MONTREAL – Frank Martinez is an accomplished little league coach.
In 2015, he represented Canada at the Little League Baseball World Series, but Martinez has had a difficult time trying to get his son and his team to play competitively in the Baseball Québec federation.
His son is a sport-études student at Chêne Bleu High School in Pincourt and falls under the jurisdiction of Baseball Québec, a federation of 30,000 players in the province.
“If they train together, they should play baseball together,” said Martinez.
“When they go in a sport-études program for football, the players training in football, they get to play together during a season, same thing for basketball.”
The bond between the students runs deep and they want to stick together through the summer because they feel it’s the best way to develop.
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They tried to have their team approved by Baseball Québec.
The 14-year-old is crazy about baseball and his family is willing to make some sacrifices for the love of the game.
However, according to Dupré, the way Baseball Québec and its sub-group, Lac-Saint-Louis Baseball, try to manage his son is troubling.
“The regions or volunteers have a power over my son, which I don’t want them to have,” Dupré said.
“My son and I decide where he’s gonna play and what level he’s gonna try out for. “
When the school team was refused, Martinez did what he thought was logical, he brought them to Little League Baseball – an association not related to Baseball Québec.
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“If I don’t do this, there would be no one fighting for this group of kids,” said Martinez.
“Ultimately, it falls down to me to make sure the team stays together.”
The problem is Martinez and other parents have to drive all the way to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
“My boys have to travel an hour in traffic to be able to play together when they could play inside the region,” Martinez said.
Robert Litvack refused Global’s requests for an interview.
He deferred instead to Baseball Quebec director general Maxime Lamarche.
“The federation is not built on a model where you play with your friends,” Lamarche said.
“It’s built on a model where you play with people of your city.”
Dupré doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m a paying customer of sport-études, and one of the things promised on their site was that they would be making a new league where all the kids would be followed, 12 months a year, by their instructor,” Dupré said.
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The problems didn’t end there.
On May 10, they were supposed to play an exhibition game against the Montreal Orioles, a Baseball Quebec team.
But their game was allegedly cancelled when Robert Litvack got involved.
It was a major disappointment for Orioles’ head coach Peter Della Corte.
“All I know is that I got an email showing that Rob made a complaint to Baseball Québec, and I see him in the email complaining about it,” Della Corte said.
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The Montreal Orioles do not fall under the jurisdiction of Lac-Saint-Louis Baseball.
Coaches and parents are concerned that Robert Litvack has too much power.
Aside from being president of Lac-Saint-Louis Baseball, he is also president and head coach of the Tigers bantam AA team.
According to Martinez, he is also president of the Peewee AA and Mosquito programs and director of coaching and technical director.
“How come this guy can be the ruler and the prosecutor at the same time?”
Nevertheless, Lamarche stands by Litvack.
“Well it’s kind of a shame that Robert Litvack is being pointed right now,” said Lamarche.
“It’s really about Baseball Québec.”
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On May 19, Global News learned that Maxime Lamarche had reportedly threatened the Little League team and their coach.
Lamarche denies the allegations, but acknowledged that he brought up the issue the last time they spoke.
“I had to tell him how I was feeling about the different questions that I got during the interview,” Lamarche said.
“I told him I was really disappointed that a volunteer was put on the spot, so I just felt it was a good time to tell Frank because I am not talking to that guy really often.”
Martinez said he is now looking at his legal options.