Recently, ESPN has been airing the Little League World Series.\u00c2\u00a0 I normally love watching the LLWS.\u00c2\u00a0 You see more true emotion and love for the game in two innings of between the teams from Toms River, NJ and Korea than you might in an entire three game series between the Yankees and Orioles.\u00c2\u00a0 The coaches are almost always responsible role models, who know their primary job is to help raise these athletes to be gentlemen.\u00c2\u00a0 Winning is secondary.<\/p>\n
The Little League World Series is one of the only arenas in sports, where the old clich\u00c3\u00a9, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just happy to be here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually a clich\u00c3\u00a9.<\/p>\n
This year, I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been able to convince myself to watch.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe my newly changed marital status on Facebook makes me look at this event from a more mature point of view.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe, at 27, I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t identify with 12-year-old ballplayers like I used to.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe as a teacher, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just concerned about what the future holds for these kids.<\/p>\n
This past June, I finished arguably my most successful season as a middle school baseball coach.\u00c2\u00a0 The key to that success was simple: I had a core of players who straight-up loved baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Homer Simpson and Krusty Burgers, they just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get enough.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d stay late after practice and demand that I heat it up for their extra batting practice.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d ask me to mix in curveballs, changes, and the occasional knuckler.\u00c2\u00a0 In the midst of all this, it was easy to forget that they were sixth graders, a year removed from the comfort and shelter of Little League.<\/p>\n
As much fun as it was to watch these kids revel and succeed in a game I have spent my life with, there was a nagging doubt that always tugged at the back of my conscience.\u00c2\u00a0 Many of these kids played in leagues beyond school.\u00c2\u00a0 Leagues that weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t subject to the same rules, regulations, and limitations in place in a national organization like Little League.\u00c2\u00a0 Before I pitched one of my players, I normally asked if they had thrown this weekend? \u00c2\u00a0A couple days ago? \u00c2\u00a0Yesterday?\u00c2\u00a0 They would respond, <\/em><\/p>\n Yep, but let me pitch today.\u00c2\u00a0 I feel fine<\/em>.<\/p>\n In today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s culture, kids specialize in sports much too early.\u00c2\u00a0 They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a chance to give themselves a chance to rest and recover from injuries and instabilities they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know they have.\u00c2\u00a0 At twelve and thirteen, they play in three or four leagues a season to maximize their playing time and to improve their chances of ultimately starting at the high school level, getting a scholarship to a Division I program, and maybe, just maybe, being drafted by a major league club.\u00c2\u00a0 Never mind the fact that the chances of that happening are smaller than Sylvester Stallone winning Best Actor for his performance in The Expendables<\/em>.<\/p>\n As a teacher, a coach, or even a sportswriter, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far from my job to tell parents how to raise their kids.\u00c2\u00a0 At the heart of every parent lies the fundamental hope that his or her child will make his or her way through the world as comfortably as possible. \u00c2\u00a0When you see a kid with some athletic talent, you provide him with all the private instruction, playing time, and exposure you can, all in the hopes of creating the next Jason Heyward.<\/p>\n I get it.<\/p>\n If I have a kid with talent, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably do the same thing.<\/p>\n But in the end, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a disservice to the child.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that these kids always want to play and to please the adults in their life.\u00c2\u00a0 When they say, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine<\/em>, despite having thrown three or four innings the day before, they simply don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know any better.<\/p>\n They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never taken a daily regimen of Advil or Aleve just to get through routine practices and throwing sessions.\u00c2\u00a0 Never heard a snap-crackle-pop emanate from their shoulder when rearing back.\u00c2\u00a0 Never lay awake at night staring at the ceiling hoping not that the dull ache in their shoulder or elbow would go away, but simply that it would just stay a dull ache.\u00c2\u00a0 Never slept on their side clutching a pillow, knowing that if they roll onto their throwing arm, the pain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to keep them up at night.\u00c2\u00a0 Never convinced themselves that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be fine to pitch as long as possible, because their arms would go numb after twenty pitches anyway.<\/p>\n Right now, the kids in the Little League World Series are protected.\u00c2\u00a0 Innings limits and strict team districting keep them from being overused.\u00c2\u00a0 What happens next year?\u00c2\u00a0 These kids are going to have to find some other teams.\u00c2\u00a0 Rec teams, tournament teams, local travel teams, and modified school teams will all compete for the attention of these athletes.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of these leagues don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the oversight that Little League has.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, some kids won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t choose, but compete in all of them.<\/p>\n At that point, will we have the courage to tell them not to play, to back off, to relax for a month?\u00c2\u00a0 Go swimming, shoot some hoops, watch TV?<\/p>\n If it was my kid, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if I could.<\/p>\n Scary.\u00c2\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n