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w <br />A~~ 1992 <br />Mr. Len Pratt, President <br />Little Lakes Little League <br />6 Red Barn Road <br />North Oaks, Mn 55127 <br />RE: Tryouts for National League (Majors)--South of Hwy 96 <br />Dear Mr. Pratt; <br />Our sons recently -participated in the Little Lakes Little League tryouts <br />for eleven and twelve year old boys and girls at Bethel College. We <br />thought this would be a fun and learning experience for them. They <br />were excited and looked forward to it for weeks in advance. After <br />months of much practicing, reading books on the tryout procedures and <br />spending nearly ten hours at the tryouts, our sons were extremely <br />disappointed to discover the the only New Brighton children selected <br />were four sons of FORMER Little Lakes Little League coaches. What we <br />thought was a learning experience turned into a huge self esteem <br />problem. After watching our sons turn in a near flawless tryout <br />performance, how do you explain to them that boys who stumble, drop the <br />ball and strike out made the team just because of their last name? <br />Maybe the type of procedures was acceptable years ago, however this <br />is the 90s when these actions are not acceptable. The common feeling <br />New Brighton. teams. get from the league is that the Irc,ndale side is <br />far inferior than the Moundsview side. We first experienced this <br />feeling last summer after our sons tried out for an all star team. <br />Neer Brighton children were not selected for this team even though one <br />team was at the top of their division. <br />After tryouts each child was told to wait for a call on the evening of <br />April 6th. The call would inform them if they had made the "Majors" or <br />if they didn't make the team what "Minor" team they would be on. <br />Unfortunately the coach for the minor league Giants did not feel it <br />important to call his team that evening. Boys and girls were left <br />waiting by the phone followed by a sleepless night. <br />We asked our sons what they learned from these tryout experiences. This <br />is how they responded: <br />1. It doesn't matter how hard you try to achieve your <br />goals, your last name and place of residence is what <br />REALLY counts. <br />2. New Brighton residents are second class citizens. <br />3. The board of Little Lakes Little League have no <br />feelings for boys and girls of this league, they are <br />simply reliving their childhood dreams in their <br />children and their friends' children. <br />