Post Falls Little League: Welcome

Welcome to the 2012 Post Falls Little League

Post Falls Little League President Russ Shelton

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Today may be some childs world series!

I wish the following words were mine but they are not. Great message

For any of us who has a role in the league as an umpire, there are days. Days where nothing is going well in the game, parents and coaches chirping at you, days that you can’t understand why you ever agreed to do this job. And then, there are those few days that you are treated to a ringside seat to the most amazing game, the kids are making incredible plays, you are making great calls (uncontested), and just for a second, you blink and find yourself in one of those “movie moments” - standing Yankee Stadium at the World Series, you’re behind home plate and the modern day Gods of this game are taking the field. To your right, here comes Derek Jeter walking right toward you, larger than life, knocks the dirt off his cleats with his bat, looks right up at you… “afternoon Blue”. You blink again, and Jeter has turned into little Johnny Jones, 10 years old. Shoes untied, shirt and pants too big, and a belt holding the whole mess together.

That kid is your cause for today. He’s better than Derek Jeter, because he’s real, he’s standing on your field, and you can make a huge difference for him today. His team may get slaughtered today, but he’s going to get a fair game. He’s going to get an umpire who looks the part, acts the part, and knows the part today. The close plays are going to be called by an ump that knows the rules, hustles into position, gets the angle, and makes a clear call. Safe or out, ball or strike, foul or infield fly, if it happens on the field today, this ump is going to get it right, down to the last play of the 13^th tie-breaking inning, (may God forbid).

Because it’s like the old story about the two bricklayers, where the first one when asked what he was doing – scowls and barks out “obviously I’m laying bricks”. But the second one, when asked the same question, looks up, smiles big and proclaims “I’m building a cathedral”.  It’s all a matter of perspective.

 When the founders of Little League over half a century ago, decided to create this league, they had no idea how big this would become.  Only that it would be built on solid principles and a great vision, which are described on page 10 of your rule book, the Purpose of Little League Baseball. Reading it, you will find that it doesn’t have a lot to do with baseball, except that this was the great game chosen as a “vehicle” to teach kids life lessons of teamwork, respect, perseverance, and competition. It could have been tennis or backgammon if they thought those activities would have served better. (Thank goodness they didn’t – we love baseball anyway).

The paragraph reads that “Little League is a program of Service to Youth”. We are the servants, and while we will do this job with positional authority, we will do it with a servant’s heart. It’s their time now, the kids’, not ours, and it is a privilege to be out there with them, we’ve simply got to look at it that way. One of these kids may someday become a real pro ball player. Another may become a coach or umpire. Some may not play baseball again after Little League, and instead dedicate themselves to other things. Some little league player may grow up and one day cure cancer, save our environment, explore deep space or  something else amazing with their life. Maybe some of their young inspiration started on your ball field. Many will grow up and raise their kids with the hopes of giving them the same great experiences they had – partly because of the work that you will do this season. This is why we are here. These kids, these seasons, these are our bricks that will become cathedrals. And as long as baseball was chosen as the method for this experience, then we’re going to work to give them the best game we can. That’s why we work very hard today to become good umpires. 

As I mentioned before, there are some tough days on this job. Every league, every team matchup, every game is a little different. We will prepare for our little “corner of hell” behind home plate the best we can today. No matter how humbling or frustrating this job can be at times, one thing I know is for certain - that these kids are worth it.  They’re absolutely worth it – please remember that.

Good luck today and thank you

 Next Board Meeting - June 10  6p.m. @ Pizza Factory in Post Falls

Please contact us at postfallslittleleague@hotmail.com