All Stars: Extension for coach's sons?

[fguyton]

Originally posted by Basebal1187
From watching other nearby leagues, and playing them, it is evident we have quite a bit of talent in my league, and could have very good all star teams IF the "best" 15 or so were selected.

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I am mainly interested to find out if this is the way it is for other people as well... Because now even at the high school level, the politics of who your father is in the community, is very important.

First, I've never been involved at any park or had friends at any park that did not have at least some issues around "Daddy-ball". Some are worse than others, but I don't think you ever really get away from it.

Our park had an issue with fielding All-star teams that were not the best kids so we formalized a process whereby each team could nominate 2 (maybe 3) players for All-star try-outs. From those 2 try-out sessions the All-star coach would select a team. Our park's All-stars (any age group) had never won our District tournament and rarely even managed to get to State. The first year of the new process we had 6 of 8 age groups win the District! Now I'm sure there were some other factors involved, not to mention coincidences, but in general I think it showed a lot of people what can happen if you look at the broader picture rather than just what's in it for you and your son.