite some time with lots of tears. She cried pretty much uncontrollably the entire drive home.

I can’t believe this has happened at a Tball game. It is unbelievable to me. FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR KIDS, our team isn’t playing against any SWLL team again, and my understanding in talking to other WSLL Tball team parents is this specific SWLL team has been fully removed from playing any WSLL teams. However, the other SWLL games are still scheduled. I feel real bad for the SWLL kids, especially this team. It’s not the kids’ fault their coaches reacted in this manner, and it’s too bad they are being punished.

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[me on 28th Ave SW]

My son played the position of catcher for many years. As I recall, even a rudimentary catcher position wasn’t used until coach pitch (around age 7) and even then it was mainly to retrieve balls. Full-contact, protecting the plate moves have no place on the field until the kids have learned to safely slide into home plate (not at 5 or 6!). Even then, the catcher should aim for the players CHEST not the face. I seem to remember my son’s first “out at home” was when he was about 9 years old, and this was still a rare “less than a dozen times a season league-wide” thing. This incident, as explained above, is wrong on SO many levels. It is sad to hear.

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