Every parent wants to see their son or daughter enjoying themselves on the athletic field, but it’s hard watching your child get defeated game after game.
That’s the message some parents have been sending to the Lake Orion Youth Baseball League (LOYBL), causing the board of directors to reevaluate how it run its blind draft.
Eric Kuster, a LOYBL board member for six years and president for the past two, said some changes have been made to make the draft more fair.
‘As president, I’ve heard the concerns,? he said. ‘The changes to our bylaws should help take away some of those concerns.?
Kuster said the way the league runs their blind draft is, for example, with the 9-10-year-olds division, 10-year-olds in their second year of play would go into a blind draft, or general pool.
‘Of the division, half are 9-year-olds, and half are 10. The 9-year-olds will stay together as a core group,? he said. ‘The rest of the kids would be drafted.?
Kuster said in the situation where a coach, assistant coach or team manager has their own children playing in the league, they can bring their child with them.
‘They always play together,? he said. ‘For example, next year I may decide to pick up a team and bring my kid along.?
Kuster said the league also gets specific requests from parents as far as team placement.
‘I review those circumstances,? he said. ‘We have over 1,000 kids in the league. We get a lot of special requests…We don’t bend over backwards, but I do listen.?
Kuster shares concerns with parents who want the blind draft to be fair, and that the league did investigate some ‘unusual situations.?
‘Anyone is more than welcome to attend our monthly meetings and talk with us about their concerns,? he said.
Dave Ouzounian, president of the Lake Orion Girls Softball League board of directors, said the league’s draft system is already pretty fair.
‘It’s a blind draft,? he said. ‘I started this past year using a database, and I assign each player a number that is invisible to everyone.?
Ouzounian said when the draft is done all he sees is a number and the player’s age.
‘I distribute them to teams,? he said. ‘With the younger kids, they might want to play with a friend. It’s a social thing.?
Ouzounian said the league doesn’t allow that kind of request for the older players.
Like the LOYBL, if a parent is a coach, manager or sponsor of a team, their own child can play on that team.
‘We’re pretty strict about (the draft), it’s in our bylaws,? Ouzounian said. ‘When a player moves up a level, they do have to be re-drafted.?
Last year the LOGSL tried to start a new division for older players, 13-18 years old, called Majors, but Ouzounian said it never took off.
‘So we re-aligned the oldest girls,? he said.
‘It’s a wide age group. So the next level is Juniors, and the 13-year-olds can stay there.?
The league did have one dominant team last year in the junior division, which Ouzounian said was ‘virtually unbeatable.?
‘If the player isn’t moving up (to another level), they can ask to stay on the same team or to not stay on that team,? he said.
‘The kids on that one team all wanted to come back.?
Managers of other teams in that division asked Ouzounian to leave that situation as it was.
‘And that dominant team was not run by a board member,? he said.
Like LOYBL, the LOGSL encourages parents to attend meetings.
‘We welcome input, and encourage people to attend,? Ouzounian said. ‘Come and talk to us directly.?