New leadership is needed for Laconia Little League

To The Daily Sun,

Laconia Little League is a mess. As a grandparent with multiple kids in Laconia Little League, this is very concerning. I had heard that Little League had been losing members annually and now that I am able to watch these games first-hand, I am starting to understand why.

When I went to watch my grandson’s game the first week of the season, there were no umpires and the coaches were arguing over rules. Nobody knew who could pitch. People were arguing over balls and strikes. Teams didn’t even know they were supposed to be keeping a log of runs or pitches that the pitcher was supposed to throw. Parents were yelling at one another. One parent ran and got a board member so they could clarify a few things. It was a really bad situation and everyone leaving was talking about how bad it was. I heard one parent say they were pulling their child out of Little League here in Laconia and seeing if they could play elsewhere.

In another incident, coaches who are also board members, are using kids from the upper division to play in lower-division games. In a game last week, two Laconia Little League All-Stars were used in a local game and ended up trouncing the other team. Thankfully, I did not have a grandson on either team, but I would have been very upset trying to explain to my daughter or son why the other team used advanced players to run up the score on our team. I am sure there are tons of rules that Little League must abide by, but I can’t imagine any rules that say you can use these advanced kids on younger teams.

After the game, I looked for a board member to discuss this with. The board member I usually see down at the main field is completely unapproachable and is always dismissive. One board member I did get to talk to was sympathetic and said he would let someone know and I should contact the league directly. As I have tried this in the past, the defensiveness and downright explosiveness of the board members make me hesitant to reach out again and get shouted down again. Unfortunately, much of the talk while watching the games is about how poorly the league is being run year after year and how unapproachable many of the board leadership is. Maybe a change in leadership is what is needed most.

There are several board members who are wonderful. They have great relationships with the kids; they are wonderful coaches and assistant coaches. They are always instructing whether it is their own child, team, or even division. But the president and vice-president of the league are only looking out for their child or team and couldn’t care what happens to the rest of us who don’t have superstar kids and only want to enjoy baseball on a spring evening or morning.

I know it took my daughter a lot of persuasion to get her kids to come back to Little League this year. I am afraid from what I have seen only a few weeks into the season that our Little League will continue to lose players.

Tanya Bishoff

Laconia