It is an unfortunate side effect of competitive sports. You can not separate the two. You can help by not buying into or adding more drama.

yes but when u child is treated unfairly and not giving a chance to learn all aspects of the game then what tied of bias coaching and poltics in leauges and i will be on a misson to stop this and protst any leauge in ny state any where with media on hand

If you are so concerned about this maybe you can be the coach or get on the board so you could detour the politics.

I agree that it's a part of ANY sports experience. It's part of the life lessons you learn by participating in sports...how to deal with situations that are not always "fair."

However, I agree with Jennifer - if it's something that really bothers you, try putting yourself in a position where you have a say.

If you don't want to do that, try to find a team/organization where politics is minimal. There are still places out there that are pretty good with that. I don't think there will ever be a team where parents are all happy 100% of the time, but there are organizations who do a pretty good job of treating players fairly and if the situation does arise that isn't all that "fair" - again, just an opportunity to learn to deal with adversity. It's something that will happen in the "real world" so allow and encourage your kids to find ways to handle it well in a "game/sports" setting.

Don't let them come to the practices or games!! I am serious that is the only way I have found that works and it still blows up in my face. Have a parent, player and coach meeting at the beginning setting out the rules of conduct and everyone should sign and give to you and then live and play by the rules. Make sure you give a copy to all the parents as to what you expect of yourself and this may make it easy, if not GOOD LUCK.

I haven't coached my daughter since she was 15 years old. The best way I found to avoid politics was to put her with a strong, experienced coach that didn't have a kid on the team and I found that it worked best. With that said politics are a part of life. You'll find it in every organization from the work place to governments and even churches.
I've been coaching for 23 years and one of the best pieces of advice that I learned as a coach and now pass on to my players is to control the controllable. If you can change it do so, if you can't forget about it and keep peddling.

ok i do coach baseball but my oragnazition does,nt use poltics at all and when it is discreamtory and no leauge booard members do nothing about it not even the district commisoner who then can u go to

Another thought---league baseball is competitive. Ever hear of the Little World Series? Then in most states there is a state level tournament for 11U and 10U ages. The league season is supposed to develope all the players and the top players theoretically get chosen for "All Stars". There are minimum play requirements but not equal play requirements.
The biggest difference between travel ball and league ball is I. Travel ball you get to be more selective. You only take players you want on your team.
In league ball you have to "take what you can get" which in some cases means players who don't want to be there but LL is a cheap childcare service 2 to 4-days (evenings per week) and you have to make do with what you could get in the draft!

My daughter has not been directly treated unfairly; however, there are so many things on so many levels wrong in our association to where it isn't about the girls any longer. Instead of griping, get pro-active and get voted in! That is what I am currently doing. I will fight for what is right and fair for all the girls involved! People forget it is a game...when it stops being fun, it's time to get out!

Do you have a situation that you can share? It would help to address a certain situation. I think from reading these answers we are interpreting you question differently.

i agree that its unfair. i have the same problem with baseball at my school and it has made people go crazy because the coach only wants people whose parents do stuff for the coaches or has connections and i have been treated unfairly also and sat almost the whole season because of the politics and i think it is not right and people should be played on ability and not on politics.

Hi Joshua, It doesn't sound like you are fun. I love in the movie 61* when Mickey says to Roger: "If you can't have fun playing baseball somethings wrong!"
If thing were going well for you, I don't think you feel this way. The way I see it you have two options: (1) Hang in there and rally, everybody loves a comeback!; (2) Try something else like Tennis, bicycling, track, or cross country. But before you give up you should know Baseball people are the best people on Earth! Have you ever gone to a MLB game? If so, how long did it take before you were talking to the stranger sitting next to you? Come tp think of it, isn't it Baseball that brought you and I to this connection?
I have been involved in Education, law enforcement, government, private professional work; and baseball is by far the least political, and there is nothing I would rather do than play some ball with old friends or make new ones. . A bad day playing Baseball beats a good day at work (or school). So my advice is stick with it and rally! Mark