Weekends mean a lot to my grandchild. He likes to spend his weekends doing his favorite things, primarily playing baseball.

But now it seems that the Meridian Youth Baseball Association, or MYBA, will be telling him and all the other children who wish to participate at Phil Hardin what they can and cannot do. They can play on basketball or soccer teams, have paint ball wars, go bowling, go skating or ride motorcycles, but they cannot play on a weekend baseball team.

Teams that are put together so kids can play a little extra baseball are being told that they cannot sign up for “Rec League.” They must sign an agreement not to participate on the weekends “outside the league.”

Parents should be able to choose how their children spend their weekends, as long as they fulfill their obligation to their local league. It seems that parents have been warned that if their children play on the weekends, they are no longer allowed to play in the local league.

Playing “Select Baseball” means a lot to my grandson, and it seems to be a very popular thing to do everywhere but in Meridian. I understand that it is possible for a child to “overdo it” or play too much. That is the last thing that I want to happen, but that should be for his parents to determine, not someone else.

Was this decision to exclude these kids from the MYBA made by a majority vote of the MYBA board? What is the rationale for excluding the kids from MYBA who want to play Select or weekend ball?

I would hope that the board of the MYBA would reconsider this extreme decision and let the children who want to participate in both arenas do so.



Margaret O’Connell,

Laurel