IMA SPORTS

For Anthony Tscherne, his second year as the commissioner of Maumee Little League has been about worrying about what he can control while trying to make the best of things that he can’t.

“From the understanding of the processes and everything, it was easier,” Tscherne said. “It was a little easier from the day-to-day.”

What he couldn’t control has been the weather. The season started cold, included plenty of rain, and is now wrapping up in an historic heat wave.

“If we could do like 78 and no precipitation for a couple of weeks, that’d be great,” Tscherne said. “That’s been the only challenge. The part that we can control has been really successful and is noticeable. The weather part, we can’t control and that’s the frustrating part.”

Tscherne and the board brought in plenty of new experiences and ideas to Little League last year, including a Movie Night, a MLL night at a Mud Hens game, and increased activity on their Facebook page and website. He said all of that has been met with positive feedback.

The numbers of players and teams remained fairly similar to last year. They also opened up the district for the first time to include kids from Toledo Christian and Our Lady of Perpetual Help..

“We didn’t get a huge influx of those numbers,” Tscherne said. “I’m curious to see next season if we see an influx of those kids. Those two buildings are close to us, so a lot of those kids know each other. We’re not adding to just get numbers, we’re adding it because they’re in this community.”

They also added a junior division team for ages 13 and 14. That one team faced teams from neighboring communities, and Tscherne would like to see that division grow so they could play internally as well as other communities.

“We are a great outlet for kids to play and do something,” Tscherne said. “Us having that ability to be welcoming to all skill sets but also develop those players who want to play at a higher level … We’re trying to be more open to every skill level.”

One battle Tscherne is still fighting is the misconception that players need to leave Little League for travel ball teams in order to better develop their talent. MLL has taken steps to better educate their volunteer coaches.

“We started putting together a coach’s packet with QR codes and video links to help them better instruct the kids and know what to do when they need to do it,” Tscherne said. “There’s obviously a lot of turnover every year, so a lot of that institutional knowledge goes with them.”

The MLL season will wrap up this week with the City Championships, which started last weekend. Tscherne is concerned with the heat, but he also knows they need to squeeze these tournament games in before July 4th. They’re taking extra precautions to make sure everyone stays safe.

“The extreme heat has made it tough, but we’ve put out extra hydration tables and made sure the coaches have extra stuff in the dugouts,” Tscherne said. “We’re monitoring everybody and making sure they’re OK.”

This weekend, Maumee is hosting the District 7 11u tournament, running June 27 through July 1. Maumee will open the double elimination tournament at 5 p.m. Friday against Avon. Also in the field will be teams from Bellevue, New London and Bucyrus.

“It’s a really cool opportunity,” Tscherne said. “Our squad, I think we have a really good group of kids and I think we’ll represent Maumee really well.”

The 10u Maumee team will play in the District 7 tournament this weekend in Avon, and the 12u team will be in Bellevue next weekend.

For more information on Maumee Little League, follow them on Facebook or visit their website, maumeelittleleague.com.

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers
Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com