HOME OF BANDITS BASEBALL & SOFTBALL
In the western suburbs, Little League programs have been decimated by travel baseball programs. Parents move their kids from Little League programs to play full-time travel baseball for a multitude of reasons. LGPBA’s intent and motive is to keep the La Grange Park Little League strong by offering a part-time travel program that co-exists with the Little League program and strengthens the overall Little League experience. LGPBA believes kids 12 and younger should play baseball in the community with their friends.
LGPBA will stress fundamentals in hitting, pitching, fielding, and baserunning, and will seek to raise the baseball IQ of all players to give them an opportunity to continue their baseball experience towards high school. Since LGPLL offers an exceptional baseball and community experience, the LGPBA program may limit the number of players in the program at a particular age level.
Tryouts may be held in August or September for the upcoming baseball and softball seasons. Coaches from the teams of all ages groups will be on hand to evaluate the players. Depending on the number of players at the tryout, one or more teams will be selected at each age level. The managers at each age level will decide on necessary movement between teams on a yearly basis, with the possibility of additional tryouts. If an opening on a roster becomes available, a tryout will be held for the open roster spot and players who participate in LGPLL will be considered for the team. The number of players on each team and number of coaches per team is up to the manager and may differ across teams.
Coaches are evaluated and selected by their historical performance in LGPLL including player development, sportsmanship and overall coaching resume. Coaches who receive positive feedback from LGPLL parents will be considered, with managers elected by the Bandits Board. Each LGPBA team should have one manager and at least two assistant coaches, although the makeup of the coaching staff is up to each Manager and may differ across teams. Our goal is to have the right coaches in place who reward kids for their play, effort and development. We deter coaches who are just in it to win games or highlight their own children.
No, LGPLL All-Stars has no bearing on overall selection process. All-Stars does provide LGPBA with another stream of player evaluation, but it does not deter from selection or guarantee selection. Many kids on LGPBA teams have not played LGPLL All-Stars. LGPLL has its own rules on how teams are selected. Conversely, participation on a Bandits team in no way signals an upcoming election to an LGPLL District or All Star team.
League participation is at Manager’s discretion based on best-fit for their team’s collective level of talent and ability to play competitive games. Managers are encouraged to join the West Suburban Baseball League or the Chicagoland Sunday Baseball League and may elect to enter additional local or travel tournaments based on budget and team concept. 8U/9U teams typically play 10-20 games per season, with increasing volume & involvement each year. The number of games and tournaments played may differ across teams and are ultimately up to the manager of the team.