How to Draft a Successful Little League Team

By Bob Rehak

I’ve been a Little League coach for my son’s baseball teams for 8 years, although at this point I really can’t call it Little League any more - the players are high school sophomores now, so the Little League description doesn’t exactly fit. Not when the players start asking me if I want a ride home after the game. Not after some of them come to practice with 5 o’clock shadows. And fiancées.

I started coaching my son’s teams when he was 9. I had two reasons for filling out the application and getting certified by the local Park District: I didn’t want my son to play for a tyrannical, win-at-all-costs coach who would make playing baseball as much fun as training to be a telemarketer and I wanted to watch him grow up on an infield rather than on a couch. So far his team has never won a championship, but they have had fun, which is really the point of the games. The players all understand that they’re playing for sport, not trophies. They understand that, because we were able to teach them that lesson when they were very young. Unfortunately, some of their parents never took the class.

Each year for the past 8 years, we have had a parent meeting, where we explained the rules of the game; how the practices and games are run, and we passed out the team schedule. We also passed out a Parent’s Code of Conduct, which they all signed. The Code of Conduct is their written promise that they won’t turn into mini Bobby Knights and scream and curse and act like, well, little Bobby Knights. It’s heart warming that 98% of the parents get it. It’s the other 2% who embarrass themselves and more importantly, their sons, with their behavior. Parents berate the umpires, the coaches, their sons, other peoples’ sons, and other parents. I can wave that signed Code of Conduct at them from the bench, but it still doesn’t stop them. I’ve had parents banned by the league from coming to the games. How sad.

Let me interject right here that bad fan behavior can also carry onto the Major League level. Any fans who scream profanities at any player for any reason have no business watching the game in public [editors note: the opinions of Mr. Rehak do not reflect those Joboja, who feel it is inappropriate to not yell, curse or berate J.D. Drew wherever and whenever one should be unfortunate enough to encounter him. Yes, your humble editor is a Phillies fan and yes he's still a little bitter. Back to Bob] . Yes, they paid to get into the game, but that ticket is not a license to be ignorant, annoying, drunk, or profane [unless it is directed at Jonathan David Drew. Last time, I promise]. Anyone who acts in such a manner was or is probably a charter member of that 2% of the Little League Parents Gone Wild Club.

So after 8 years of coaching, I finally figured out how to avoid that embarrassing 2%. I draft my team based on the behavior of the parents. I could care less if Scooter can catch a fly ball; if his parents encourage him to try harder next time rather than climb the chain link fence like a hamster gnawing at his cage, he’s a first round draft choice in my book.

If his parents clap for the other players and learn their names, I want that kid playing with us for the next 4 years.

If his parents can remain calm when an umpire makes an error in judgment and costs us a game, not only do I want his son playing on our team, I want to name them as my son’s legal guardians should anything ever happen to me.

I have purposely avoided picking kids with higher talent levels plenty of times at the draft just to get someone else’s parents on the sidelines. Occasionally I’ll get lucky and get a 2-for-1 deal: the parents will come with a matched set of grandparents.

The point of all this is that these kids and young adults are paying to play a game. It’s not a career; it’s a leisure activity. Only one team can win it all, and if we emphasize winning above all else, then all the other kids on all the other teams will feel like the season was a waste of time. And any time that you can spend with your children is never a waste.