The start of the 29th Little League® International Congress officially kicked off on Friday, February 6, as hundreds of volunteers from around the world gathered together at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After a registration period where the attendees were greeted by their region staff and provided a welcome backpack and information about the weekend, the day kicked off with a variety of preliminary sessions, including New District Administrator (D.A.) Training and a “Culture Shaping for Leaders” session by Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).
The official kickoff for the weekend came with the event’s Opening Ceremonies, featuring Jenny Dalton-Hill, 2022 Little League Hall of Excellence Inductee, as the MC for the night and a retrospective video highlighting the last four years.
Player Panel Discussion
Understanding the importance of being child-first and understanding the perspective of our own Little Leaguers, Dalton-Hill began the night’s activities with a Player Panel Discussion, featuring current Little Leaguers, including 2025 Little League Softball® World Series Championship pitcher, Reagan Bills, and players from the Indianapolis-area.
When simply asked what could be done to make Little League better, the answers were simple:
“For Little League Softball, having the professional and college women in sports interact with young girls gives dreams and hopes for them to be there one day,” said Bills. “By joining Little League, it gives them that hope and exposure, and shows them what’s possible. That was something really big for me watching them.”
“I can’t really think of what would make baseball better because it’s already the best it can be,” said Brian Dillard, Douglass Little Leaguer.
“Being able to give every player the opportunity to play in a beautiful stadium would be so amazing,” said Brynna Wong, Zionsville Little Leaguer.
“Trading pins is the best part, so having more hangouts with all the teams would be awesome,” said Carter Spears, Brownsburg Little Leaguer.
Girls with Game Conversation
Led by Dalton-Hill, the conversation featured Kim Ng, AUSL Commissioner, and Liz DiLullo Brown, Little League Executive Vice President and Chief Business and Relationship Officer, to talk about the future of Girls with Game® and the overall growth of softball.
“Once you know more, you have to commit to doing more,” said Brown. “For us, doing things that help grow and create opportunities for our girls to have fun and learn from each other is important, but also we need to get feedback from you all on how we can get better.”
For Ng, after talking about her own journey and the successes of the partnership between Little League and Athletes Unlimited, she shared a note of gratitude for the hundreds of volunteers in the audience, as well:
“For those of you on the front lines, you’re the ones doing the tough stuff out there, so I want to thank you all for your hard work,” said Ng. “The players we have now [at AUSL] are inspirations, but it’s you all as volunteers who are setting the foundation and really helping [these kids] grow up not just as athletes, but as people.”
Chairman’s Award Presentation
Before the night concluded, Little League honored its friends at Athletes Unlimited with the presentation of its Chairman’s Award, which recognizes an individual/organization for their contribution and dedicated service to Little League Baseball and Softball.
To learn more about the 2026 Little League International Congress, visit LittleLeague.org/Congress or download the free Congress app for attendees on site.