New Regulation on 12-Year-Olds Goes Into Effect
One of the agenda items voted on by District
Administrators at the 24th Little League International Congress in Houston
earlier this year, was a regulation requiring that all league age
12-year-olds must be placed onto a Major Division team.
The measure was enacted, with 68 percent of District Administrators
(delegates) voting to approve it.
The new Regulation V. 1. reads:
“The selection of players for the various teams within a league shall be
in compliance with the Little League Draft Selection System as detailed in
the Operating Manual. NOTE: All candidates who are league age twelve (12)
must be drafted to a Little League Major Division team, or to a Junior
League team. Exceptions can only be made with written approval from the
District Administrator, and only if approved at the local league level by
the Board of Directors and the parent of the candidate.”
The purpose of the new regulation is to ensure that local leagues are
using the Minor Division as a training ground, and not keeping capable
12-year-olds from “moving up.” For those 12-year-olds who may lack the
skills to play at the Major Division level, there is a process for
allowing them to play in the Minor Division, provided certain conditions
are met. (However, the prohibition on 12-year-olds pitching in the Minor
Division remains.)
Recently, questions have been asked about putting this new regulation into
effect. We have listed the answers below.
Question 1: If a league age 12-year-old does not tryout as required, is
the league still required to place him/her within the Majors Division?
Answer: If a player/candidate does not attend 50 percent of the tryouts,
the local league board of directors has two choices:
1. Accept the player’s excuse for missing the tryout(s) and make the
player eligible for selection to a Major Division team, or,
2. Decline the excuse and the candidate would not be eligible for
participation in any division within the league for that entire season.
Little League would encourage leagues to be lenient in accepting
12-year-olds’ excuses in an attempt to provide as many opportunities as
possible.
Question 2: Based on the response above, how do local leagues deal with
late registrants who are league age 12?
Answer: A late registrant would be assigned to a Major Division team if
the local league board of directors chooses to accommodate him/her. If
this results in an unequal number of players on the Major Division
rosters, the league can follow procedures for requesting a waiver from the
Charter Committee to allow it. However, if the league and parents
determine that the player’s skill level would dictate that he/she should
be assigned to the Minor Division, they would go through the process of
obtaining a waiver from the District Administrator as noted in the
regulation.
Question 3: Who will review requests for 12-year-olds to be retained in
the Minor Division?
Answer: The parent(s) or legal guardian (as assigned by a court of
jurisdiction) of the player in question, in conjunction with the local
league board of directors, must submit a request to the District
Administrator for final approval. As noted in the new regulation, final
authority on requests of this nature rests with the District
Administrator.
Question 4: Will there be a form for the parents to complete and submit
to leagues and District Administrators if they are requesting that their
child not be placed in the Majors Division, so that this process can be
expedited?
Answer: Yes. The form is now available in PDF format at
http://www.littleleague.org/media/12yrold_waiver.pdf. This simple form
allows the league and District Administrator to maintain records of these
approvals.
Question 5: Is there any recourse if a league age 12-year-old is
drafted, practices, and even participates in Major Division games – and
then the player, parents, and/or league realize the player is not capable
of playing in that division?
Answer: Little League encourages local leagues to conduct a thorough
assessment of each player at tryouts to avoid this situation. In cases
where a player’s assessment causes concern about participation in the
Major Division, league officials should review the assessment with the
parents to identify what is in the best interest of the child. However,
when situations above arise, these matters should be forwarded to the
District Administrator for a final decision.
Question 6: If the player is drafted onto a Major Division team, what
if the parent’s assessment and the manager’s assessment of a player
differ?
Answer: If the parent’s assessment is that the player should be moved to
the Minor Division, but the manager believes the player should remain in
the Major Division, the local league board of directors has two choices:
1. Support the parent’s assessment and forward the request to the District
Administrator for final approval.
2. Support the manager’s assessment and inform the parents that the player
will remain on the Major Division roster. (The parent may then choose to
allow the player to continue in the Major Division, or remove the child
from the league.)
If the manager of the Major Division team believes that the player should
be moved to the Minor Division, the local league board of directors needs
to review the assessment with the parents. If the parents do not support
the assessment, the player must remain in the Major Division.
Question 7: Is the limit of eight league age 12-year-olds per team
going to increase?
Answer: Not at this time. The intent of this rule change is NOT to create
a Major Division that is essentially made of all league age 12-year-olds.
Little League International conducted a survey of all District
Administrators via e-mail to see if this limit should be eliminated. The
result showed that 60 percent of DAs were in favor of it. But because the
number falls short of the two-thirds required to make a change at the
International Congress, the limit will remain and Little League will
monitor the rule for adjustments in 2009 and beyond. (As with any rule or
regulation, the local league board of directors may request a waiver using
the method described in the rulebooks under “Charter Committee/Waivers of
Rules and Regulations.)
Question 8: Is the 10-team limit in the Major Division going to remain
for 2008?
Answer: Yes. However, if a local league has more than 10 Major Division
teams, it does not automatically mean the league must split, or to field
two tournament teams in that division. The 10-team limit will be
considered, along with population, player enrollment in all divisions,
competing programs and other factors to determine when or if a league must
split into two leagues or divisions. With almost all 12-year-olds playing
in the Major Division, the Charter Committee will have a more accurate
gauge of the size and scope of the league through team registration.
Question 9: Could a local league only accept those 12-year-olds it
believes are capable of playing in the Major Division, and “cut” the rest
to avoid processing these waivers?
Answer: Absolutely not. That would be completely contrary to the policies
and goals of Little League. Any child who is eligible by age and residence
to play in the league should be given that opportunity, without regard to
playing ability. A league in which children are completely turned away
because of playing ability is doing a disservice to those children, their
families, and their community.
Question 10: Could a District Administrator have a policy to refuse to
sign any waivers allowing a 12-year-old to play in the Minors?
Answer: No. The District Administrator must take each case on its own
merits and make what he/she believes to be a fair judgment each and every
time.
Question 11: Could our league create two divisions within the Major
Division (in effect a “Major A” and a “Major B” division), and place the
lesser-skilled 12-year-olds in the “Major B” division?
Answer: No. There can be only one group of teams classified as “Majors” in
any chartered local Little League, and all league age 12-year-olds must be
placed into that division, subject to the provisions of this new
regulation. (All teams within the Major Division of a local Little League
must play a common schedule in which each team plays all other teams in
that division.)