Things to know about Wilshire Riverside Little League (WRLL) baseball for new parents to Minors and Majors
We are a neighborhood organization
One of the great things about Little League baseball is that it is neighborhood focused. The goal is to get as many kids playing baseball as possible. We get all the kids who want to play baseball in our neighborhood together. We draft them into even teams. Then they play each other right here in our neighborhood, on our fields, with our families doing the coaching and umping.
In many other sports leagues, kids are tiered into select teams to go and play select teams from other areas. This has benefits of raising the level of competition and development but it sometimes comes at the expense of inclusion and community. Little League tries to have the best of both worlds by having an inclusive regular season followed by a select tournament season.
The regular season is where all the kids can get together and play with and against all the other kids in their neighborhood. There is a level of competition that is balanced by providing opportunities for all players to develop. This is then followed by the tournament season where select teams of the best and most involved players can go on to play against select teams from other leagues.
We redraft every year for Minors and Majors
In order to make the teams in the regular season fair and well-balanced, WRLL utilizes a draft. This process is in large part directed by Little League regulations. All the players who want to play at a particular level go to a player evaluation session. This allows the coaches to familiarize themselves with the abilities of the players. The coaches then meet confidentially to take turns selecting players for their teams.
We repeat the process every spring for minors and majors teams. As a result, kids get to play with different kids and different coaches each year. There are no "super teams" and you don't have to know someone to get on a team. We cannot honor friend or coach requests because they are not compatible with this process. The draft order is kept strictly confidential because we would never want anyone to know which order the kids were picked in. We only want them to know that they were picked and are wanted on their team.
In the fall the process is more relaxed. There are no tryouts and no formal draft. We try to honor friend requests for this less competitive, developmental season.
Tournament Teams (post-season in June/July)
After the regular season, in June and early July, tournament teams are formed. Players are selected to these "all-star" teams by votes from the players and the coaches. A big part of being on these teams is being available in June to practice and play. Only kids who are available and interested in joining these teams are put on the ballot. The selected players then train together for several weeks before representing our league in the district tournament. We also typically select teams for an honors tournament for those who did not make the "all-star" team but still want to compete at the tournament level. These teams are a lot of fun for the kids who really embrace baseball.
Coaches and Umpires are volunteers
All of our coaches and our umpires are volunteers (even the "professional" looking umpires are volunteers!). They are coaches, parents, grandparents, family, and friends. We are always looking for more help and are happy to mentor novices. It is a great community to be a part of and a whole lot of fun. Let us know if you'd like to help us in any way.
Whenever you have a question about why or how we do things, please bring them to us. We have a great league and a great community and we are always looking for ways to make it better. We are looking forward to another great season this spring.
Thank You
Wilshire Riverside Board of Directors