|
A Matter of Little League Baseball Boundaries
Letting kids simply play ball on with their Gilbert buddies is not as
easy as it looks.
by Helen D. Gunderson, Gazette editor
February 12, 2003
Baseball is on the minds of some Gilbert people
For many of us, baseball is far from our minds. Heaven's
sake, the weather is cold and there is snow on the ground. It is winter.
However, we suspect those Gilbert families with youth who
want to play baseball this spring and summer are thinking a lot about the
sport. Indeed, Gilbert’s deadline for registering for youth baseball is at
hand (February 14).
A bit of Gilbert baseball history
In past years, an independent group of parents organized a baseball
program for Kindergarten through fourth-grade players. That program was
indirectly a part of the town of Gilbert’s parks and recreation programming.
Mainly, that baseball program channeled its funds through the city ledgers,
had a bit of funding from the city, and was covered by Gilbert’s municipal
insurance plan. Meanwhile, the Gilbert schools were the ones who organized
the fifth and sixth grade baseball program. However, in the fall of 2002,
the school board discontinued that program.
The Gilbert city council and baseball
Chris Benda, who is on both the city council and school board, brought
the matter to the attention of the city council. There were murmurings at
council meetings about the need to beef up and expand the summer baseball
program so that fifth and sixth graders would have a chance to play.
However, the council never had the issue on its agenda and never talked
substantively about how to proceed.
Apparently, several parents (some who were dissatisfied with
their past relations of having their youth in the Ames Little League
program) then approached the North Story County Little League. Two
representatives of the NSCLL attended a Gilbert city council meeting and
spoke at length during an open forum session. The following evening, for the
first time in over a year, a a Gilbert parks and recreation commission
meeting was held with one day of advance notice. Mike Adams, who is a member
of the commission and one of the active leaders of the independent program
mentioned above, convened the gathering. The consensus of the group (two
commission members, the mayor, Chris Benda, and a baseball parent) was for
Gilbert to retain its local K–2 baseball program but circulate registration
forms as soon as possible for youth to enroll in the North Story County
Little League. The idea was that if there were enough interested players,
Gilbert could have one or two complete teams, made up only of Gilbert
players, in both the 3rd–4th grade and 5th–6th grade divisions of the North
Story program. If there was not enough interest, Gilbert would continue to
have its 3rd–4th grade players be part of a program in Nevada.
As a former member of the parks and recreation commission
and as editor of the Gazette, I attended that meeting. Mike agreed to
provide information and a registration form as soon as possible so I could
post it on the Gazette. However, phone and e-mail communication tapered off
to almost nothing, and from other sources, I became aware that there is more
than meets the eye when it comes to organizing little league programs. The
big snafu with registrations and the plan to be part of the North Story
programs revolves around the issue of league boundaries.
The Ames Little League perspective
Jim Twetten, president of the Ames Little League program spoke with me
about those boundaries. He says that there are two sanctioned Little League,
Inc. programs in the Ames/Gilbert area. The league a player participates in
is determined by his/her address. According to Jim, youth in the city of
Gilbert and in rural areas north of 190th Street should contact the North
Story Little League. That league is run by Tracey Frederick at 733-4267.
Youth living south of 190th Street, should contact the Ames Little League,
run by Jim at 232-6805.
Little League, Inc. of Williamsport, Pennsylvania does not
allow players to cross the boundary line of 190th Street (the road on the
north side of the Ames Country Club) to play in the other league, except by
petition. To consider a petition, contact the president of the league in
which you reside.
Jim concluded that, "Due to Little League, Inc.'s strict
rules and possible sanctions, including the loss of player medical and
liability insurance, the Ames program is abiding by the established
boundaries." He added, "Our league is committed to working through this
issue with the North Story league and Gilbert to see if changes can be made
for 2004 that better meet the needs of Gilbert’s youth."
Why did the Gilbert schools drop 5th–6th grade baseball
In the small amount of discussion that I have heard at city council
meetings and the parks and recreation commission meeting, the main concern
of Gilbert leaders is to have a baseball program in which Gilbert youngsters
can play together with their fellow students. Considering that priority and
the issue of boundaries, I wonder why the school dropped the 5–6 grade
baseball program. The school is encompasses some 48 square miles while the
town is only a square mile or so. One would wonder why the town, with its
small staff and fragile budget would want to or be expected to provide
baseball, or any other recreational programs, to all of the youth of the
Gilbert school district. But that is a whole issue in and of itself, and I
realize that the school itself could have run up against the current Little
League boundary issues.
The Gilbert organizer’s perspective
The last we heard from Mike Adams is that he and his Gilbert colleagues
are trying to sign up as many youth as possible — both for the town’s
regular K–2nd grade program and the North Story County Little League 4th–6th
grade program. He also said he and his colleagues will petition the Little
League, Inc. to redraw the boundary lines if Ames refuses to let Gilbert
students living south of 190th Street to be part of the North
Story league. Mike also estimated that plenty of youth would sign up for the
Gilbert program and there would be enough players for Gilbert to field two
teams in each of the two divisions (3rd–4th and 5th–6th) in the North Story
program.
The issues are part of a larger context
We appreciate the hard work and commitment of Mike and Jim to youth
baseball. They appear to be good and conscientious people but dealing with a
larger context that has plenty of potential issues. The boundary issues
between Ames and Gilbert and the desire to have a community identity is not
unique to baseball. A good question would be, "What makes a person a Gilbert
person?" People who live on the north edge of Ames in order to have the
benefits of that fine town and yet have their children enrolled in Gilbert’s
fine schools should realize that these kinds of issues could arise and that
resolving them can be sticky.
Perhaps the Gilbert school board had good reason to drop
5th–6th grade baseball. But at some time, this town and school and perhaps
even the Ames recreation department need to think more holistically about
how recreational services are delivered to people who identify with Gilbert.
It is interesting that the Ames parks and recreation department circulates a
flyer through Gilbert’s elementary school that contains a thorough listing
of program activities.
A band-aid solution
As it is, the Gilbert council has not talked about its vision for
recreational offerings or how to enhance a sense of community spirit for
Gilbert. And essentially, the council’s paucity of discussion about beefing
up the youth baseball program has been but a band-aid. And that band-aid
didn’t really take care of the problem of taking up the 5th–6th grade
baseball program after the schools dumped it. In fact, the simple band-aid
allowed wounds to surface. We are aware that there are misunderstandings and
hurt feelings surrounding this issue of Little League boundaries between
Ames and Gilbert. We encourage involved parents and organizers to look for
healthy ways to resolve such issues. For goodness sake, this is baseball.
It’s been held in as high esteem as apple pie and motherhood. Let’s not
allow the apple pie to rot because of misunderstandings and hard feelings.
Perhaps they could have been avoided. Perhaps not. In either case, let's
hope that mothers, fathers, and other organizers model how to work through
difficult issues such as those posed by the boundaries. If youth can play
baseball to their heart's content plus learn how to communicate about
difficult things without discrediting those who see things differently —
then more power to whatever programs evolve.
Enough said.
|
