Little League Lessons
September 12, 2014
Little League Baseball turned 75 years of age this year, and the anniversary had shone a media spotlight on the organization even before a hard-throwing female pitcher stole the show at the Little League World Series last month.
Little League’s veteran CEO Steve Keener gave Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal (Aug. 4-10) the same words we’ve said often to ourselves about school-sponsored sports. He said: “... our mission today is the same as it was 75 years ago. We just have to find different ways to tell the story ...”
One of Little League’s responses to this challenge parallels our own. In the words of Sports Business Journal, Little League “has turned its website into a vast resource” for league administrators’ tools, for coaches education and for parents.
Like school sports, Little League has different parents today than years ago. “For them, the youth sports fields aren’t so much a destination as a path;” and they need help navigating the pressures from instructors selling lessons, travel leagues promising exposure to college recruiters and professional scouts, and coaches of other sports who threaten that without year-round specialization, the “next level” will be beyond their child’s reach.
Like school sports, Little League still preaches the benefits and encourages multi-sport participation; but Little League has succumbed to pressure and now offers a fall program in addition to its late spring and summer program. Keener explained to Sports Business Journal: “... leagues were going to offer a program in the fall with Little League or without it, so he’d prefer they be subject to the same oversight as they are in the traditional season. ‘We offer it because we can’t stop it,’ Keener said. ‘We can’t make it go away. So we have to live with it and manage it.’ ”
We have often talked about taking a similar approach to summer basketball, 7-on-7 football and other programming that is currently outside the quality control that some school administrators and coaches think is needed.
Counting On Officials
August 26, 2014
It is sometimes the most maligned who do the most good; and that might be said of high school sports officials.
Many MHSAA registered officials are key contributors to the quality of life in their communities; and as a group, MHSAA registered officials are key contributors to pediatric medical care in this state.
This year is the tenth that the MHSAA has been engaging its 11,000 registered officials in raising funds for Michigan’s four Children’s Miracle Network facilities: Beaumont Children’s Hospital, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Sparrow Hospital and Hurley Medical Center.
Primarily through voluntary self-assessments during their annual registration process, officials have contributed approximately $60,000 to these four facilities.
In addition, a half dozen local officials associations have developed programs that regularly support their closest CMN facility. For example:
- The Metro Detroit Officials Association sponsors the Referees for Reading Program at Beaumont where monies raised help fund a pediatric ward book cart which is replenished annually with new titles for patients and parents to enjoy. The MDOA has sent its members to the pediatric unit to read to young patients. This year, the Eighth Annual MDOA Officials for Kids Golf Outing was held in Livonia, benefiting Beaumont Children’s Hospital and the reading program.
- The West Michigan Officials Association has included Officials for Kids in its annual community service initiatives for several years, assisting with a Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital event for visually impaired pediatric patients in Grand Rapids.
- The West Michigan Volleyball Officials Association has used the proceeds of an annual volleyball invitational it hosts to support Officials for Kids.
- Several associations, including the Capital Area Officials Association this spring, have sponsored a “Give-A-Game” event during the season where all officials on the same day contribute their game fees to Officials for Kids.
People can say what they want about sports officials. For my part, if my car breaks down anywhere in Michigan and I’m in need of quick assistance, I’ll check my officials directory. I know there will be an official nearby that I can count on.