Roland Telleman has been on the baseball and softball fields for 37 years. As a player and as a coach. The sport defines his life: “I know all my friends and acquaintances from…
Roland Telleman has been on the baseball and softball fields for 37 years. As a player and as a coach. The sport defines his life: “I know all my friends and acquaintances from baseball and softball.” His children followed in his footsteps at an early age and brought him into contact with Little League, the biggest youth tournament of the year, played every year at Whitsun. When he heard that softball in Kennemerland was not yet catered for within the NK Little League, he seized his chance. Working with the national federation, he started in 2020 as regional coordinator Kennemerland Softball. Telleman: “My love for softball in general has been the main reason for doing this. Little League is the obvious place to gain experience at a higher level in a really enjoyable way and to have a shot at playing an international tournament. For many girls this is a chance they would not otherwise get any time soon.”
“As regional coordinator I deal with all sorts of things. From arranging the fields and the coaches and making sure there are enough registrations for the try-out sessions, through to the financial side and clear communication. But,” Telleman stresses several times during the conversation, “I stay out of the selection of players for the teams. The people on the field do that. Only when no unanimous choice can be made between two players do I decide on the basis of the statistics who is selected. That has to be done fairly and transparently. It is important to communicate about it properly, and everyone may see the decisions.”
Everyone has an equal chance All participants in the try-outs therefore have an equal chance of making the team for their age group. “No matter which club you play for, at what level or in which position; everyone has an equal chance. It is purely on the basis of age and what you show on the field during the try-out sessions. So unlike other tournaments, you do not register as a team but individually. During the sessions participants then meet team-mates, but also players from other clubs. That is what is so lovely about Little League: you play together with girls from the region, and that creates a sense of belonging. It is the basis for new friendships, even if you play against each other again in the league a few weeks later. And not only that. The tournament gives girls the chance to shine, to gain experience — possibly even internationally — even if they have not yet been noticed in the regular league. That is a powerful experience.”
“There are many talented softball players at the various clubs in the Haarlem region, which can make selection for the NK Little League teams difficult. Where other regions sometimes have more trouble putting a team together, we sometimes have to disappoint several people. Fortunately regions are allowed to work together, so the Kennemerland region can, for example, merge with the North Holland region to form a team together. The only frustrating thing is that only one team may then be put together. Even when we have twenty girls and the other region has six. And that is despite the fact that in my view an extra team helps keep girls in the sport, something that matters greatly in softball (and baseball) right now. But then, we have no say in the rules; that lies in America.” It should not spoil the fun, as Telleman concludes: “Little League really is one big celebration of gaining experience and having fun — for the players as much as for the coaches and the umpires. You genuinely build a bond with each other; it is one big family.”
Register! You can still register for Little League up to and including 29 February. Have you not signed up yet? Then be quick and do it through this website, and become part of the softball and of course also the baseball family. You can also sign up here as an umpire or a volunteer.
Originally published on nklittleleague.nl.
