This survey stirred up more ire than many others in the past year or two. Somehow some voters got the impression that because we were asking, we were endorsing the practice of rewarding winning teams at tournaments in some tangible way. Not so.

When we heard about the practice we were absolutely opposed. But it would not have been the first time that WebBall's own opinions clashed with the majority in our community. So we thought we should ask.

We're happy to report the results, and the comments. It should be noted that 89.7% of the voters were coaches and that no tournament organizers participated.

Championship Team Reward? Championship Player Reward What reward to team if any? What reward to player(s) if any? What reward to other teams?

Among the suggested rewards for teams and players not offered as selectable choices - and therefore listed under "other" - were some that amused us and some that pleased us. We like the suggestion of a hand-shake as reward enough. But we also like the idea of baseball scholarships. Here are some other voter comments...

Wow, talk about a slippery slope, what ever happen to playing for the love of playing?

The over inflated EGOS of many coaches involved in youth sports today has already tarnished these sports & kids too much. Cash awards or incentives could & probably would change youth sports as we know it, & the changes would not be for the good. Just the humble opinion of 46 yrs experience in youth baseball.

All this "pay-to-play" tournament, recruit-any-player-ya-want youth baseball obsession is absolutely ridiculous.

Why even advocate cash incentive? In all my years coaching I have never heard anyone bring up the subject! [Perhaps this voter hadn't heard of this, but others have, and part of our role is to exchange such information.]

Once you start paying amateurs they lost their status. In California they'd no longer be eligible for HS sports. Besides, what happened to playing to play?

If you offer cash rewards then the sport becomes more of a job and may cost the player college eligibility as he was paid to play.

I think that offering "travel fees" or "tournament rewards" to winning teams in tournaments absolutely is a horrible idea and that there is no place in youth baseball for it. Would you want your 10 year old at the plate in the championship game of a national tourney with the tying run on third and two outs in the last inning, knowing that there's $3000 in "travel fees" on the line? How in anyone's mind is that healthy for a child? And how do you think that some of the twisted, ego driven, win at all costs coaches in youth baseball will respond in games with cash in the mix? You'll see horrible treatment of umpires, coaches completely ignoring pitch count limits (and many of those tourneys don't even impose pitch count or inning limits!) at the expense of a boy's arm health, etc. It's just crazy and I wish that there were a more vocal outcry against the practice. Thanks for giving us a forum to voice our concerns!