District teams offer the opportunity to compete at the District, Sectional, and State levels. This offers the highest, most competitive level of play. A serious (time) commitment is required: managers typically schedule daily practices and games can be twice per week. The official season begins in mid-June and can continue into August (depending on winning record of the team). WWLL District Teams will carry rosters with 12 players. All District Teams are organized and managed according to Little League International rules and regulations and are dependant on adequate volunteer support.
Parents must agree to the terms and conditions as described in the Summer Commitment Letter, and as set forth by the Post Season Committee, which is comprised of the VP of Baseball, Player Agent, and Post Season Coordinators.
11/12 Year-old Williamsport Team - eligible players are any player little league age 11 or 12 who has participated in 60% of the Spring WWLL season on either a Major League team
10/11 Year-old Williamsport Team - eligible players are any player little league age 10 or 11 who has participated in 60% of the Spring WWLL season on either a Major League or Minor League team
9/10 Year-old Williamsport Team - eligible players are any player little league age 9 or 10 who has participated in 60% of the Spring WWLL season on either a Minor League or AAA or AA team
Coaching Staff Selection- Managers are selected by the WWLL Post Season Committee from a list of applicants for each summer season. By Little League rule, the managers are presented to the President who recommends them to the Board for approval. New managers are selected based on several basic criteria - coaching/playing experience, knowledge of the game, teaching ability (age appropriate), motivational skills (age appropriate), organizational skills, commitment, and availability. Current Managers must re-apply each season.
Player Selection Process: 11/12 Team & 10/11 Team
The Manager or designated Coach of each regular spring season WWLL team will have an important role in player selection of Summer Teams. During regular season games, managers should always be evaluating opposing team players as well as the players on their own team. By early May, managers should inquire with their players regarding interest in participation in Summer Baseball.
The Majors Coordinator(s) along with the post-season coordinator(s) responsible for the District all-star teams will evaluate eligible players in the Majors Division throughout the season and will evaluate their suitability for the District All-Star Teams.
All Majors Managers will supply evaluations of their players to the league coordinators before the end of the regular spring season and will provide comments concerning the suitability of their players for All-Star teams. Managers will supply season statistics for their players. Minor managers will be consulted for any 10 and 11 year olds playing in that division.
Near the end of the spring season, all Majors Managers, along with the Majors and post-season coordinators will hold a meeting at which there will be a discussion of all candidates for the District All-Star Teams, based on player performances throughout the spring season.
Managers of the players as well as opposing managers will provide input and evaluation of the players. All players registered for post season will be ranked by individual managers. Coaches should provide input to the managers. Managers should not rank players from their own team.
The managers and coordinators will attempt to form a consensus about the top 9 players who should be named to the District All-Star team. In the event the group can’t select 9 players then a tryout will be conducted to pick the remaining kids to make 9.
The All-Star team manager will have the discretion to choose the final 3 players for the 12-player District All-Star team. As for the remaining roster positions, if the manager chooses he may have a workout for these players. The workout and tryout maybe handled in one session.
Because all the players who are candidates for the District All-Star team will have demonstrated their abilities and skills over the course of the regular Spring season games, under normal circumstances it will not be necessary to hold tryouts or workouts in order to evaluate the players
The Summer Teams Managers will place telephone calls starting with the 11/12 Year-old Williamsport Team. The first call will be to the highest ranked player on the roster. If the player's parents approve and agree to the terms set forth in the Summer Commitment Letter, he will be added to the team. If they decline, the Manager will continue down the list to the next player. Once all calls are made to the team, the Post Season Coordinator will call the players who were not selected & give a list of these players to the Treasurer to process full refunds. Once all calls have been made, a roster for each Summer Team listing the names of selected players will be posted on the WWLL Website and on the bulletin board in the indoor facility.
Player Selection Process: 9/10 Team
In the process of the Majors Managers Meeting where each candidate is discussed, a ranking of the 10 year olds in Majors will be made. This will occur in order to determine if there is a consensus of a certain amount of 10 year old ballplayers (six to nine) that stand clearly above their peers. These players will be excluded from a tryout and be put on the 9/10 District team.
A tryout will be held for the remaining 10 year olds since many of them played in Minors during the spring season and a level playing field is required. Independent evaluators, along with the 9/10 District team Manager, will evaluate the players during this tryout.
In the process of the Minors Managers Meeting, it will be determined if there are 9 year olds that could make a substantial contribution to the 9/10 team. Those players need to be ranked in the overall top 9 to make the 9/10 team and thereby bump a 10 year old. The idea is to maximize participation at the 9 year old and 10 year old levels.
Once a tryout has been arranged, ALL candidates will be informed of the process immediately. They will be informed that the consensus picks were chosen by the league and that the remaining players will be observed in a tryout. The primary tools for selection are player performance during the spring season, manager evaluations, and specific needs of the team - the tryout is just an additional tool.
The 9/10 District Team Manager will place telephone calls within 24 hours of the tryout. The first call will be to the highest ranked player on the roster. If the player's parents approve and agree to the terms set forth in the Summer Commitment Letter, he will be added to the team, if they decline we will continue down the list to the next player. Once all calls are made to the team, the Post Season Coordinator will call the players who were not selected & give a list of these players to the Treasurer to process full refunds. Once all calls have been made, a roster for each Summer Team listing the names of selected players will be posted on the WWLL Website and on the bulletin board in the indoor facility.
Playing Up
The policy of WWLL is to encourage the development of players in post-season play via Tournament and District teams, and to allow the maximum number of players to participate in those teams, particularly at the younger age levels.
For the District teams (11/12, 10/11, 9/10) the players who are in the younger age group will have the opportunity to try out for the district team at the higher age (e.g., an 11-year-old can try out to be on the 11/12 team). The league officials and coordinators responsible for the formation of the teams will meet and determine whether any players in the younger age level are among the “top 9” for the older district team – e.g., they would be a starter on that team. Any player judged to be in the top 9 will make the district team. Players not ranked in the top 9 will not be eligible to play up in that year. They would return to the list of eligible players for their age group.
Vacations/absences
Parents are expected to make a commitment to the All-Star team for the duration of the All-Star season, which begins on the last day of the regular WWLL season (awards day) and runs through the conclusion of the second All-Star tournament – usually the first weekend in August. Players are expected to NOT miss any games. Missing more than four practices is cause for dismissal from the team. Extended or significant numbers of absences by a player hurts the team, particularly when there would have been another player available to be on the team who would have been available for all games and practices. For late starting tournaments (i.e. District 11’s starts July 10), the team manager has more flexibility with the practice schedule.
Parents are required to disclose any vacation, camp, or other plans that will cause a player to miss any time during the all-star season. Players who fail to disclose such plans in advance and are later absent from a significant number of games/practices may be dismissed from the all-star team without refund at the discretion of the manager, and may be disqualified from future all-star teams at the discretion of the League.
Players who register for all-star teams and who disclose that they will miss significant time (games and/or practices) may be left off all-star teams based on their lack of availability at the discretion of the coordinator(s) and the manager. Playing time for such players on the all-star team may be reduced at the discretion of the manager based on absences during the all-star season.
