Several columns ago we mentioned what a draft league for senior softball was and spoke briefly concerning why it would be a good alternative for the regular league for the players. Not that it should necessarily REPLACE the regular league, but be added as something extra, for the many benefits found by doing so. The actual HOW of forming this type of league is the most intriguing element of the process. The one given is that the players are already made available, via the regular recreation league. A good senior league has people within it who have an extensive list of all of the players’ names, ages and phone numbers, so that contacting those who are 60+ is not that difficult.

The driving force in creating a desire for this type of league comes about in the most natural way. A developed senior league has 50+, 55+ and 60+ divisions; unless there is a large enough population base to reach the next level of 65+ players needed to form the required number of teams to make up a division (four usually), this division will not happen. Thus, soon the 60+ division is clogged with many 65’s and several hanger-on 70’s. Then, the normal quest to get the "best team out there" steps in and sweeps-up those above average players onto one or two teams-ultimately, several of the real oldsters are zapped, and down through the cracks they go. None of the managers of the 60+ teams want to pick them up, they get dropped completely. It’s the "rude good bye" for those who have no other place to go to play softball. Then, the worst part of this entire scenario is that, of the four or more teams forming the 60+ division, one or two emerge as totally dominant. This takes the fun out of the games played against these dominant teams for the other players.

The draft league offers a simple solution, which addresses this problem and at the same time builds in a parody of skills among the teams. The first part of the "how" is for all participating players and those who are to be managers to work together in the beginning by furnishing all 60+ players’ names, ages and phone numbers, then contacting them for possible recruitment in the draft league. This simple, but radical, plan can be done swiftly if all those who are involved comply with the methods chosen. At the core of this innovative plan is the desire to find a place for all existing active (60+) players to not only keep playing, but to play in a division which will be somewhat balanced in team skills.

All interested participants’ information is gathered and placed into a pool, divided only by ages. The men who are aiding in the mechanics of this process then select the players’ names from the pool and spread them out onto the teams, beginning from the oldest players down to the youngest. How this stage is facilitated can vary slightly, but the ultimate goal is for there to be an EQUALIZATION of age groups among the teams.

Let’s look at this in the simplest form. The facilitators (hopefully the four mangers of the prospective four teams) would divide the players into age groups, drawing a name from the oldest group first and placing him on a team, then around the teams they would go. This is done until all age groups are depleted. When all of the names are placed, the age groups per team are fairly well balanced throughout. The given assumption is that innate skill is in proportion to age, which is basically true. Thus, in our example, lets say that team One has two 70+, four 65+ and six 60+. Team Two is identical, but, because of a slight variation in the number of 70+ players , teams Three and Four have only one 70+. Thus, when the drawing gets down to the 60+ age group and there are a few of these players left over from the even numbers needed, teams Three and Four acquire these players, to balance for their over-load of the 70+ players.

Let’s look at another little snag that can be creatively worked out to form these more-or-less equal teams. First of all, it stands to reason that a manager from each represented team should be present at the draft distribution. They should be the ones who make the adjustments; common sense and camaraderie should be the guides here. Even with disagreements, somehow the rough edges can be smoothed out. So, let’s say that team One has the proper age balance, but upon examining the completed roster, it is discovered that this team does not have a real pitcher; it also is over-loaded with infielders. Team Two has a couple of pitchers and is in need of another infielder. A simple switch here, with the proper age equivalence kept in mind, can be done. The same scenario can be worked with switching outfielders for infielders on various teams. Level the ages FIRST, then work on leveling the defensive positions. One last suggestion: If there is no majority decision by vote by the facilitators for two teams to swap any of the players, then all deals are off and the team(s) must live with what they have been given in the draw.

Lets continue to make room for our oldsters to continue playing and in the process provide an extra league for the younger ones who want to participate in picking up another softball game per week.

Of course, it is always best to obtain a large enough population base of senior players to support a 65+ division of their own. Then, the older players can naturally move up to play with guys of their own age in the regular competitive league. But because the basic "player selection" and level of "competition thrust" is handled so differently in this draft idea, perhaps these men in their 60’s and upper 60’s will chose to stay with the draft system and work on further refinements. After all, we want to go out there and play games that are going to be fairly close; game after game, with no dominate team or teams within our division which will just be using us for practice games.

Be creative seniors! You’re all going to be an "oldster" someday.