2016 Legion

[peytonsaturday]

It seems every year we have this thread but; 
who's in
who's out
who's on the fence with numbers
 who's new (doubtful)

[Manfred]

From what I hear, 9 teams?  One division.  No Portage, but they have paid a retainer fee to keep their franchise for future considerations.  I believe Stoystown is out.  Some Somerset kids who played in Johnstown last year are back with their Legion.

[peytonsaturday]

How can't Stoystown field a team? They draw from about 8 schools don't they, now that Meyersdale is out? Which were do those kids play? Their high school team is usually pretty good, you'd think the legion program wouldn't have folded. I'm quite a bit away from there, so is there another league they play in? Doesn't Stoystown pull from Shade, Shanksville, Berlin, North Star, Conemaugh Township, Meyersdale (now), Turkey Foot, Salisbury, Rockwood?

[peytonsaturday]

From what I hear, 9 teams?  One division.  No Portage, but they have paid a retainer fee to keep their franchise for future considerations.  I believe Stoystown is out.  Some Somerset kids who played in Johnstown last year are back with their Legion.

With 9 teams what does the schedule look like?  Play each team a home and away for 16 games?

[Manfred]

I'm not sure on that. I could be wrong, I guess. 4 weeks to figure it out.

[peytonsaturday]

Remember when this league had 18-20 teams?  What's the reason for the downfall?  Lack of interest?  Summer basketball / 7 on 7 leagues? I'm genuinely wondering why the decrease in teams year after year.  It can't be blamed on population, because the high school teams still field teams.  I can remember Westmont, Loretto, Meyersdale, Stoystown, Nanty Glo, Spangler all having teams.  Now Westmont, Meyersdale, Stoystown, Nanty Glo all folded, and Loretto combined with Lilly I believe.  Didn't there used to be 3 divisions with (about) 6 teams in each division?

[Manfred]

No argument from me, you're right. Lots of possible factors, I'd guess. Total population decline -IS- the biggest reason IMHO.

[peytonsaturday]

No argument from me, you're right.  Lots of possible factors, I'd guess. Total population decline -IS- the biggest reason IMHO.

I would agree with you if the high school teams folded their programs.  But they aren't. 

[sydfinch]

Remember when this league had 18-20 teams?  What's the reason for the downfall?  Lack of interest?  Summer basketball / 7 on 7 leagues? I'm genuinely wondering why the decrease in teams year after year.  It can't be blamed on population, because the high school teams still field teams.  I can remember Westmont, Loretto, Meyersdale, Stoystown, Nanty Glo, Spangler all having teams.  Now Westmont, Meyersdale, Stoystown, Nanty Glo all folded, and Loretto combined with Lilly I believe.  Didn't there used to be 3 divisions with (about) 6 teams in each division?

All of the above PLUS the big difference between high school and Legion participation is summer jobs!!!! For many kids, playing high school = Getting out of classes early 20 times.

[Crimson's Ghost]

What's the age group for Legion? Maybe High School can field teams because they have 4 age groups and Legion only has 2?  I could be off on that. 

I said this a couple of years ago and people scoffed at it.  But I was involved coaching in the Johnstown City League a few years ago, and the league had all the best high school players in the area playing there.  If you went to McCort, Johnstown, Westmont, Richland, Valley, Ferndale, Conemaugh Township, North Star, Windber and a few other school districts, those kids were playing in the City League and not legion. So those legion areas I feel struggled, which I guess shows up in the participation of American Legion in our region.  

Do those areas all field teams?  I don't think they did. 

Some reasons to play Colt over Legion.

1. You don't like your legion coach, in Colt you get to choose who you can play for. 
2. You don't want to travel for all of your games.  You have 20-30 games twice a week at Roxbury Park.  
3. Some parents think using a wooden bat could be beneficial for some reason. 

I'm not advocating one way or another, but when I was involved the very best talent locally, minus Somerset, all played in the Colt League. Some played both, and even Somerset eventually fielded a team of all Somerset kids. So I'm just saying that could play a factor in declining interest with Legion.