LL Softball WS: OK, Some More "Final" Thoughts

I have been following hometown Murrayhill LL playing in the 2006 Little League World Series and thinking about how lucky we are to host the LL Softball World Series right here in Oregon District 4. What an opportunity to share our lovely area and our wonderful volunteer spirit with kids/families from all over the world.

This time of year, the internet lights up with discussions of the over-commercialization of youth sports, how parents have ruined everything, the equipment and the showboating, the overworked pitchers, "I won't watch the games on TV,"... fine. Discussing our children, and discussing other people's children are ranked #1 and #2 in the list of "most emotional and outside of any rational thought" so it sometimes difficult to put it into perspective. We cannot help but bring our experiences into any story about youth sports.

Little League seems to very accurately reflect our American culture, like it or not. We go through our lives with challenges and rewards, peaks and valleys. Millions of kids play youth sports and are guided by caring adults that don't receive any publicity, but nonetheless make an impact on our future by providing a caring, safe environment for them to play, learn, grow, hang out, laugh.

I am proud to be a supporter of Little League and other youth sports programs. It is far greater a challenge to stay involved in ANY program to help make it better than to stay home and deny a child an opportunity.