11u state champs want to stay together

Question
This question is in relationship to kids playing travel ball and the desire to keep playing little league.  I know the quick response is to not to over commit and the concern of burning the kids out but i would like advice on this topic.  As travel ball has become more popular and my son's experience has benefitted from both little league and most recently travel ball, my family and our team have come to a crossroads.  Our kids were blessed with winning the 11u state championship last year but because of our commitment to keep these same kids together with TB we are wondering if it would it be right to request to our little league board a waiver to allow our same kids to represent the city in the 2014 all star tournaments?  These same kids who played together last year are continuing to play TB together this year. As a community we are trying to find a way to allow these kids to still represent LL for 2014 together as the same team without splitting them up for the season. Have you heard of teams or LL boards that have done things to allow for prior state championship teams to allow them to stay intact as a team for the next year?

Answer
Dennis,

In order to make sure there is an even balance of talent in the program, Little League requires a tryout session and a player draft. Per Little League regulations, a team may not enter the season fully or nearly fully intact, as this allows teams to stack players and causes an imbalance of talent.  In order to approve this it would have to be requested through Little League International, and I'm certain they would not approve the waiver.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that the players will be drafted to the all star team at the end of the season.

I hope this has helped.

-Martin Hoover