Lakewood Village Little League

In regards to Arturo S. the Lakewood Village Little League is one of the best little leagues around! It is very family oriented league with lots of quality instruction by their coaching staff. If a parent thinks that their son is solely going to be taught by their coaches they are seriously mistaken. Parents need to participate in the growth process as well. What we bring to our league is integrity, teamwork, perseverance, and commitment. You will always have parents who think that their son is the best on the team, but unfortunately that is not always the case. Every child has the same opportunity as the next, even if that child is his own.

If you intend to register your child at LVLL, you have to be careful depending on your child’s age. You end up spending over $ 300 for the season. It’s great for children who are in Coach Pitch and Farm because for children up to 7 years old, there is much care in teaching them the fundamentals of the game. However, after that age, when they enter Minor B, Minor A and Majors, this becomes a good ol’ boys club.
Even though all players pay the same amount, if your child does not have the skills that makes him or her a star, they become a way to complete the amount of players needed in the team. What this means is that your player plays only 2 innings on the field, while the coach’s son and his preferred players play all 6 innings. That doesn’t sound fair when you’re player is paying the same amount of money as the rest of the players. Also, if your child is not as good as others, isn’t that the purpose of teaching them to get to be better players? This is borne out when you see which players make the All Star Team. Just looking at the photos, you see that all of the coaches’ and their assistants’ children grace the pictures, along with a few (very few) good players. Sometimes the coach’s child is a mediocre player, but he always makes the All Star Team. I would never begrudge a father trying his hardest to make his son or daughter a better baseball player. That is admirable, however, the casualties are those children that were just an adornment or supporting cast in order for that parent to fulfill his goal.
Of the coaches that my son has had, only David Baruch has challenged him to become a better player. If you do decide to join LVLL, and your child is of age for those divisions, 8 to 12 years old, try to get him or her in a team that has him as a coach for your child. He challenged my son to become a better baseball player, making him play all the positions, expecting more of him every single game, and making him play at least 4 or 5 innings per game. It’s been my experience that the rest just want to boost their ego and want their child to be a star, but since you need 9 players to take the field and maybe 12 to make a team, your child is just a needed necessity that is only window dressing for their team.
One last thing: In AYSO, the soccer organization, a coach must have each player play 3 or the 4 quarters of a game. I wish Little League Baseball had a rule like that; that makes a coach play all his players at least 4 out of 6 innings each.