the Price of Little League

Our sons have both played Little League Baseball throughout their elementary and middle school years. Our community has a pretty strong Little League tradition, although more and more people are playing other leagues in other communities. The price you pay includes coaching - usually a couple of the boys dads,1 -2 umpires for the games and I?m sure some insurance for injuries etc. You are issued a uniform: hat, jersey & pants. You keep the hat and the rest goes back at the end of the season. You are also required to purchase a belt and matching socks usually. We just paid a lump sum with the registration, so I have no idea what the umpires are paid. The coaches are volunteers. At the end of the season, most teams organize some kind of gift for each coach, which is the least you can do. They put in a lot of time and energy.

Our sons have had a pretty wide variety of coaching and team experiences. For the most part, it has always seemed to be worth the price we paid. In the early years many of the coaches were dads who didn?t know how to teach the kids the game, but as the kids get older, most of the coaches have some experience playing baseball at a higher level and they really cared about improvement. They get the teams together 2-3 times a week for practices for 2-3 hours at a time - longer if the weather is nice. That amounts to quite a time commitment from both players and coaches - not to mention the parents providing the transportation. Obviously some of the coaches put more into the team than others, but for the most part, it is a great service and some of the other leagues charge ten times the price... so this is a really inexpensive way to go, compared to that. However in the other leagues the coaches are paid and usually have some specific training, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Be prepared to get involved and make the most of the volunteer opportunities, that really seems to add to the experience and helps your kids know you are involved and excited about it.