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Message: [QUOTE="Lou_C, post: 880013, member: 3201"] As someone whose kids have spent almost all their time in "everybody plays" leagues, I think all the kids that make an effort and pay attention and have an interest should play equally, regardless of talent. But I've always wished the coaches had an option to delegate playing time based other factors. There's nothing you can do about it, by the time your get to 9, 10, 11 years old, winning and trying to win is important to most of the kids' enjoyment of the experience. I'd also argue that effort and dealing with winning and losing and disappointment around that are parts of the fundamental learning value of sports. But every year, in every team, there are 2-3 kids that do nothing but disrupt, don't pay any attention, don't have any interest in playing, hassle the coach, don't show up to practice, etc. It's usually pretty clear they had no interest in it, but their parents thought it would be good for them. Often when it's time for these kids to go into the game, they whine about having to leave the bench where they were playing in the dirt or climbing the dugout. Sometimes they don't want to go into the game because they are on their mommy's lap being spoon-fed yogurt while they weren't in the game. I'm not kidding, I've seen that stuff with 8- or 9- year old boys. And you see the coach have to convince them onto the field/floor against their will, and take out their best player, or a player who is making effort all the way. Just so they don't get in trouble by the rules. That sucks, for the coaches, all the other parents, and all the other kids, and there is zero lesson being learned by anyone. I wish these everyone plays leagues came with an asterisk that said "Playing time will be distributed equally regardless of talent, among those who practice hard, listen to the coach, show good sportsmanship, and are good teammates. We do NOT specify minimum playing time requirements to players who are disruptive, disobedient or absent from practice." Could never be done, but that's the ideal for the purely fun/developmental leagues. [/QUOTE]

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