The Letter

So when we last left the narrative I am slinking away from the field, feeling, well, defeated. We have given out the awards, which I know were meaningful for the team, something I’m not sure I was fully able to convey here.

The good news is that Steve has committed to doing this again next year. And so I start thinking about next year. So on Monday morning, first thing I do is send off an email to Libby.

In this email I do two things. First, I suggest a schedule of practices and games that is somewhat between last season’s all games and this season’s 2 and 1. The schedule I suggest is:
Week 1 - Practices (Like this year)
Weeks 2-5 Two games and one practice (Like this year)
Weeks 6-9 Switch to practicing once every other week (Creating two extra games)
Week 10 - Games
Week 11 - Playoffs
The idea being that additionally in Weeks 10 or 11 there could be a rain makeup day as well.

This schedule would actually create 3 extra games as it would eliminate a second practice that came in Week 2. Further the idea of doing a rain make up day in Week 10 or 11, and if there are no rainouts using that as a practice day instead, seems like something that would be nice. We had more rainouts this year then last, but it seems like acknowledging that games will be canceled in the schedule seems like a wise move.

Now while that’s the bulk of the email, the second line (after thanking her for her work) read “As an FYI, I am planning on sending letters to the Park District Commissioners, which while touching on a couple of other areas, is focused on the idea of keeping kids from the same grade together for the two years they are in Triple A, Majors, or Pony"

Now, I’m not sure if I had mentioned this before, or not, but Libby has an “auto response” which sends you an email saying that she got your email and will get back to you with-in 24 hours. If you recall she basically ignored several emails from Steve and I so that was a complete joke. However, out of courtesy, I did wait 24 hours before sending off my letter to the Park District Commissioners, with a CC to the Executive Director of the Park District. That email reads as follows:

Dear Commissioner (Insert Commissioner’s name here),

My name is Barkeep49 and I am would like to take this opportunity to give you some feedback on the Boys Majors (5th and 6th grade) baseball program. For the last two seasons I have coached, along with my friend Steve XXXX, a team in the league. While we are far too young to have any children play we do it because we enjoy working with youth and think baseball is fun.

The idea that playing sports should be fun is a philosophy that is certainly embraced by the Park District staff. This combined with the idea that each player should have the opportunity to grow their skills, forms the backbone of the Majors’ philosophy, in accordance with the Park District’s overall goals. The staff have done an excellent job of setting up a league which promotes these ideas. Perhaps the staff’s strongest moment came when they discovered that several coaches were not following rules regarding playing time. They took immediate and swift action to address the problem.

Unfortunately, other communication was not always so swift. From our own experience, and from talking to others, Steve and I know that emails were often ignored. At one point we even requested a meeting with a Park District staff member and gave several times which would work. This email was one of several that were ignored.

One area where feedback has not been ignored, however, is in the attempt to put together fair teams. This has proven to be a problem, we know, not just in Majors but in Triple A and Pony as well. I have seen this first hand, with our team last year having a third of the players on the team play travel baseball and our team this year which did not have nearly the same strength in our best players. In several nearby suburbs the Park Districts and Athletic Associations have found a solution to this problem which also fits in perfectly with the Park District’s philosophy.

The idea is that players of the same grade move up together as a team with-in a league. So, for instance, the players we have who are 5th graders this year would be the 6th graders on our team next year. They would be joined by kids who are 4th graders this year and who would come from many different Triple A teams. This provides numerous benefits with only a few drawbacks. First, it rewards coaches who invest time in developing all players’ skills. For instance, this year we had a player who wanted desperately to play catcher, but whose skills were lacking. Throughout the season Steve and I worked with this young man so that by the end of the season he was able to be a productive catcher for us. I know that next year, when he is in 6th grade, he will be a regular catcher for whatever team he is on. While I can’t wait to see how he catches next year when we play his team, I have to admit that it is frustrating to know that some other team is going to benefit from the hard work we have done this year.

Furthermore, time is wasted every year getting to know our players. While under the plan you would still have to get to know half a team (or slightly more if some players didn’t return to the league) this is far more manageable then trying to learn the skills and talents of a full roster. Just as important as our getting to know the players, is the players getting to know each other. This speaks to one of the drawbacks of this system. Players would not meet as many kids as before. While having the opportunity to meet different kids is important, more important is the relationship that the players form once they’ve met. It can take a full season for a squad to come together as a team, even when teamwork and team comrade is a major focus. Therefore, by the time they come together, and start to form meaningful relationships, the season is over and they might not see some of these peers again until high school. It seems like it would be far more rewarding to know that the peers you have met and grown to like are going to be your teammates again come next spring. Also by having half of your squad return, it encourages leadership. The 6th graders already know what the expectations of the coaches are and can help set the right tone for the younger players.

The other major potential criticism of this system is that some players would still have 2 coaches as the coaches move up in leagues with their children. Even this is not as bad as it first seems, as there are quite a few siblings who are 2 years apart (on our team alone there were 4 different kids who had a sibling two grades younger than them). With many coaches coaching in multiple leagues this means that as one child graduates to the next league, the coach could simply stay with the same team as a younger child would join it. Furthermore, even if a player had two different coaches, they are no worse off then they are today, while still experiencing many of the same positive social and leadership aspects that this program would offer.

I thank you for your time and consideration by reading this letter and also thank you for the jobs you do in helping Highland Park have such an excellent recreation program.

Sincerely,
Barkeep49

Now if you remember, this email came about because of a conversation I had with Kevin, a park district employee. He had told me about the idea of keeping kids on the same team, I liked it, and he told me it was the Park District Commissioners who vetoed the idea. I didn’t really know what to expect after sending this letter. I am very familiar with how a local school district operates, and letters such as mine are generally sent to the circular file.

I sent this letter at around 7:30 AM, before I left for work. By 12 o’clock I had received 3 replies. By 4:30, 4 of the 5 Commissioners, plus the Executive Director, had sent me replied. What was interesting was that the Commissioners focused on. In a 900+ word letter I spent 56 words on lack of response from Libby which so irked me and Steve. But yet that was the point that all of the board members latched onto in their responses. It was very interesting.

Of the responses, I liked the Executive Director’s the best as he was the only one to address the letter in a holistic sense. He promised that he would get back to me soon with a longer reply and that the email would be passed on to the staff.

Overall I am quite pleased with the response I’m getting. And then I get the phone call. I’m driving in my car so I don’t see the caller id before picking it up and so I am a little surprised when I hear the voice of Libby’s boss, Michael. The email has been forwarded to him and he would like to have a meeting along with “Dave”. I have no clue who “Dave” is so I ask Michael and he asks someone what Dave’s title is before telling me that he doesn’t know Dave’s title but Dave is his boss. OOOOOOOOK then.

So thinking this over, I ponder what this meeting is going to be. I feel confident heading into it, but have no clue what they’re going after. Someone suggests that perhaps they’re building up a case against Libby to try and fire her. That thought makes me uncomfortable. Someone else suggests that they’re going to be very annoyed with me. I partially think this too, and so I print out all the correspondence Steve and I had with Libby this year and focus on what I feel the strongest points of the proposed system of keeping teams together are.

The day of the meeting comes. I go to the Park District Head Quarters not really knowing what to expect. When I get to the center no one really knows where Dave is, and since Michael’s office is in a different building, it’s very unclear where the meeting is. So I sort of loiter around in the sports wing hoping it’s the right place to be. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal as I would just whip out my phone and play some Tetris, but my phone’s battery is nearly dead and I don’t want to risk it dying on me. A few minutes after the time we were supposed to meet, Michael comes out and escorts me into a conference room.

It’s the moment of truth. Dave, will be joining us shortly, but Michael kicks off the meeting without him. I can see in front of him a little sheet with Pro and Con written and things written beneath it. Sure enough he kicks off the meeting discussing the idea of keeping kids on the same team. I can tell right off the bat that he’s not going for it. Now mind you, this means I was a bit misled as I was informed by Kevin that the staff was behind it but it was the commissioners who put the kibosh on it.

Now either Michael is worn down or he’s not my greatest fan. I’m choosing option B. However, a few minutes into the meeting, Dave comes in and the whole tenor changes. When it was just Michael and I it was polite but there wasn’t any real excitement. Dave makes it clear right off the bat that he was just blown away by the fact that Steve and I volunteer our time. While Michael was just talking about the idea because he had to, Dave was more interested in discussing the idea. And in the end their opinion didn’t change.

Their essential argument was this: it would cause nearly as many problems as it would create. What I failed to take into account in my initial email was pushy parents. Basically their argument was that if a team was bad in the first year, they would demand to have their child moved in the second year. And if they didn’t like the coach they would demand to be moved in the second year. This being the city that it is, the Park District would basically have to accede to the request, as well. They also said, at first, that it wouldn’t make for “fairer” teams in terms of talent allocation, but I think I won them over on that point.


While most of the meeting was spent on the idea of keeping the players on the same team, we did touch the area of communication. Basically Michael said that he wished he had been made aware of the issue. In retrospect I wish we had done this and conceded that this was a fair point and agreed to do this in the future. The reason we didn’t is the comments we’ve heard about Michael not really caring about the things that go on. However, that’s not really an excuse and was a definite mistake on our part. However, this was not a huge focus of the meeting, which is just as well. What was a big focus was the main thrust of my letter, and Dave’s love fest for me and Steve.

So in the end, the meeting didn’t accomplish what I had hoped. Sure they claim that they would discuss it again in the spring, but I don’t really think that they’ll do anything. But I’m very happy with it anyway. Very happy. First, regardless of how they put together the teams for next year, I have a feeling that Steve and I will not have a crappy team. Frankly, though, that’s the least of it. My biggest problem this season was feeling marginalized. Perhaps, this wasn’t entirely fair as Libby was more dropping the ball universally. But from the start of the season when up until 10 days before the first practice, Steve and I weren’t even sure if we were going to have a team to a coach, to the way Libby ignored us all season, to the fact that we couldn’t get the same weather updates and mailings, was all very frustrating. And I think that this whole affair will ensure that Steve and I won’t be casually pushed aside. Short of some kind of major safety issue, I also can’t see the need to ever contact the board again, which is a good thing.

And so thus ended the little post season excitement (a better word then drama). In my wrap up post I am going to take a sort of look at the season as a whole and judging my own performance. Thanks for the patience you’ve had, both in general, and for reading through this post.

Practice Report and Update

Before Tuesday’s Practice
On Monday morning and Sunday night I sent Steve a couple of emails about what we should do at practice. He doesn’t respond to either. This is out of the norm and tells me he’s going into one of his depressed phases. This has never happened with baseball before, but since baseball is an outlet for both of us, hopefully it won’t effect him there too much.

Anyway, I pick him up Tuesday at the train station. The email I sent him had some pretty big holes in it that we needed to fill time wise. We also had no “focus” for the practice. In each of our last two practices we had a focus and I think that’s what helped make them such terrific practices. In the car I try to see if he has any thoughts about a focus, and he does not. I know that this practice, therefore, is going to be heavy on the improvising, which I’m pretty sure means it’ll be a serviceable, though not great, practice.

In our little “Guess who get’s there first” competition I’m up by four points. I go further up when I take Ethan, who arrives in the first carload of people, but we count as 3rd as he was the last of the three to get out of the car, and Steve takes Percy, who gets there fifth. The coach of the team we’re practicing with, and will then play, asks us if we want to scrimmage. We decline considering they’re only the best team in the league and it would be nice not to get our butts kicked two days in a row by them.

Before practice begins I work with Bobby on his pitching some. Unlike before, there isn’t anything hugely wrong with his mechanics right now, he’s just not throwing strikes. One problem that I do see is that he is often trying to overthrow the pitches, but even after I remind him to take something off, he doesn’t always through strikes.

Practice
This is the first time we’ve had a chance to talk since our victory. Steve and I cover all the positives. He also says how a couple of mistakes could be forgiven since we won “and that’s the most important thing” undercutting our line we’ve been giving them through all the loses that it’s about progress.

We then divide our 8 players, with Trey surprisingly missing, Fuller, Avi, and Jodi missing as expected, into two groups to practice run downs. They look much sharper today with it, which is a good thing.

Following this we pull them away from everybody and teach them the sign system that we’ve come up with. The system relies on using letters to remind them so “hat – hit” “belt – bunt” and so forth. This takes about 15 minutes and we’re then able to get the field.

We do our modified batting practice. Avi shows up part of the way through it. We have Brendan catch during this and he looks pretty good. He’s at least getting the ball back to the mound consistently. There are still quite a few balls which get by him, but he’s blocking more of the balls, so I think it’s time we give him another inning of catching to see how it goes.

We end the practice with our 2-1 scenario, with Jim pitching. He does not do well with it, though his pitching does look better then it did last time he pitched in a game so that’s a positive.

We end the practice and send them on their way. As I expected the practice was fine, though hardly great.

After Practice
Before practice Steve tells me that Jim might not be at the game on Wednesday as he is going to the Cubs game. Seeing his father after practice I go up and ask when we’ll know for sure about his going to game and his father informs me that it’s almost definite that he won’t be at the game. He then starts off by saying “I know Libby (remembering that Libby is the name of the Park District supervisor) talked to you, about this, but it seems like some of the other teams are going all out for the win and you guys are going for skill development.” I immediately correct him that Libby has NOT talked to us about this. We then get into about a five minute conversation about this. Seems like he feels we should be playing our 3-4 best players more. He talks about how they’re 10 and 11 and know what they’re record is. Understands what the league philosophy is, but if other teams are trying so hard to win, then perhaps we should be as well. Talks about how really we’re not an untalented team. That pretty much sums up the points he makes.

The untalented team part is interesting. I would agree we’re not untalented, and we are stronger with our weakest players, but our best players aren’t as good, which makes things more difficult. My favorite part of the conversation is the part about how we should be doing more with our 3-4 best players. To which I think “Oh so you don’t want your son to pitch any more? Or play SS as much?” Perhaps he wasn’t including his son in that group, I don’t know. But it was interesting. During the conversation I stood firm. I said our philosophy when we get to the playoffs is different, but that we’re going to follow the way the league is meant to be until then. And that frankly in order to have a winning playoff team you have to develop the players and that’s done by playing them in a game giving them chances to improve.

The whole thing was very cordial, which was good. But Steve and I were upset by two things. First that he talked to Libby without talking to us first. Second that Libby never talked to us and appears not to have backed us up during their conversation. To address Jim’s dad we’re going to print out the email Libby sent to the coaches about cheating, as further reason why we do what we do. I mean I guess technically she did talk to us about winning, but it sort of had the opposite message that Jim’s dad wanted it to have. I mean when you’re team is 1-7 you can’t be too surprised that there would be grumbles, so I’m not upset at all about having had the conversation.

After much debate we decided that Libby’s lack of communication was part of a larger problem. Here’s the text of what we sent her:

Libby,

We had a conversation today with one of our parent's, Mr. , about the team and our methods of building player skills versus going all out for the win. It's a conversation we're not surprised to have had when our team is 1-7.

Anyway, what did surprise us was that he had mentioned he had talked to you about these concerns. We were surprised not to have gotten an email or phone call after the conversation, especially as he hadn't talked to us first, as an FYI, without even necessarily naming the parent. We were hoping you could meet with us for a couple minutes, either before or after tomorrow or next Tuesday's game, just so we can make sure we're all on the same page. You know how seriously we take our commitment to this league and we appreciate all that you do to make it run well.

We look forward to hearing from you,
Steve and Lane

Wednesday/Thursday
The day starts off with my calling Jesse’s house. Besides Jim being at the Cubs game, Brendan has a doctor’s appointment, and Avi has to go to his siblings “sing”. Steve and I figure that it’s likely we’ll get another unexpected no show and so it would be good to have Jonah, Jesse’s brother, there again if he was available and willing.

The day starts off beautiful but then at about 1:30 it starts to rain. It lightly rains, at least where I am about 8 miles to the south, for about 35 minutes. Then the sun comes out again. I expect to have the baseball game, though I’m unsure. So I go home from school and get there around 4:15. The website is supposed to be updated at 4 o’clock if there is going to be a rainout. I check the website and it’s not been updated so I think we’re good to go. I have a message from Brendan’s dad explaining that Brendan pleaded for them to change his appointment so they did and he would be at the game, if there was a game. I call and let them know it appears that there will be a game. About 20 minutes later I get a call from Brendan’s dad saying that they got one of the automated messages telling them that the game had been canceled. I recheck the website and sure enough it has been canceled. He’s upset about having had to change the appointment, which I understand. Shortly there after it starts thundering and lightening. It rains for about 40 minutes and then the sun comes out again. So it was a good decision, just later then it should have been.

As of this morning, we still have not heard from Libby despite the fact that she’s supposed to respond with-in 24 hours (according to her auto-email). I am actually quite pleased that our games on Saturday and Wednesday were canceled as I think they were against two teams we’d have struggled to beat. Now our next game is on Tuesday, no game Saturday due to parking problems with the Park District’s ice show, and it’s against the team whose coach bitched the other week about how bad his team was. So I feel good about our chances of getting 2 wins in a row, which would be terrific for us and give us that momentum as we start to head into the playoff stretch.

An unexpected E-Mail

Evidently not everyone is as scrupulous as Steve and I. An email from the Pard District coordinator entitled "Some Concerns"

Dear Majors Coaches,

I am little concern about some of the rules that are being blatantly ignored by some of the coaches. The Park District creates these rules in order to create an equal playing field for all players. Please remember that the emphasis is not on winning or losing but that they are learning and having fun.

First of all, there is NO PROFANITY allowed whatsoever. In addition, there should be NO NEGATIVE comments made towards the players. The Highland Park community as well as the Park District participates in the Character Counts program. Some coaches are not leading by example. If I should receive information that a coach is yelling at his players for losing, swearing at players during games and/or practices, or being negative and placing the emphasis on winning, I will be calling you in for a meeting. All coaches signed a Code of Conduct regarding this type of behavior. Is not warranted.

Secondly, I have noticed that coaches are not substituting their players correctly. All players must sit out once before another player sits out for a second time in a row. I ask that prior to the game both teams must show their line up sheets to one another. If the opposing coach catches the other team doing this, I ask that you notify the field supervisor immediately. I will not tolerate children being sat twice before another player sits out once. The field supervisors will be directed to contact me, if I am not at the field.

Thirdly, prior to the start of the game as well, you must show the opposing team your batting order from the previous game. This shouldn’t be a problem since it is in your score book. Your lead off batter for the game should be the next batter after the last out of the previous game. Again, if a team has a line up that is changed from the previous game, I ask that the opposing coach, call over the field supervisor so that I may be contacted.

Finally, as you all may have noticed, there are no standings being kept. I will not be posting any standings since they do not count. The playoffs are a blind draw. It is not based upon your seeding. Please consider this to be my final reminder to you about the rules of the league. If you are found to be ignoring the rules, we will deal with that coach accordingly. As a coach, your goal is not to emphasis winning but emphasis good sportsmanship, fair play and having fun.

I'm kind of sad about the standings thing as it means I have to keep pumping kids for information in order to find out the strength of our opposition so we can know things like what pitchers to use. I find it interesting that the no side practice thing didn't make the email. I've never seen Libby write an email like this, so she must be really pissed.