As told to Little League® International
Every single day, we interact with individuals who might leave the biggest impact on our lives, without them even realizing it. Growing up, there was a man by the name of Bob Watson, a police officer in my hometown and a big advocate of Little League. I remember the day he was travelling around on patrol and stopped my buddies and me while we were playing stickball outside. It wasn’t to tell us to knock it off or stop having fun; it was him saying, “Hey, you should all come and play Little League.” As a kid, I didn’t appreciate the role that Mr. Watson or my experience in Little League would have later in life.
Around my town, there was plenty of sandlot baseball in our neighborhood, but this was the first time I had an opportunity to play structured baseball, and I learned an awful lot. It reinforced many of the values my parents, by far the biggest influence in my life, tried to instill in me at home. Specifically, Little League bolstered the values of hard work, discipline, commitment, having respect for others and their differences, handling failure (and success), along with the importance of committing to something that was much bigger than yourself. All things that are transferable outside of baseball and softball.
Funny enough, at age 12, my team went on to play in Williamsport at the Little League Baseball® World Series, and my coach that year happened to be that same police officer – Bob Watson. It was a time in my life I will never forget. Years later, when my own kids – George, Lena, and Nicole – were old enough to play, I knew I wanted them to have that same positive experience as I did growing up.
Building and having self-confidence is important, especially in young people. When you are on a team in Little League, you play with and against other players, surrounded by adults and kids watching the game or playing around the fences. Sooner or later, you’re going to experience a lost game and what failure feels like, maybe for the first time. Throughout my kids’ Little League days, I always reminded them that baseball and softball are hard games. I was honest that there are going to be a lot of moments, some that are jubilating and exciting, and others that could be humbling and uncomfortable. It may sound cliché, but one life lesson from the game that I always tried to teach them is this: when you get knocked down, you get back up.
I once read something that embodies one of Little League’s life lessons. It’s about Walter Payton, the great running back of the Chicago Bears. Over the course of his career, he ran what equates to more than 14 miles, but he got knocked down every 4 yards. That’s football, baseball, and life. We can often learn as much, if not more, about ourselves from failure or loss than from success or a win, and what we view as failure is simply part of what can define our success.
Little League can teach you how to deal with failure and overcome adversity, because that’s part of what can make us better.
As much as I learned through Little League myself, it doesn’t compare to what George, Lena, and Nicole taught me through their experiences. Parents do not get instruction manuals when our kids are born. We can make mistakes, but we should always model our best behavior so that our kids can become better people. When your kids first get into the Little League dugout for the first time, you can start to see whether the values you’ve tried to teach at home are coming to life. I saw my kids applaud a good play, shrug off a dropped ball or strikeout, and show concern when a player appeared hurt, regardless of whether the player was on their team. When you see them go to the opposite side of the dugout, as I did, to comfort a teammate who was upset about a play or call and say, “It’s alright, you’ll get them next time,” it’s a special feeling. It reassured me that I was doing something right as a parent. But most importantly, it taught me that parenting is not a spectator sport
You’ve got to be engaged in your child’s self-development and be consistent in reinforcing the values that enable them to be caring people and good citizens. Eventually, those lessons show up in how they carry themselves and treat others.
When we give to others, I think that we invariably give to ourselves. I would encourage parents to get involved as volunteers. Little League both welcomes and needs you. You’ll be better for it. I spent time as a coach, umpire, and even a local league president, but gained much more from those experiences than I gave.
Even if you are unable to volunteer, there are other ways to make everyone’s experience enjoyable. One of the biggest pieces of advice that I can offer parents watching from the stands is to always be positive and supportive. Kids can feel pressure to avoid mistakes or even to win. Be supportive of your child, coaches, umpires, and even kids who are playing on the other team. If a kid on the other team makes a great play, applaud it. While Little League can be a learning experience, at the end of the day, baseball and softball are games. Having fun should be a top priority. Sometimes adults get too wrapped up in competition or allow perfection to become the enemy of the good. We should not forget that these kids are learning, growing, and maturing. Allow them to do that.
I never expected all three of my kids to gravitate toward baseball and softball the way they did. We exposed them to a bunch of different things, whether it was education, art, music, or anything really. Sports were a vehicle for them to give expression to who they are and to grow as people. They could express themselves competitively while building relationships and learning to better appreciate the importance and benefits of hard work, and overcoming their challenges. Everyone has value.
Sports reinforced respect for the talents and contributions of others and allowed them to see with added clarity the common humanity that we all share.
Today, that journey comes full circle in a way I could never have predicted. My son, George Springer III, currently plays in the Major Leagues for the Toronto Blue Jays, carrying with him the lessons of hard work and resilience that started on the Little League field. My daughter Lena is the head softball coach at Trinity College, teaching and mentoring young women through the same sport that taught her about leadership and character. Lastly, my daughter Nicole, who was an assistant softball coach at Southern Connecticut State University, now serves as a private hitting instructor and mentor to young girls looking to develop the skills on the softball field with the same passion and commitment she learned as part of her Little League experience.
If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t do anything differently. Sometimes, when I am watching my kids play, coach, and interact with others on and off the field, I think back to that moment when Bob Watson came up to my friends and me. He not only made a positive impact on my life, but my kids, too.
Little League is more than a community, more than a team, and more than what happens on the field. Little League embodies what it means to be a family.
The story above is shared as part of Little League’s #LLProudParent content series, sharing first-person reflections on their experiences with their child in the Little League program. Have a story you’d like to share? Feel free to share it, along with any photos that help tell the story, to [email protected].
More Little League Proud Parents:
- “Our Last 12-Year-Old Season,” By Jessica Mendoza, U.S. Olympic Softball Gold Medalist and ESPN Analyst for the LLBWS
- “That’s the Beauty of Little League®,” by Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
- “Little League® is Where it All Started,” By Dusty Baker, Former MLB Manager