Cooperation is the key

I have coached for the City League girls softball program for the past nine years and I would be remiss if I did not comment on the letter to the editor written by Paul Noble last week.

I have coached for several City League boards during my tenure and I have found inadequacies in the majority of those boards. The present board is probably one of the best that I have been involved in and has strived to create an environment of equality for all its participants. These participants range from the ages of 5 to 14 years and the board introduces organized baseball/sofball to these participants, many for the first time.

To imply that the tenure of the Owens board was superior to that of the present board is to make an unjust statement in the opinion of this individual who has interfaced with both City League boards.

Paul made a comment that the City League has changed their season format. This is true but the statement doesn't explain that when we start earlier in the season, we are forced to compete within our own league, which would have been difficult this year since we only had participants for one 14U girls softball team.

The reason for this was that the ASA program (parents and coach) decided to start practicing earlier this year than in years past and the only ASA girls who signed up for the program were alternates (three girls). This occurred after Paul attended a City League board meeting earlier in the year and assured us that the ASA participants would be participating in the City League program.

It is difficult, even with more dedicated parent involvement, for the City League girls softball program to be successful when our program is discriminated by actions rather than the commitments made to the City League by ASA before either season began.

ASA is a strong program and that is due to individuals such as Paul, who have dedicated their time and energies, but the City League softball program could also be a viable program if we had equal use of publicly-owned facilities and weren't constantly branded with the terms such as "recreational," "non-competitive" and in some cases, "a joke."

I respect and admire the ASA program, but the answer to the issues at hand is more cooperation between the two groups and commitments that are kept.

Fred J. Innerbichler

Polson Baseball & Softball Assn. board member, Girls Field Representative and 14U coach