from The HAVERHILL GAZETTE
published January 20, 2010
Youth baseball league wants kids to stick around
By Cara Spilsbury
As the Riverside-Bradford Baseball League begins registering players for the 2010 season, the president of the league hopes recent changes will keep kids playing ball later in life.
Until they are 12 years old, players played on a baseball diamond with 60-foot base paths and a 46-foot pitching distance, the standard dimensions found in youth baseball across the nation.
Then after turning 13, players must adjust to a full-size diamond with 90-foot base paths and a 60-foot, 6-inch pitching distance, the same dimensions found in high school, college and professional baseball.
The Riverside-Bradford League, which has over 1,100 players ages 5 to 14, found that many of their 12-year-old players either never made the jump to the full diamond or floundered after a year in the older league.
"Kids don't get to learn how to play on the bigger diamond until after they're 12 years old," said League President Colin LePage. "Even if they know the rules of the league, they don't get to practice them."
So in 2006, the Riverside-Bradford League decided to experiment. They introduced their RB13 Division. Players ages 13 and 14 play on an intermediate size diamond, with 70-foot base paths and a 50-foot pitching distance. Also introduced are leading off the bases, stealing, balks, and other more advanced baseball skills. The players get used to rules like the Major Leaguers, but on a diamond more suited to their age. Last season, the RB13 Division had five teams.
"I like our progression," LePage said. "They shouldn't have to make such a big jump. Throughout school, kids aren't just doing addition and subtraction every year and are then told, 'okay, we're going to do geometry now.'"
Each year, RB Baseball League graduates about 100 12-year-olds from their program. Since offering the RB13 Division, many of those players have continued in the sport.
"We have found that twice as many of our graduating 12-year-old players continue to play baseball as 13 year olds since we implemented this program, either with us or with Haverhill Senior Baseball," said LePage.
This season, the league has decided to experiment again. LePage said they are now introducing the "50 - 70" diamond for the 11 and 12 year olds in the Major A Division, the top division for players in that age group.
In fact, the intermediate field size is spreading in other places than Haverhill. Little League International, which is not associated with Riverside-Bradford Baseball, just recently announced a new "50 - 70" Pilot Program as well.
Another change will be that the RB League will send two teams this season to the annual summer tournament in Cooperstown. In previous years, just one team of all-stars has made the trip.
The 16 lucky all-stars that are selected for the league's Cooperstown-bound team have played on the "50 - 70" diamond at the tournament each year. They don't play on those dimensions all season, then have just three weeks to prepare for the new dimensions and new rules.
The children fundraise to pay for their trip to Cooperstown.
"We want as many kids as possible to have that experience," said LePage. "It's not all about winning. We play the games to win, but it's inclusive."
from The EAGLE-TRIBUNE
Letter to the Editor printed June 24, 2008
"Little League" is about learning, not winning
To the editor:
Sunday was the first day in about six weeks that I did not have to think about a baseball lineup, what days I needed to leave work early to get to the field on time, or what drills I could come up with to help my players become better fielders.
For me, as a coach of two teams in Haverhill's Riverside Bradford Baseball League, another successful season has ended. I enjoyed coaching the kids on both my teams and hope that I was able to teach them some skills during the course of the season and more importantly, how to be good sports. Unfortunately today, sportsmanship is so underrated.
I failed to mention I also volunteer my time as a commissioner of one of the many divisions in our league and I am on the board. In my first year on the board, I have witnessed many hard working individuals volunteer their time to make a league of over 1,000 youths in our city, one that people want to play in.
The league puts a lot of emphasis on sportsmanship. In fact, during our year-end banquet, more than 70 trophies will be handed out to kids for good sportsmanship. As with any youth sports league, there are incidents that come up during the year, but overall I have witnessed more examples of good sportsmanship than bad.
In Taylor Armerding's column "Fairness rules pervert spirit of Little League" (June 22), he does not focus enough on sportsmanship. In any sport, everyone wants to win. In youth sports, the coach and parents should be more concerned about teaching first.
The kids in our league, ages 5 to 14, are still young and are still learning the game. Every kid should play, because that is the only way they can learn. Also, every family pays the same amount of money to play in these leagues, so they all have the right to play. No one can learn or get better at playing the game by sitting on the bench.
Mr. Armerding may have been fine with sitting on the bench when he was a kid, but the kids I coach today want to play and want to learn. Major League rules should not be followed completely at this level, because these kids are not major league ball players.
In our league, every kid bats. This means that if you have 12 kids, your batting lineup is all 12 kids during the entire game. The batting order is continuous and the same every game during the season, which means the player who hits after the player who makes the last out of the game, will be the first batter in the next game. Every kid will learn how to hit because they will all get plenty of chances to hit during the season. Practice makes perfect!
For defensive purposes, no kid can sit on the bench for more than two innings in a six-inning game. Again, that means every kid gets a chance to make defensive plays in the game. Over the course of the season, some of those kids who are not so good, will make a play. Why? Because the more they play, the more they will learn.
Our league may not be perfect, but it teaches the game, teaches sportsmanship, and gives all kids a chance to confront the realities of whether they are going to be baseball stars only after they have been given a chance. How can you make that decision at 10 or 12 when you haven't even been given a chance to learn.
My son was not a great player at 10, but this year at age 13, he was one of the best players on the team. He developed skills and oh yeah he grew, gained baseball knowledge and got stronger. He will probably not be a major league ball player, but at least he will always have memories of his many years of fun playing (not sitting) in the Riverside Bradford Baseball League.
Joe Belanger
Haverhill
from The EAGLE-TRIBUNE
article printed January 21, 2006
R-B league aims to ease the transition
By J. Tilman Cormier
Correspondent,
Some local youth baseball players should get the full treatment this season.
The Riverside-Bradford Baseball League in Haverhill is adopting a new format for a portion of their season to give players experience with PONY rules. According to the league's player agent, Colin LePage, the primary goal is to acclimate the players to a larger diamond while incorporating significant baseball strategies not currently used.
The RB League is concerned with the large number of players who quit the game for good after age 12. Weaning the players into larger fields is the most difficult aspect of transitioning to the Haverhill Senior League. At that time, players begin competing on regulation fields, the distances of which are 60 feet, 6 inches from the mound to home plate and 90 feet between basepaths. Currently, the 12-year-old players still use the distances of 46 feet for the mound and 60 feet for the basepaths, which is the same field size as the 8-year-olds. The change in the Senior League is so dramatic that it intimidates many players. "Half of the players quit right then and there," said LePage. "They don't play baseball anymore. We don't cut anyone and we want everyone to play."
His proposal is for the pitcher's mound to be increased to 50 feet and the distance between the bases to 70 feet. This expansion allows all facets of the game to exist, including runners leading off bases, pitchers holding runners on, stealing at any time, and catchers forced to be on guard at all times.
There are no city fields currently cut to those dimensions, however. The RB League has been working with Haverhill's recreation director, Vinny Ouellette, regarding that problem.
This might be as good a time as any to rectify that, however. According to Ouellette, since the modified softball leagues are no longer operating, the softball fields should be available more often. These fields appear to be best suited to accommodate the PONY dimensions, and it is feasible. "There doesn't seem to be an issue on the softball fields," said Ouellette. "They have a skinned infield already and a portable mound could be used."
Two afternoons of instruction and scrimmages were held last fall to gather feedback on the program. Although the only concern by the parents was the plausibility of implementing the program, LePage was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the players, including those who called their experience in the scrimmages 'the bomb' and 'sweet'. "We're trying to teach the whole game," LePage added. "Otherwise the kids plateau. On base, they would be in a track meet stance until the ball crossed home plate. This way, the game is live the whole time." The intention is to incorporate the PONY dimensions and rules approximately halfway into the season.
Although only a relative few players in a league that exceeds 900 players aged 5-12 years old travel in July to Cooperstown, N.Y., for the annual penultimate national 12-year-old tournaments, the R-B league's new format will also give the players experience with the same format that is utilized in the Cooperstown Dreams Park games.
These tournament games are played on fields with the larger dimensions, and many other teams from around the country play on these field sizes all season. The Cooperstown tournament is usually flooded with juggernaut teams from such baseball gold mine states as California and Texas. According to LePage, many of those teams are put together strictly for this tournament.
The R-B league insists on maintaining their roster as a regional league team in order to provide their own local players with this unique experience. LePage said that they have been attending this tournament for eight years now. Their players will now have the experience and instruction with regards to the PONY rules.
