Shielding himself from the blazing Southern California heat, David Fernandez stood in the shade and watched his son's baseball practice from a distance.
"It's all about the kids just wanting to have fun," Fernandez said as he high-fived his son and other Padres team members as they jogged in for a quick water break.
The players are part of the North Torrance Little League, or NTLL, which includes seven divisions of boys aged 4 to 14 and is part of a national organization called Little League Baseball.
Fernandez tries to be a role model for his 13-year-old son, keeping the baseball competition in perspective. But not every parent follows suit.
"Parents are always a problem," said Paul Prybylla, one of the league's managers and board members. Each season, he said, a few unruly parents shout from the stands, criticizing their sons' performances and arguing with coaches and umpires.
Over-involved parents are just one problem stemming from the hyper-competition that has come to plague Little League, according to William Morgan, a professor at the USC Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media & Society. Morgan grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Little League Baseball.
"If [Little League founder Carl] Stotz were still alive, I don't think that he would believe what is actually happening in Little League Baseball right now," Morgan said.
In 1939, Stotz founded Little League Baseball as an organized competitive baseball league that emphasized learning and skill development for young ballplayers. Then, in 1947, the league introduced the Little League World Series, a national spectacle that quickly popularized the organization and, in turn, intensified the competition and increased the importance of winning.
Stotz grew wary and voiced his concerns about the league's direction. The organization then barred Stotz from stepping foot into a Little League baseball diamond for the remainder of his life.
In order to buck the national trend of hyper-competition in Little League, North Torrance relies on a community effort.
"Our kids don't just show up to play baseball," Prybylla said. "Our entire community comes here to be together.
The league recently enlisted the help of the community to renovate its facilities. At the organization's opening day in March, hundreds of parents, children and community members packed into the stands of NTLL's Major Field, which featured expanded dugouts, new scoring towers and refurbished fences from the previous season.
"We had six year-old kids running around with paint brushes and helping," Prybylla said.
Additionally, the league makes sure to prioritize skill development. NTLL runs "pony leagues" in the fall designed especially for inexperienced players, and the organization hires professional trainers to attend and critique various team practices throughout the season.
"At the end of the year, most kids will forget about the winning or losing," said team manager Frank Groe, who wore North Torrance All-Star shirt, jean shorts, and a cap. "Instead, each kid is going to remember if someone believed in them during both their successes and their failures."
After serving as a board member for four years, Groe is in his eighth season of coaching. Over the years, he's learned which values he should emphasize in order to be successful — the same ones that founder Carl Stotz prioritized: skill development and team chemistry.
"We do everything as a team!" Groe called out to his players. "No walking, we always hustle!"
The teamwork emphasis in NTLL extends to which players participate in the game. In the national Little League, the incidence of overuse injuries has increased due to an emphasis on winning. These shoulder and elbow injuries result from young players throwing too many pitches, according to Morgan.
"Some coaches have this mindset that they have to pitch [the same] kid every time in order to win," Groe said.
To reduce the likelihood of overuse injuries, NTLL limits the number of throws that each pitcher can make on both a per-game and per-season basis. But this solution isn't perfect. Both Groe and Prybylla believe that in order to adequately prevent overuse injuries, Little League managers must spread their team's pitching workload among as many players as possible, even at the cost of winning.
Beyond the baseball teams themselves, the players' parents are one of NTLL's biggest assets. Parents, coaches and board members help the league fight the negative trends in youth baseball.
"The backbone of NTLL is the Board [of Directors]," Fernandez said. "The Board and parent volunteers are strong, dedicated, and committed to the league."
Due to financial contributions from parents, NTLL owns "the best fields in the South Bay," according to Groe. Other volunteer donations go toward a league scholarship fund, ensuring that players are able to continue playing regardless of their financial circumstances.
"We've worked hard to eliminate lots of problems," Prybylla said. "Now we get to see the reactions of our kids taking pride in where they're playing."
Reach Staff Reporter Garrett Schwartz here.
Annenberg Media