Little League Ball Falls As BMX Gains
geneb
Midland, MI -- 07/21/2008
Little League Baseball numbers fall
as other sports gain in popularity.
It wasn't long ago that seemingly every little boy dreamed
of growing up to become a major league baseball player.
But with football having taken over as America's favorite sport
and kids becoming interested in other sports such as soccer
and lacrosse, Little League participation has taken a hit.
"The participation in Little League has slipped just slightly in the
last 10 years, and this year our participation (for baseball and
softball) is just under 2.7 million worldwide," said spokesman
Chris Downs from the Little League headquarters in Williamsport,
Pa. "But we've grown in specific areas in our overall program and
in those in which we've made concentrated efforts to improve the
programs, such as softball and our Challenger division."
While the Challenger division, which allows children aged 5-18
with physical and mental disabilities to play, is growing and soft
ball is back on the rise after ending an eight-year decline in 2004,
baseball is having no such luck.
After reaching an all-time high of just under 2.7 million baseball
players in 1997, participation in Little League baseball -- the nation's
oldest and largest youth sports organization -- has dropped by an
average of 36,000 players per year.
From 2000 to 2001, the program lost a record high of 80,000
baseball players. Over the next four years, the losses lessened.
Little League actually grew by 18,000 baseball players in 2006,
but then lost 72,000 in 2007.
Kids have more options nowadays
Why now, 69 years after its formation in 1939,
is Little League losing participants?
According to Downs, it comes down to the variety
of other options available to today's children.
"When Little League started in 1939, there wasn't such
diversity and we were the first, and still are the largest,
youth sports program in the country," Downs said. "But
since then, you've seen the creation and evolution of soccer,
certainly other baseball and softball organizations, and the
increase in popularity of non-traditional sports, such as
skateboarding and BMX, that take children away."
That reasoning is exactly what area Little League presidents
point to when discussing their declining numbers.
"It's basically, at least in Midland, because there are so many
other opportunities for children to participate in really good
organizations," Northeast Little League President Jim McGee
said of the decline in numbers.
His league has fluctuated between 133 and 163 9-12-year-olds
since 1996. "Lacrosse has just started up in Midland, and it's a
strong organization. Then you have soccer, and they have a
wonderful organization in Midland. It just comes down to (the fact)
that there are other opportunities for kids to play other sports."
Both soccer and lacrosse are played in the spring, which
puts them in direct competition with Little League baseball.
The Midland Lacrosse Club, which began in 2005, has grown
from 24 players in its first year to 110 in its fourth year for
kids in the fourth through eighth grades.
The Midland Soccer Club reported that it has had more than
1,000 participants in each of the past five years, with 1,252
players this past spring.
Despite the recent growth of soccer and lacrosse, baseball and
softball have long been popular in Midland. In fact, Michigan's
oldest Little League program was Fraternal Little League, which
combined with Northwest a few years ago to form Fraternal Northwest.
While Fraternal Northwest is now the largest Little League
organization in the city, with approximately 390 members
after combining, the merger of the two leagues came after
Fraternal had decreased to less than 100 kids.
"When I grew up as a boy, all there was baseball, but now kids
can go in many, many directions," Fraternal Northwest President
Joel Justin said, while adding a note of optimism. "I don't see base
ball losing interest, and the (Great Lakes) Loons have been a huge
shot in the arm for baseball in this town."
Southtown, Westown leagues seeing some growth
Outside of the city limits, meanwhile, both Southtown Little
League and Westown Little League are seeing some growth.
After having approximately 140 kids 10 years ago, Westown
has about 220 baseball and softball players this year. The growth
in Westown has been mainly from its Junior League (13-14-year-old)
program, which had three teams this season compared to one for the
past few years. Westown President Eric O'Boyle credits his league's
growth to location, saying there aren't as many options for kids
outside of the city.
"We've grown quite a bit, but where we luck out is that we're in
a rural area," O'Boyle said. "We don't compete with soccer and
lacrosse and other sports like city leagues do."
While Westown is seeing growth in its Junior League, Southtown
is trying to rebuild from the ground up, beginning with its coach-
pitch division. Although Southtown's Major League (11-12 years
old) was down to just 24 players for the 2008 season, its coach-
pitch league had 60.
"I think we've done quite a bit of recruiting as far as going to
schools and trying to get kids to come out to play," Southtown
President Chris Bruman said of Southtown's growth. "We have
a couple of board members who have gone out pretty actively
the last few years trying to recruit kids and then the past two
years we've had (Loons' mascot) Lou E. Loon go out to schools
with a couple of our older players to stir up interest, and that's
really going well."
Although some may point to population changes as another
possible reason for the drop in Little League participation, the
slight decrease in Midland's population during the past few
years would have only a minimal effect.
Midland County had 82,818 residents in 2007, with an average
decline of 242 over the previous three years. The population of
the City of Midland was 40,829 in 2007, with an average of 181
people leaving over the previous three years.
Officials stay optimistic
Little League officials believe the biggest reason for the participation
decrease is the boom of soccer and other sports. But will the newer,
up-tempo sports fade enough for America's pastime to come back
into the forefront?
"I think it's going to level off, I do, because you notice the kids who
play baseball, they really love it," McGee said. "I get more comments
from families that tell me spending an afternoon outside watching Little
League baseball is a lot more fun for family members, and of course,
for the kids playing. It's just a fun atmosphere."
That's the stance Little League Baseball is taking
as it hopes to rebound from its steady decline.
"It's just something that happens, and things come back around again,"
Downs said. "The opportunities that we have in our program are many,
and people have taken advantage of that in the past and will continue
to do so."
Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
All Things Northwest in BMX!
***** Gene`s BMX *****
http://www.genesbmx.com