Little League?

[IHateSpringSports2013]

This is more of a question for SEs and sports writers at smaller papers, because I'm assuming metros don't do this:

What type of coverage do you give your local little leagues? I've done some sporadic coverage in the past, just taking some extremely basic stats and putting in boxes/line scores. This year, the local league has invested in getting the proper equipment to score all of the games on GameChanger, so stats are much more available. So, I was thinking of putting together a weekly page with that information?

Any one else do something like this? Or have any ideas?

 

[spikechiquet]

Just remember...what ever you start covering, you can't stop without getting a huge blowback.
A weekly page seems good (for the love of Jah, don't take nightly calls!!!, it's hell!).
Set a deadline and stick to it. Get your guidelines created ahead of time and then you can point to the "policy" already laid out if someone whines about it.

 

[LongTimeListener]

A slideshow of the moms on a warm Saturday afternoon will bring millions of clicks.

 

[IHateSpringSports2013]

Just remember...what ever you start covering, you can't stop without getting a huge blowback.
A weekly page seems good (for the love of Jah, don't take nightly calls!!!, it's hell!).
Set a deadline and stick to it. Get your guidelines created ahead of time and then you can point to the "policy" already laid out if someone whines about it.

Yeah, that's the only reason I haven't done much with this (and what's held me back in other areas too). It's amazing the type of coverage subscribers would get if people would just not ***** for ten seconds, lol. Not that I care, I just don't have time to field those bitchy phone calls...

I think with this Game Changer thing though, that is run by the Little League office, any eff ups are basically pointed to them and their score keepers (I know them all, they are competent to keep baseball stats). Since I print at 7 p.m., what I'll probably do is run it weekly on Monday and have all of the line scores from the previous week. However, do it differently than I do for high school/college and run EVERYONE who records an official at bat, regardless if they got a hit/etc. That way everyone is mentioned. That's the only way I can see this working.

I'm going to try and get a photo from each week just to have some art. The second it causes trouble I will pull though.

I think I'm going to type up some guidelines and possibly include them in the page.

I want to do something kind of neat — I guess I just do it and hope parents don't eff it up. haha

 

[2underpar]

is there only one league in your coverage area? Because if you do it for Podunk Little League, the next week another league is going to want the same thing. Proceed with caution.

 

[slappy4428]

You can't unpee in the pool. So anything you do for one, you have to do for all. And once you start, it's hard to stop.

 

[IHateSpringSports2013]

We're just a county wide, so only one little league.

 

[Bamadog]

You can't unpee in the pool. So anything you do for one, you have to do for all. And once you start, it's hard to stop.

Exactly. And you'll be opening Pandora's box. You'll be getting calls like "Why didn't Little Johnny's two-RBI triple make it in the paper?"
"Uh, because a three-base error isn't a triple, but a three-base error."
"It was a triple. You just hate kids. They work so hard."
"Of course they do."

You don't want to have that conversation. And that'll just be the start.

 

[slc10]

I spent years doing youth baseball when the high school seasons ended. My preference in terms of a specific age group was 13-14 but I would allow for 11-12 and maybe 9-10.
Unfortunately parents drink that Kool-Aid and voila we have cover my team or age group.
For most of the time I covered youth baseball here we had AABC and Pony in town while LLB was in the smaller communities.
I usually got whining from all three. You can't win. DO the best you can and hope. I would tell you not to make too many buddies but that would be impossible as I have a personality that makes friends.

 

[BujuBanton]

I replaced an SE that used the terms "passion" and "Little League Baseball" in a sentence. So, of course, readers and the company expect every All-Star score and call-in style gamers on all the local teams. Along with pictures, etc.

He would say "no one else does this". Yeah because no one cares. I even spent several days in a hotel covering this garbage. On the last day he called and I was just waking up a good three hours before the championship game. He was shocked that I was in bed and said, direct quote, "It's the biggest game of the year and you're asleep?"

I laughed off and on the rest of the day and several weeks after. The only positive is epic food spreads at the All-star tourneys, otherwise it's a living hell.

 

[PaperDoll]

No matter what the parents think, Little League is an international organization that only covers a certain group of youth baseball and softball teams.
http://www.littleleague.org/learn/about/divisions.htm

We used to take all the summer youth sports results via an online form which had spaces for things like the league, age group, site/round of tournament, winning and losing pitcher, and offensive stats. (The swimming parents didn't like us much!) All fields were required, including a name and contact phone number. The forms were automatically delivered to a general mailbox which was only used for that purpose (and year-round spam) and compiled twice-weekly.

After a major web redesign a couple of years ago, we had to start taking free-form e-mails which are usually much less informative. But we do get more photos now, as well as other summer sports and recreational events like cycling races and triathlon.

We will staff Little League 11/12s, the division which goes to the World Series in Williamsport and Portland, Ore. We'll also go to later-round tournaments of other divisions if they're being played locally and our local teams are still involved. The town-run tournaments? That's what the roundup's for.

Just about every town around here has its own Little League baseball and softball, usually with multiple age divisions. Last summer, our local kids were really successful and that filled a lot of time and space -- which was great, since we're "required" to have one local story in the sports section every day whether high school sports are in session or not.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The only positive is epic food spreads at the All-star tourneys, otherwise it's a living hell.

The moms, man. I said it before, and you guys ignored it, but ... the moms. Even better during All-Stars when it's always hot.

 

[I Should Coco]

The only positive is epic food spreads at the All-star tourneys, otherwise it's a living hell.

The moms, man. I said it before, and you guys ignored it, but ... the moms. Even better during All-Stars when it's always hot.

Believe me, I noticed ...

Oh, and I saw your post, too.

 

[Rhody31]

When I was working, we did write ups of in-house league stuff when they would send it in.
Once the All-Star district tournament started, we covered every division - 8-9, 9-10, 10-11, majors, juniors, seniors - in both baseball and softball. The response from the community was outstanding and it really wasn't difficult because there wasn't much else going on.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

It all depends on your area, but if people buy the paper for it, do it. I understand the fear that people will complain, but generally, we've created more goodwill for the paper that's outweighed the 1-2 angry calls I get a summer by a ton. Games are fast, gets me out of the office and fills the newspaper. Positives are way beyond the negatives in my neck of the woods.

 

[BillyT]

You can't unpee in the pool. So anything you do for one, you have to do for all. And once you start, it's hard to stop.

OK, Slappy, "You can't unpee in the pool" is my favorite quote of the week so far.

 

[spikechiquet]

Then after you start this up..get ready for the youth swim parents, the junior high volleyball and basketball teams, the senior citizen horseshoe league, women's slow-pitch softball, the upstart cricket league looking for players and the local all-Peruvian soccer rec league....

...you get the drift.

 

[albert77]

We don't have the time, space or manpower to devote to any extensive youth baseball coverage. So our policy is to do an opening-day feature from our largest league (about 1,000 kids ages 4-12), then we don't do anything else until state tournament time.

We'll usually have at least one or two state tournaments in our area, usually 10s and 12s (at one site) and 13s or 14s (either, but not both) at another. We'll occasionally get the 15-17s and 18-19s, and those are usually pretty good competition, especially if we get a World Series at those ages, which happens every so often.

I personally prefer the 13s and 14s, because you can get a good look at some of the up-and-coming talent that will be passing through the state high school ranks in a couple of years, and it's usually pretty good talent at that level.

We cover these tournaments like we would high schools, with gamers and action art, maybe a feature if something good comes up. Readers seem to be OK with it. I think they understand the competition they have for coverage, and appreciate it when we do come out.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Then after you start this up..get ready for the youth swim parents, the junior high volleyball and basketball teams, the senior citizen horseshoe league, women's slow-pitch softball, the upstart cricket league looking for players and the local all-Peruvian soccer rec league....

...you get the drift.

You will. It's true. And maybe it's worth giving each of those the five seconds to see if it fits the definition of news you've established.

IHSS, you WILL open the proverbial can of worms with Little League coverage. That may, or may not, shape your decision. If you have a definite idea of what you want your sports section to be, then you have your best answer. And there are as many answers as there are newspapers (in other words, fewer answers every year ... rimshot ...).

 

[expendable]

If you truly hate spring sports, you may want to stay clear of little league baseball coverage.