Kings Youth Baseball: Q&A FOR PARENTS
Monday, November 1Common Questions about Kings Youth Baseball
How do you form teams?
All players from the previous year stay on their existing team, unless parents request that they be removed. No players are "cut" in Knothole and teams are allowed to stay together for many years.
New players, and those requesting to leave their team, are placed in a draft. Coaches then choose players from this draft to fill out their teams. After our draft takes place, the coach will contact parents to notify them of their child's placement on their team.
If you know you'd like a specific coach, please let us know and we'll do our best to fulfill your request.
What is the difference between Kings Knothole and Little League?
The biggest difference is how we create our teams. Kings Knothole is composed of kids from just the Kings school district, while Warren County Little League includes kids from Kings, Little Miami and a portion of Loveland. In Kings Knothole your child will play on a team with others from his/her school, while in Little League thier team could consist of kids from several different school districts.
Also, Little League will hold "try-outs" with kids of all ages to place kids on teams, and changes teams every year or every other year depending upon the age group. Once teams are established at t-ball Knothole teams stay together, with some minor changes each year.
After that fundamental difference, there are differences in the "rules of play" depending upon the age of the child. An overview is as follows:
5 & 6 Years Old (T-Ball)
Basically it's the same, kids hit off a T and learn the game of baseball. With Kings Knothole we don't have standings and winners and losers, we just play for fun. All games and practices are held at Landen park, limiting travel for parents.
7 & 8 Years Old (Coach-pitch)
Both leagues make a transition into the coaching pitching the ball from T-ball. However, at Kings Knothole we do allow some pitching by the kids within this age group, Little League is all coach pitch. We believe it's important to introduce some kid-pitching before they turn 9 and face kid pitching for all 5 innings in both leagues. Plus, every kid wants to be a pitcher and they really enjoy the opportunity to pitch.
New this year will be the Kings Rookie League, which will feature games all located at Landen Park. We are taking our teams out of the district Knothole organization to create a better opportunity for our players to learn the game of baseball.
9 & 10 Years Old (All kid pitch)
Again, both Little League and Knothole are similar in these age groups. In our more competitive division (west) kids are allowed to lead off and steal. Our less competitive teams do not lead off, and play very similar rules to Little League. If your child is a talented ballplayer the option to play "major league" rules is something they will be ready for. If you want your son/daughter to play at the most competitive level, leading-off, stealing and effective base running will be very important concepts for them to learn. If your son/daughter is not ready for that, they can be placed on a team without those facets of the game.
11 & 12 Years Old
At this point all of the Knothole teams are leading off and stealing, and at longer basepaths and pitching distances than Little League. For example, at 11 years old they'll pitch from 48 feet and bases will be at 70 feet, compared to Little League's 45 feet pitching and 60 feet basepaths. At 12 years old there is an even bigger difference, Knothole goes to 54 feet pitching and 80 feet basepaths while Little League stays the same.
There are many opinions on whats better, however, its our belief that Little League ends up to be more of a pitcher's dominated situation. An effective 12 year old pitching from 45 feet, often from a mound, can be very difficult to hit. Knothole, with its longer pitching distances and basepaths fundamentally favors the hitter and also places more kids on base. Given our many years of coaching experience we believe more players have an opportunity to impact the game with Knothole, while in Little League it can be very pitcher dominated. Kids love to hit and score runs, and they will get more of that with Knothole.
13 Years Old & Older
Little League ends at 12 years old, while Knothole can provide your son/daughter an opportunity to play baseball in the community through high school. Also, as the kids get old many may get interested in playing even more competitively. We plan to develop and sponsor "select" baseball teams that can play at the highest competitive level in the Cincinnati area.
Is the Kings Rookie League part of Knothole?
No, it is not. We made the decision this past year to remove our 7 and 8 year olds from the Knothole program so that we could focus more on skill development and having fun. We believe that coaches from other Knothole areas were too competitive and created tension and a bad experience for our youth. To remedy this, we removed them from Knothole and will keep them in our own managed program. Our T-Ball program has always been this way.
The creation of the Kings Rookie League is part of our transition from Kings Knothole, to Kings Youth Baseball. This will allow us to better meet the needs of all our players and not be bound to only one league or style of play.
How does Kings Knothole Baseball determine the "competitive level" of teams?
Knothole Baseball has three levels of competition; East, Central and West. Within our District, which includes Mason, Loveland, Little Miami, Wilmington, Clinton Massie and St. Margaret teams play one another in these divisions.
West Division teams are those most competitive teams in Knothole, often featuring some very fast pitchers and good hitters. The West teams who finish in 1st or 2nd Place in their division advance to the City Championship, which includes all Knothole teams from the greater Cincinnati area.
Central Division teams are the middle tier of Knothole, still competitive but not quite as good as the West teams. Often the focus for Central teams is to improve and move up to the West Division. Central teams still feature some good players, however, generally are not as deep as West Division teams.
East Division teams the the least competitive teams in Knothole. They have less talent than the Central and West teams.
Teams are placed in a division based upon their previous performance and the recommendations of the Kings Knothole board. Parents may make specific requests to play in a certain division, and we do our best to meet that request.
What is Division 1?
Knothole created Division 1 to provide more opportunities for teams that wanted to play more games and at a competitive level. Division 1 teams play throughout the city, which involved more travel. They also play about 30 games in their season, which is much more than a general Knothole team.