My son Gabe tried out for the little league all stars this year. The all stars are normally divided into three groups, 12 year olds, 11 year olds and a team of 9-10 year olds. The tryouts for Gabe's level (9-10) was tough... the competition was very good. I wasn't sure he was going to make it.
After a few weeks of waiting we got a call to find out that Gabe had indeed made the all star team.
The make up of the 9-10 all star team is a disappointment, however. It appears that the 11 year old team didn't have enough players. What should have happened is that we didn't field an 11 year old team. Instead, they pulled all of the good 10 year olds up to the 11 year old team, making the 9-10 year old team average at best.
In the end, everyone that tried out for all stars at the 9-10 year old level made the team. That's NOT what an all star team should be. What then should have happened is that they wouldn't field a 9-10 year old team. And we were perfectly content for Gabe not to have made the team if he was not good enough. But, now he's stuck on a team that is no better than his regular season team.
When we told Gabe what happened, his first response was, "Then I don't want to play. It's not a real all star team and we're going to get killed in the tournament." He's probably right. Plus, Gabe's mega-competitive, so it hurts him when his team loses, so facing the challenge of being on a team that will not be competitive will be a struggle for him.
After further discussion, Gabe decided to play because he would get a chance to practice with three other good players that he's played against, but never played with. So, he's enjoying the practice, but we're dreading the tournament.
We'll have to see what happens...
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