[MUSIC PLAYING] DAN VELTE: In house, we have a team that's identifying everyone's stay at home order, and making sure that we're tracking that as much as we can. We have a position in our program called the District Administrator that ultimately is a super volunteer. They're not a local league official. They oversee 10 to 15 local leagues across the world. And so we rely on them for a lot of our information. So they share with us, in their area, when the leagues can start, and we are continuing to communicate with them on a regular basis. As leagues, states, countries go through different phases of this and getting back onto the field, we can share with them the information that's more relevant to them. As part of our season resumption guide, one of the things that we are recommending is we want our local leagues to take some time. So before they really get into games, take a couple of weeks, have some practices-- like a little league version of spring training. Get their arms ready. Get in shape. Get familiar with their friends again. Get to know their coaches. Ultimately, the most important thing for us is to consider the safety and well-being of all the participants-- not just the players, but the volunteers as well-- and making sure that kids have a safe environment to return to. And that's why we feel it's critically important that we ultimately provide guidelines to our local leagues, and to assist them as they begin to prepare for resuming the season. So our program was for kids that are ages 4 through 16. So the older kids, they have a good idea. They're getting used to it. They know what to expect. But when you have T-ball kids and coach-pitch players, it's a little bit different. And so that's why it's critical for us that we provide as much guidance as we possibly can. We have the ability to connect directly with parents and coaches, and so our communications team has really been producing a lot of content to advise our local leagues on things that you can do with T-ball players, coach-pitch players, and then working your way up to the older divisions. We expect that parents have to understand that things are going to be a little bit different. So rather than parents packing the stands, coaching from the stands, hopefully cheering for their kids and their team, parents may be sitting in the outfield so that they can properly be socially distanced with each other, and sitting in cars in the parking lot. And speaking as a little league dad, a little league coach, that might not necessarily be a bad thing-- that the parents can't coach from the stands. Ultimately, given the global nature of the pandemic-- and really, the global nature of our program and public health officials and their guidance of reducing mobility to combat the spread-- we're encouraging our local officials to schedule some local tournaments. So while there's no plans to make up the world series this year, what we think can be helpful is that those local officials have scheduled some local tournaments. And so maybe it's not a traditional time, and maybe instead of playing the world series in August, you'll see a local district. Or it could be a state tournament. I've been thinking about that a lot, and I think obviously we'll probably see fewer high-fives and things that we're used to seeing on a little league field. But ultimately, it's our hope that kids are taking this time to get outdoors and spend quality time with their family, and really working on their game. We are hoping that this situation creates an opportunity, ultimately, for families to see the value in community-based programming. As families slow down a little bit and take this time to reconnect, we think we have an opportunity to reconnect with volunteers. And so hopefully you'll see an increase in families wanting to be together, and families wanting to volunteer at local little league parks, get kids back in the field, be with their friends who they all miss, enjoy the many benefits that the little league program provides to not only players, but communities and families as well. 

How to Reopen: Little League is ready to play ball

Features

Little League’s Dan Velte on what changes are coming.

How to Reopen: Little League is ready to play ball


Little League’s Dan Velte talks about what changes are coming.
