From the Bay Beacon, 3/19/03

Little League 2003 baseball is now in full swing. Teen League will begin at the end of the month. We have over 600 aspiring ballplayers, ages 5 through 12, on 47 teams, distributed between T-Ball, Minor C, Minor B, Minor A, and Major Leagues…that means lots of parents, lots of managers and coaches, with lots of logistical support from the Team Moms. That’s what makes it so special. To make Little League run smoothly it takes every parent’s participation, whether it is on the field, in the score booth, cleaning up, or in the concession stand selling all that good stuff.

When I look at the essence of what Little League is all about…I see it’s about what brings a community together…everybody sacrificing their time, everybody contributing something, everybody working together to achieve a desired goal.

That brings me to the question…what is the goal of Little League? Is it just about winning? I do think competition and striving to win is important, but is winning the only measure of success? Can someone be a winner, even though they didn’t win?

Well, last year I asked two prominent coaches, Niceville Coach Bobby Scott and Ruckel Coach Tony Noah, if they pick their players by looking at their Little League win/loss records? They looked at me as if I had just landed from another planet. Both of them stated the same thing. They evaluated the perspective players by their individual talents…could they run, catch, throw, bat, etc., with sound mechanics? Additionally, they look at whether the ball player has a coachable attitude. They were both emphatic about that…it had nothing to do with past team accomplishments.

So, if this is true, why do so many parents place so much pressure and emphasis on whether their future Hall of Famer’s team won a tough game, or won or lost in the regular season playoffs? I suggest that in the big picture of things, it just doesn’t matter.

What matters is whether these young players have good adult role models that exhibit a winner’s attitude whether the team wins or loses. What matters is if they are having a good time learning baseball fundamentals. What matters is whether they are taught to hold their heads up when they lose, because they know inside they did their very best. What matters is if they learn to say to themselves after a loss, “I’ve got to work harder on my mechanics to be better and we are going to win next time”. To me, that’s a winner’s attitude, and that’s a worthwhile goal to achieve.

The 2002 season produced many updates to our facilities. Working with both cities, local contractors, and lots of volunteers, we made much-needed improvements at our ballparks. It must have paid off…for the first time ever we had three all-star teams advance through district and sectional competitions to make the state tournaments! Those all-star teams were the 12 year old National team, the Junior Teens and the Senior Teens. They were great ambassadors for our community.

Remember that our Little League is totally run and supported by volunteers. We are always in need of more volunteers to help in a variety of ways. We have concessions, field maintenance, scorebooks, scoreboards, and umpiring needs. I can imagine there are many in our community who used to be involved in Little League and miss the excitement of being booed by half the crowed and cheered by the other half when you called that strike. The boos and cheers are still there, and we would love to have you back! An investment in our youth pays great dividends…we need YOU as an investor.

The 2003 season promises to be another great Little League year, but we face an ever-growing challenge. We are bursting at the seams with the expanding numbers of kids playing baseball, football, soccer, travel ball, softball--all competing for a limited number of sports fields. We’re about out of ideas. We are already limiting our sports opportunities. This issue requires attention…we need to seriously search as a community for an area that we can develop as a sports complex that will meet the needs of our youth, and for that matter, our adult athletes too.

If you are looking for excitement it will be here every night and all day Saturday through June…from the 5 year old T Ballers just having fun, to the serious Teen Leaguers playing hard for the win…it’s here…come out and enjoy the fun.

Please visit us anytime on our web site to find out what’s happening. At nvllb.org you’ll find schedules, game times, and upcoming events. You’ll be amazed at what we have going on to support our communities’ young people. Come on out and enjoy the fun. Now-- “Let’s play ball!”