Every year beginning in October, volunteers from thousands of communities all around the world head into the Little League® Data Center to fill out their Charter Application and Insurance Enrollment form, officially earning the right to call themselves a Little League program. By indicating which divisions of play they will feature in the upcoming season, this becomes the first step to making sure the league is ready for another season of giving youth athletes a space to make lifelong memories while playing the game they love.
When chartering officially began for the 2026 season, it was Grandville (Mich.) Little League who became the first local league to submit its application through the Data Center, taking advantage of the early registration and volunteer recruitment opportunities it brings when a league charters as soon as it becomes available. To learn more about Grandville LL and the benefits of chartering early, Little League sat down with League President Josh VanBuskirk for a Local League Spotlight, a series of content created to help other leagues learn from each other’s success stories.
Serve as the Pipeline
Our league is well-established within the community. Our fields are all located within the city, within the heart of the community. It’s really important to reach out to sponsors. We have roughly 70 local sponsors a year who support everything from fields to concession stands to our teams. We reach out about clinic opportunities for players and volunteering opportunities for the full league to support local high schools. We envision that Little League is a pipeline. We reach out to a lot of the younger kids in our community, and we retain them from four years old all the way through until they age out and continue their career at the high school.
The Benefits of Chartering Early
Chartering early is a benefit to us so that when we cross our fiscal year, we can make that transition. We open up registration right away as soon as we charter in October, and that benefits us for getting the word out. It enables us to allow payment plans for registration fees and to funnel people towards the T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant. It just allows us to get all the communication out and plan accordingly based on registration numbers.
Emphasizing Inclusion
Our Challenger Division is really well supported. We keep the registration cost really low to make sure we can include all of the families that want to be involved. It is definitely the excitement and the joy you see when they come out to the park once a week to play. Some leagues within our district don’t have the ability to run a Challenger Division, so it is really important for us to carry on our program and make sure that individuals across the district have somewhere to play. They’re excited to be out there and play, so it is fun to watch them feel that complete joy.
Softball Retention
We try to make sure the softball program really starts focusing on retention in our Double A division, which is 9- to 10-year-olds. At that age, you can start running into the issue of travel ball, so we structure our season to avoid the weekend from Double A through our Senior Division. With the two older divisions, they may also play on the school teams, so we make a point to start the season later, so we aren’t competing with the school season. Our program has grown tremendously through retaining players and keeping our fields in great condition season after season, so that they see we are putting the effort into those programs to help keep them invested, too.
Building a Community
Little League is where a lot of individuals get to come together and play in a structured and competitive environment. They get to play with their friends from school, parents can come out to watch or coach their kids, as well as visit with people either in the stands or at concessions. We really want to have that community there, and I think we do a great job of that. On a busy night at the complex, we probably average more than 700 to 800 people on site. Our community involvement is great, and we put a lot of time and effort, and resources into our league to make our parents and players feel supported and safe, and like they are receiving the same opportunities to train and develop as the person standing next to them at opening ceremonies.
To learn more about the Little League program and find a league in your community, visit PlayLittleLeague.org.