Posted on 11/22/2021 5:28:38 AM PST by DrHFrog
Last year, when it was hard to field a team during COVID, Flower Mound joined a league from nearby Keller.
Rhett Taylor, vice president of the Keller Youth Association, said the group’s five-member board decided the Flower Mound team should be ejected from the playoffs – even though they’re the top team.
“This is the Keller league, not the Flower Mound league,” Taylor said. “In my mind, they’ve dominated our league.”
Taylor also is a coach and a father. His team lost to the Rebels 33-0 this season.
“My team got one first down all game,” Taylor said. “And my team is good.”
The Rebels’ coach, Ragan Montero, said Taylor and the Keller Youth Association are trying to change the rules in the middle of the game.
“He’s a sore loser. That’s all it comes down to,” Montero said. “He’s changing the rules so it benefits him.”
Taylor acknowledged the decision was made because of the Rebels’ dominance.
“They are too good. I fully admit it, absolutely,” he said. “They are a select-level team. They are too good for a rec-level team.”
Montero disagrees and believes it’s sending a bad message to the kids.
“I don’t think we can be too good,” Montero said. “He wants to play with us but he doesn’t want us to be good. I’m not really sure what that teaches the kids. Hey, try your hardest but sorry, you won’t get the end result you want?”
The Keller Youth Association said the Rebels are still welcome to play their final game this weekend but told them they wouldn’t be allowed in the playoffs – no matter their record.
For the young players, it’s a confusing lesson about what’s fair.
“I want for us to actually just finish our games,” Tanner said. “That’s truly all I want. I’m new to tackle football and the shotgun.”
Interesting story. My experience coaching youth sports is that when one team is completely dominant, there was something going on with how the teams were picked (someone got to load up on talent, or someone has a few kids that are over the age/weight limits).
That has been my experience.
Our girls beat the “unbeatables” by 2 runs at the end of the 10th inning, as was the customary inning for the score to be tallied in the books
I've never heard such a thing. Youth games usually have an inning or time limit, or both. What do you mean by "customary"?
The idea, properly implemented, is not a bad one. I went to a high school that dominated its league for a period of years in several sports. Finally, the league decided until the bottom teams of the league became competitive, the league would have two tiers. For several years, that’s what they did.
But the rule changes took effect AFTER the season during which they were adopted.
In tournament play, which this was, the rules were to play 10 innings if tied in the 9th, which it was. They were only supposed to play a tenth inning to determine an outright winner. If they were tied at the end of the 10th, they were supposed to be co-winning teams. Those were the rules.
As far as never hearing of such a thing, you’re right. It happened as I’ve said nonetheless.
We all knew who won that game outright. The commissioner changed the rules so that the other team might have a chance at winning.
We were so proud of our girls. They were true champions that day, on and off the field.
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