The public, online meeting includes a presentation and starts Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
MINNEAPOLIS — There is less than a week before parents and families start to see major changes to how kids can sign up for summer sports.
Registration for Minneapolis youth park leagues begins Wednesday, March 5 for baseball, softball, flag football and track and field. The process had been criticized and the park and recreation board says the shift guarantees everyone who signs up will play.
Opponents argue it creates barriers and breaks-up longstanding teams from marginalized neighborhoods.
“It kept me out of trouble,” said Muck-Wa Roberts, who coaches the Southside Red Bears baseball and basketball teams. “I grew up playing football, baseball, basketball and I’ve never been locked up in jail, never been on the streets using drugs, or anything like that.”
Roberts insists sports build student success and says his pre-existing teams are full of Native players who have played together for a long time and look to Roberts as a mentor.
“I think that will be something important they’ll be losing in their lives,” said Roberts.
The new registration system now puts the future of 81 pre-existing teams, out of the 806 that compete in the park board system, in limbo. It says that coaches and outside organizations will not be allowed to enter pre-formed teams into the leagues.
Jack Bartsh, the park board’s director of athletics, aquatics, ice arenas and golf, says using groups outside the agency to form teams isn’t equitable and has created lopsided competition. It has also left some kids on a team too small or without a coach.
“We want to find solutions to problems and we want to get kids involved,” said Bartsh. “We didn’t have a system in place where we were able to find a home for those kids.”
Bartsch says outside groups are still allowed, he just can’t guarantee everyone will be on the same team. He admits there are growing pains and says the group is working to accommodate everyone.
“We recognize that they’re valuable to their community and they’ve done some really great work with these kids that they coach,” said Bartsh.
The Red Bears may not know what’s next for their teams, but Roberts just hopes the kids will keep playing.
“They’re going to be coached by people they don’t know, that they haven’t formed relationships with, teammates they’ve never met before, so I mean, it’s going to be different,” said Roberts.
The park board says the new process is also more streamlined and lets people choose a sport, age division and three preferred sites. Then after registration closes, its staff will review all registrations, create teams based on people’s preferred sites, and form teams into citywide leagues.
There is an online public meeting Thursday, February 27 at 6:30 p.m. You can find more information here and it will include a presentation and opportunity to ask questions.
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