The West Island Royals have been ruled out of next week's regional playoffs because their coach missed a deadline.
A talented West Island baseball team After a mess that had nothing to do with players, bats and gloves launched earlier than expected this year.
Luck's Midget A team, the West Island Royals, missed the June deadline for mandatory training sessions that must be attended by one coach per team each year. , the St. Louis area, will participate in the regional playoffs next week. Their regular season ended this week with 16 wins, six losses and two ties.
"To be honest, we were pretty devastated," said Nathan Van Aelst, a player on a team that calls baseball a passion. "It's something you look forward to all season. It's something you strive to win. It's the goal at the end of the season, the light at the end of the tunnel. I was ripped off... I don't think we should have made the sacrifice just because we didn't get the chance to play at the regionals."
Alain, the team's head coach. Cloutier explained confusion over deadlines due to misunderstandings between coaches, team associations and regions. He said the deadlines were different this year than the last two due to the pandemic, and when he discovered the deadlines had passed, he and his assistant coach were still discussing who would take the course. 37}
"I had to tell the 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds, 17-year-olds... you can't play in the playoffs," Cloutier said. "The kids are devastated. The coaches are heartbroken for our kids. And to some extent, I feel guilty because some of it is entirely our responsibility. No deadline is known." I knew the requirement, but I missed it.”
Cloutier said he suspended himself and paid for training sessions out of his own pocket. He said he tried to propose a solution to the problem, but to no avail.
Baseball The Lac-Saint-Louis region of Quebec called the situation unfortunate, but will apply the rules.
"It's sad they can't play. They're probably one of the best teams in the region, and if they won the region they would have represented the region," he said. Regional board secretary Theo Michael said. It was a small effort.”
According to Baseball Quebec, 8% of all teams statewide are in the same predicament as the West Island Royals. This means that 178 teams will not be able to participate in the regionals against his 2,098 teams that can. Lac Saint-Louis in particular has a similar disparity, with 7% (18) of teams not advancing and 93% (233) of teams advancing.
"I think it's always unfortunate that athletes miss out on rules that aren't followed," says baseball, he said. General Director Maxime Lamarche said. "I think it's very, very sad. But at some point everyone has to take responsibility. We at Baseball Quebec have put in place a lot of mechanisms to make sure we don't forget."
According to Lamarche, various information about training, which ensures athletes have the best conditions to enjoy the sport, will be sent to regions and associations as soon as the winter holidays are over. Cloutier said which coaches will be in training will be sorted out later once it's decided which team they'll be with.
"We hate it after all... whoever is to blame is paying for adult mistakes, misunderstandings and problems (children). ' said Cloutier.
Lamarche added that once the finals are over, members can propose changes to the rules governing the sport for the following year.
"We just want to send the message that we are open to hearing new things every year, and hope that this year the people of Nishijima will likely come up with new alternatives and solutions." We do - it's not because of the rules, we can change it, but the results may be different," Lamarche said. "Every year we redo the process, so the next year the rules are better for the whole community."
kthomas@postmedia.com
twitter .com/katelynthomas
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