Fun is what makes the Little League® experience memorable for players, their families, and the volunteers who dedicate so many hours to the league. From Opening Ceremonies to community events and themed games, keeping the regular season fun can help bring players back season after season.
To learn more about how its local leagues are bringing fun to every level of play and help share some best practices from the grassroots level, Little League sat down with volunteers from a handful of leagues across the nation for a Local League Spotlight – a series of content created each month to help other leagues learn straight from each other’s success stories.
Warwick (Pa.) Little League
Kicking the Season Off Right
After having to pivot to a closing ceremony for a few years, Warwick LL kicked off its 30th season in 2025 with its first Opening Ceremonies in nearly a decade.
“Getting everyone together and pumped up, inviting all of our sponsors, and just making it as big of a community event as we can is how we plan to get every season started,” said Spender Todd, Warwick Little League President.
The excitement continued into 2026, with the Lancaster Barnstormers, a baseball team in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (a “partner league” of Major League Baseball). After being recognized as a top youth organization in their area, Warwick LL was awarded reserved time on the Barnstormers’ field. Through the power of community relationships, the reserved time on the field turned into the perfect way to kick off the season, emphasizing the league’s goal for the regular season – making sure every kid has a chance to have fun playing the game they love.
“We do all kinds of things to keep the regular season fun because that is the most important part to our season. Making sure every kid gets that chance to play and have fun,” said Todd. “By getting our season started this way, actually using the Barnstormers field for our Opening Ceremonies, it shows that we are ready to have a fun season.”
To get the players even more excited for the season, the league has each team name its team after the local business that sponsors it. This simple and fun task connects the kids to their sponsor and keeps the sponsor engaged throughout the season.
“For example, this year we have Diamond Flooring as our team sponsor, so our kids named our team the ‘Diamonators,’” said Todd. “One of our Tee Ball teams is sponsored by a local ice cream shop, so their kids came up with the name ‘Scoops.’ It’s just a fun way to keep the sponsors involved with the players from the very start of the season.”
Copper City Softball Little League (Butte, Mont.)
Themed Game Days
After leagues across Butte, Montana, started to see a decline in the number of girls registering to play Little League Softball®, a group of enthusiastic board members started Copper City Softball LL with the aim to give the girls of Butte “A League of Their Own.” Established in 2019 with approximately 90 girls registered, league leadership knew they needed to make the game fun again for everyone involved. Thanks to their efforts, the league now has 327 girls registered to play in 2026.
One idea the board members implemented to help bring fun to the season includes offering their annual Opening Ceremonies and Barbecue. During the ceremony, each team is introduced during the player’s parade, where the Little Leaguers® run the bases and interact with the softball stars from the local high schools’ teams. This has proven to be a fun day for players, parents, coaches, volunteers, and sponsors to enjoy some hot dogs, chips, and sunshine. Secondly, Copper City Softball LL also hosts themed game days throughout the season.
“We have implemented weekly themed dress-up games for the league in the last 4-5 years,” said Jaimee Richards, Copper City Softball Little League President. “Each week is a different theme, and you would think the little girls would be the only ones who love it, but our older players in the league get involved, too. We have also done themes like pajama day, crazy socks day, princess day, and superhero day. We always try to switch it up. Our league really prides itself on emphasizing that the game should always be fun.”
East Boynton Beach (Fla.) Little League
Bringing the Fun to Tee Ball
Focused on creating an environment where Little Leaguers and their families want to connect beyond the play on the field, East Boynton Beach LL has identified events throughout the year that bring everyone together, especially around the holidays, and caters to the youngest division of play.
“It’s about making them feel at home and that the Little League community is one giant extended family,” said Johnathan Ready, East Boynton Beach Little League President. “A lot of these events, like holiday gatherings or a friendly softball game between our coaches, started organically. We looked at holidays like Easter. The city hosted an egg hunt on the day we had games, so families had to choose one or the other. Do you attend the local city event or go to your game? This led to us working with the city to bring the Easter egg hunt to our field so our families could do both.”
As one of their biggest events of the season, the league goes all out. After the players wrap up their Tee Ball games, they head out for the hunt while the Easter Bunny hops around, taking photos and helping the kids. Each egg features prizes like little candies, an item from the concession stand, a pack of baseball cards, or something donated by a local sponsor.
“There are a lot of great things that come out of these events where your kids leave it with smiles from ear to ear,” said Ready. “We also host a big fall event where our Tee Ball kids dress up in their Halloween costumes, and they go trick or treating from field to field, and the older kids in the league hand out the candy. These events are a great way to bring the kids from different levels of play together and give them a day of baseball while mixing in some holiday spirit.”
North Arlington (Texas) Little League
Three Key Areas: Coach Development, Player Development, Community Development
Ensuring that every athlete in the league “has their moment in the sun” during the regular season, North Arlington Little League focuses on three main areas – coach development, player development, and community development.
Coach Development
“We knew that if we could develop our coaches, teaching them how to have fun, interactive practices, and find ways to celebrate players of all abilities and skill sets, even in the little moments, that the players would have fun throughout the season,” said Lex Landers, North Arlington Little League President. “Coach development was paramount when we stepped back and assessed how we were going to make sure every kid had fun.”
Player Development
“Everyone loves to compete, and everyone loves to win. But we wanted to create a culture where we can redefine what winning means to our players. So instead of just focusing on if the player is better at hitting the ball, throwing the ball, or fielding the ball, but are they better at overcoming adversity, are they better at being a good teammate, or recognizing progress even if they haven’t reached their final goal,” said Landers. “We do our best to celebrate players in those moments because those are the moments that lead to a player returning year after year because they had fun. That is what success should look like for our league.”
Community Development
“We know Little League has to be fun for the players, and it has to be fun for the coaches, but it has to be fun for the families in our community, too,” said Landers. “We have developed a community so that whether your kid is the best player on the tournament team or they are just trying the sport for the first time, both of those kids want to have the Little League experience, on and off the field. Every Saturday, we cook burgers on the grill, and every Tuesday, we have Taco Tuesday. We do movie nights, sandlot days, and autograph signing sessions with some of our players who have gone on to play at the professional level. At the end of the day, we just want the season to be so fun that when it is over, when the last out is recorded, they can’t wait for registration next season.”
