On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 13:37:55 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 08:33:15 -0700, the renowned Mark
wrote:

Hey, Speff- how about the recent finals, in which the boys' teams'
travel from BC was paid by the association,

That was the US-based Little League. I have a feeling they're a WAY
better run organization than I'm used to.

but the girls' team had
to pay their own way? They both paid the same fees all year...

Not very fair.

and I tried umping several decades ago, but didn't like the abuse
from parents, especially mothers. And that was then - I can't
imagine what it would be like now... / mark on Salt Spring Island BC

Even the 13 year old kids who do it seem to have pretty thick skins. I
tried it during an informal game (can't play, so I umped) and have
much more respect now for the guys who do it.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

It ain't (or wasn't) all bad. I ran the Challenger League for three
years in Texas because my oldest has cerebral palsy and is moderately
retarded. Since we were not competitive, I didn't have to pay any
attention to all the politics in the player draft, etc. Basically, if
the child was between three and eighteen and handicapped, I made room.

I did have a few idiots that thought their handicapped kid would "do
better" if we kept score. I explained as patiently as I could that I
didn't care if the kids did better or not, we were there just to have
fun, and they'd probably improve as a side benefit.

The league was always supportive, and after they saw us the first
couple of times, started vying to get invited as helpers. I would
pick one major league team at a time to help, and explain that their
job was to make sure the handicapped kids got to do as much as they
could, and that the major league team was to help them do it. We'd
bat around until the kids were too tired. For most of them, that was
two or three innings, depending on how hot it was, and how many showed
up. Everybody always scored, and everybody won. We always had packed
stands, and the audience had a blast rooting them on.

One mother came up to me several weeks after her son had helped. She
said she had an amazing conversation with him a few days after the
game. He told her that while he was helping, he began to realize that
although all our kids had physical or mental problems of all types,
every one of them was having a blast. "Mom, I finally figured out
this game is supposed to be fun!" Man, that was a sad commentary on
the rest of the program.

My middle son's team was the first to be "helpers" because his coach
asked if he could help. That team must have had a similar revelation,
because before they helped, they had only won one game, and after they
didn't lose. Basically, they started to have fun and play ball.

It's amazing what a little perspective can do.

Pete Keillor