The Role of WAA Baseball for 10-12 Year Olds in Webster
Posted by Scott Woodruff, WAA Baseball Player Agent
The board members of the Webster Athletic Association have spent the last several months reviewing our role for those Webster players in the ten to twelve year old ranges. Our conversations have led us in the direction of restructuring our Majors and upper level Minors division to be more age based with focus on participation. The three main factors influencing the board’s change in philosophy:
- Little League rule changes.
- Established travel baseball programs in Webster.
- Conflicts that arise from players trying to play WAA and travel baseball.
Up to and including 2009, we felt that our divisions and how they were managed stopped servicing the majority of the Webster players and focused too much on the advanced (and much smaller group) skilled players. We want to head back to an organization that focuses on baseball for everyone and that participation is the focused goal and reward.
With that said, the divisions have been reformatted with the following guidelines:
Majors (12 year olds)
- Players of league age twelve (12) are automatically placed into this division.
- A player of league age eleven (11) wanting to play in the Majors must attend an evaluation. On average, 33% of the league will be made up of eleven (11) year olds.
- A player of league age twelve (12) wanting to play in the Minors – AAA must submit a waiver to be reviewed by the President, Player Agent and division Commissioner(s). The player will be notified of their placement within thirty (30) days after registration has closed.
- A player of league age ten (10) wanting to play in the Majors must attend an evaluation, meet the standards for ten (10) year olds playing up two (2) age levels and get approval from the President, Player Agent and division Commissioner(s).
Minors – AAA (11 year olds)
- A player of league age eleven (11) that is not drafted in the Majors are automatically placed into this division.
- A player of league age ten (10) wanting to play in the Minors – AAA must attend an evaluation. The number of ten (10) year olds playing at this level will depend on strength of evaluations and number of teams desired.
- A player of league age eleven (11) wanting to play in the Minors – AA must submit a waiver to be reviewed by the President, Player Agent and division Commissioner(s). The player will be notified of their placement within thirty (30) days after registration has closed.
Minors – AA (9/10 year olds)
- Players of league age ten (10) that are not drafted in the Minors – AA or Majors are automatically placed into this division.
- A player of league age nine (9) that requests through registration to play in the Minors – AA and has played at least one year of Minors – Rookie or Minors – Developmental will be placed in this division. The President and Player Agent may make exceptions for those players new to Webster.
Some rules have been changed for these divisions to increase player participation. Another article will address these changes.
On a final note, WAA is of the opinion that players should not attempt to play both travel and WAA baseball at these age levels. Some reasons for our position:
- The players are requested to play over 30 games plus additional practices in an 8-week span. We feel this is not healthy to the mental and physical development of players at this age.
- More often than not, travel players participating in the WAA season are doing so to qualify for Road to Williamsport. We have seen this as detrimental to the idea that the participation in the spring season is the focus.
- WAA managers, commissioners and board members are expected to balance the expectations of recreational WAA and travel player’s parents. Usually, these do not line up and lead to frustrated families.
WAA registration is open to all Webster players that reside in our Little League boundaries. We will not turn anyone away. We do ask that travel players who wish to play WAA baseball, do so because you want to participate and enjoy our spring league as set by the WAA rules and regulations.
