For local league leadership and volunteers across the world, the season starts long before the first pitch on Opening Day. From creative community outreach and school partnerships to removing barriers for first-time volunteers and intentional support along the way, local leagues find innovative and unique ways to recruit new families and engage volunteers to grow their programs and strengthen the Little League experience.
To help share some best practices straight from the grassroots level, Little League® sat down with volunteers from leagues across the U.S. for a Local League Spotlight – a series of content created each month to help other leagues learn straight from each other’s success stories – to showcase best practices for player registration and volunteer recruitment as league’s prepare for the season ahead.
McLean (Va.) Little League
Community Outreach
“I think a lot of first-time parents don’t know what they don’t know. A lot of competing sports in the fall and spring recruit really aggressively, and once a child is in with one of those sports, it’s a lot harder for us to recruit that child. One of the best practices that we have, and we’ve recently started doing this, is going to where those youngest children who aren’t quite ready for playing sports yet are. For us, there is a winter parade that a lot of families with very small children attend. We’ve got a big presence in that. The other is a big community day here in our city. We had a table there, and while the fundraising aspect wasn’t very successful, it allowed us to meet a lot more first-time parents and very young families who didn’t even know that this was an option.”
Promotion in Local Schools
“One thing that I really landed on by year three was trying to get more families in the league involved with being the liaisons or sponsors to their schools. The parents that have kids in the school have the inside knowledge on how to get the word out. There’s not one method, like the PTA electronic newsletter, that necessarily fits every school environment. So, it’s best if you can leave it up to the parents to figure that out. How can you get families in the league connected and inspired to go and promote the league, and then say, ‘What can we do to support you?'”
Supporting New Parents
“I get a lot of parents who say, ‘Oh, I played lacrosse in college,’ or ‘I played soccer in high school. I don’t know the first thing about baseball.’ And what I tell them is, ‘You’re the perfect coach. You’ve played a sport. You understand teamwork and philosophy. You’re going to be great.’ And then what I have to do is support them. We have built out all kinds of slide decks and practice plans and things like that.”
Partnering with Other Leagues and Organizations
“We have another separate sports organization in our community that we have a partnership with so we both advertise our registration to each other once a year. We have noticed a spike in registrations after we get the word out through the other organization, and they have noticed the same coming through us. That is just another example of how developing relationships and keeping a positive partnership can be beneficial.”
Media (Pa.) Little League
Early Recruitment
“We start early and we get the word out. I believe a lot of families in our area don’t realize how young Little League allows kids to play. The other thing we do is we take Tee Ball seriously. We know that participation from Tee Ball to Coach Pitch can drop because kids realize they don’t want to play. But if we can engage them and find ways to engage the families, we do get registrations.”
Building Relationships
“We believe volunteer recruitment starts with building relationships with all the families. We’re not just asking the parents to give us their time, but we’re inviting them to become a part of something special with us. Not everyone can commit to coaching the entire season, but everyone has something to contribute, whether it’s helping on the field, at field day, or being the team mom or team dad. Any contribution makes a difference. But the most important thing is making the volunteers feel valued and appreciated. When people feel like they’re making a difference, they want to be more a part of it.”
From the Stands to the Dugout
“I think it’s important to stress to some of these parents that you don’t have to be an ex-college player to coach a Little League team. You just have to be able to volunteer your time. That’s why we have board members and coaching coordinators who can teach these dads and moms how we want things run and teach them the basics about baseball. Then they grow with us from there.”
Connecting the Divisions
“Another big thing we’ve found success with, and we’re really trying to build on, is getting the younger players and their families involved with the older leagues. When we would try to get our snack bar staffed, every year we would get the same email back from a parent saying, ‘I’m sorry, I have multiple kids. I just don’t have the time to bake snacks.’ And we would say, ‘No, we have a fully stocked snack bar with cooks and everything. We just need you to come work it.’ So, then they come work a Majors Division game and all of a sudden, that family sees what goes on as the kids progress through the program. We found a lot of those younger families are now way more engaged than they used to be in years prior.”
Fremont Centerville (Calif.) LL
Recruiting for the Youngest Divisions
“For Tee ball and Coach Pitch, we participate in some of our city events. There’s a trick-or-treat event that the city puts on, and then there’s also a Christmas or Holiday in the Park event. We do that as community outreach. We pass out candy for Halloween, and for Christmas, we volunteer to work the arts and crafts booths while also spreading the word about the league and trying to recruit the kids that attend. It’s a great way to recruit because that age group is the one showing up for these events with the city. After we do that, we schedule what we call ‘try-it-out’ workouts or winter workouts. They’re free, and families don’t have to register, just show up. We introduce them to the sport, and they realize they have a lot of fun. The parents have fun, and it’s been pretty successful for us as far as recruiting new players and new families.”
Introduce Volunteering Before the Season
“One way we encourage folks to volunteer is through our early outreach. Instead of waiting until teams are formed and reaching out to say, ‘Hey, can someone please manage a team?’ we will invite the parents to the winter workout or offseason sessions that kids are attending to introduce the families to baseball, softball, and Tee Ball as well, and try to get them comfortable. We encourage them to join us on the field to help instead of sitting on the sidelines. That way, they feel a lot more comfortable when we ask for volunteers to manage a team at the start of the season.”
Establish a “Welcome Committee”
“We have Welcome Committees to help new families feel welcomed and comfortable in participating. The week before Opening Day, we have a pancake breakfast that we call an open house. Everyone can come down, introduce themselves to the staff and coaches, and get familiar with the field. When I joined the league, I didn’t quite know where to start. This helps bridge the gap that I felt and help other families not feel lost.”
Additional Resources:
- Communication Tools to Promote and Share Your League
- Marketing Resources – Registration Flyers
- Working With Other Youth Organizations to Support Your Little League Program
- How To Raise Your League’s Community Awareness
- Fun Ways to Promote Little League Registration and Increase Awareness
Tips for Operating Your Little League Program’s Social Media Accounts