The last time a West Windsor Little League softball team made it out of District 12 play in the post-season was in 2006, gaining respect as three-time defending district champions.
But after that summer began Robbinsville’s domination. Its 12U Little League softball team has won seven of the last eight district titles. More impressively, the team holds five of the last six state titles and has made an appearance at the Little League World Series three times. Even at the high school level, Robbinsville has won the state title twice in the last four years. Meanwhile, WW-P South has struggled to convince girls to try out, eventually cutting its junior varsity team in 2012.
Baffled by this powerhouse shift and dramatic decline in town interest, West Windsor residents and dads Tom Musmanno and Bill Kramer decided to investigate.
“Back 10 years ago, softball was more important than baseball in West Windsor. The [Little League] enrollment in softball was enormous. By the time Bill and I got involved in little league [about five years ago], we saw that start to go down tremendously,” said Musmanno.
After consulting with Robbinsville’s coaches, they realized what West Windsor was lacking.
“Playing more often than just Little League was the key to success,” said Musmanno. As a Little League softball coach, he noticed that most of his players only began showing major improvements in June, just as the season was coming to a close. “Little League also doesn’t offer girls the same amount of opportunities as it does boys,” he said. “Not that they don’t want to, there’s just not enough teams or players. Baseball has a Sunday league, softball doesn’t. There are four all-stars teams for girls. There are 15 boys’ teams this year.”
West Windsor used to have a summer travel team called the West Windsor Wildcats Gold. Competing at a high level of youth fastpitch, the team attracted players from all over the area, including many Robbinsville players (like 2013 All-State player of the year, Lauren Fischer). The team broke up in 2010.
Seeking to fill the vacant role that had been pivotal in West Windsor’s softball success, Musmanno, now president of the organization, and Kramer, vice-president, founded the West Windsor Ninjas travel program in 2011 with a 10U team and a 12U team.
“We heard about travel programs around that were really intense. Our families didn’t want to commit all that time. We wanted something in between. A little more than what Little League could offer, a little bit more often. We call our teams ‘travel-lite.’ This program is supposed to work in unison with Little League to promote the sport, altogether,” Musmanno said.
“Our first year, between the two of us, we didn’t know what we were doing,” said Kramer. “The first tournament, I remember playing the first game with an extra outfielder because that’s what you did in Little League. The second game, the other manager finally said, ‘You can’t have 10 players in the field!’ Oh jeez, sorry! Though we didn’t win a single game that first tournament, the girls worked hard. You could see the spark that this was going to work. We have really come a long way.”
After their inaugural year, the organization has rapidly grown from two teams to seven, ranging in age from 8U to 16U.
In addition to building more teams, the organization has created a board of trustees comprised of elected parent volunteers. “When we first started the Ninjas, it was just ‘Bill and Tom running it from their garage.’ We wanted to be more accountable,” said Kramer.
Besides having a board of trustees, the Ninjas differ from most other travel programs in their approach to playing time. “We’re a friendly organization. Of course, we want to win games, but if we found a situation where a girl wasn’t being played, that doesn’t work,” said Kramer. “My daughter, Megan, was invited to an out-of-town travel team. We looked at it; we thought about it; we passed. A girl who took that spot eventually ended up on our team and told us about her experience. She ended up going to Florida for nationals, a huge commitment, a huge expense, and ended up not playing a single inning. We don’t mandate minimum innings played like Little League does, but the idea is, if you’re on the team, you’re going to play to some degree.”
“It’s a big thing. You’re dealing with young kids, and they’re growing up. Their skills will develop over time. Kids grow faster and they get more coordinated at different ages. As they grow, they’re going to change. If you cut off [playing time] opportunities from them, they might just stop playing the sport altogether, which is the last thing we want,” said Darren Sharlach, secretary of the organization.
On the other end of the spectrum, both Musmanno and Kramer acknowledge the risk of young athletes feeling “burnt out” from playing too much. “Though you can’t put your glove down in July and then just pick it up in January, we stress for them [the girls] to do other things. We understand there are conflicts. We talk about how softball can be a second choice in the fall,” Musmanno said.
“November, December, we don’t do anything in those months,” said Kramer.
Another challenge of running seven travel teams is finding quality trainers, managers, and coaches. The Ninja organization generally pays trainers $15 to $50 per hour, while the managers and coaches are parent volunteers. “This season, we are exploring the possibility of hiring former college players as coaches and managers for some teams,” Musmanno said.
“Last year we tried to hire a young woman to be a role model for the girls. We had a couple of leads, but none of them panned out. We wanted to find someone who’s been through Little League, travel programs, college softball, and knows how softball is played. At the end of the day, we’re just a bunch of dads. What do we know about the game?” said Kramer.
Despite their modesty, the teams have had success. The older 12U team, managed by Musmanno, had a 25-8-2 record last season.
Since the Ninjas were founded in 2011, Little League softball enrollment has finally stabilized in West Windsor. Musmanno credits this to the Ninjas turning softball into a local activity that girls and their families are excited about.
The bright neon green plays an important role in generating excitement. “It’s the label of our organization. The kids and parents love the green. It really has taken a life of its own,” Musmanno said. “I even wanted to get my jeep in the ninja green but they only had the dark one.”
“Honestly for me,” said Musmanno, “this organization started as a way to figure out how to get the girls better as softball players. But that’s completely gone by the wayside by the friendships and bonds that are being formed between the girls and the parents. The two new [East Windsor] girls I put on my team this year came over to visit us [WWLL all-star team] during practice. Ten girls stopped what they were doing to give them both big hugs. They’re competitors, but that ninja green unites them. My goal for the organization is for it to last a long, long time and to give back to the community. We’re doing community service with the girls, teaching them more than just softball, and developing relationships. That’s what makes it so much fun.”
Musmanno is from Merrick, Long Island. His mom worked for MetLife and his dad worked for Merrill Lynch. He graduated from Sienna College and moved to West Windsor in 1991. He is a portfolio manager with Blackrock in New York City and also on the West Windsor Little League Board. He has two daughters who both play for the Ninjas organization, and a son who plays baseball for a local travel team, the Warriors.
Kramer grew up in Cedar Grove. His dad worked on Wall Street as an “operations guy” while his mom worked as a police dispatcher. He currently works for a broker dealer in New York City as the regulatory supervisor. His older daughter plays field hockey at Ramapo College. His younger daughter was a Ninja on the original 12U team and played for two years before deciding to pursue field hockey. Kramer will remain on the Ninjas board as vice-president.
“If my daughter’s not on a team, why am I still here?” Kramer smiled. “I ran rec softball for three years. I also ran rec soccer for three years. I didn’t think I would get so attached to the kids and to the whole Ninjas program. But I love this thing we’ve created. I want to see it thrive to the point where it’s presenting really good, solid opportunities to the girls. If we didn’t exist, how many of our 65 girls [in the organization] would still be playing travel? 5? 10? How many parents would make the commitment to drive to New Egypt or Monroe [other travel team locations] and be the outsiders in an organization? Not a lot at all.”
West Windsor Ninjas Tryouts, West Windsor Community Park, Saturday, August 3. Tryouts for the 16U team, Saturday, August 10. www.wwninjas.org.
