Little League Baseball: Why "Just Have Fun" Is Just Lame

Winning is fun, and it's a worthwhile goal, especially when it results from practicing
 and playing hard. And it's always fun getting your name on the back. Photo courtesy epr Marketing.

I was waiting to get an x-ray in the doctor's office and started talking with someone else who was waiting for an x-ray. Then my son started talking about baseball and little league and how excited he was about playing and getting his name on the back of his uniform. That's when the nice lady said to him, "Just have fun." I haven't stopped thinking about that. That's the standard line among people who are afraid that either their kids might take winning too seriously or the parents might take winning too seriously.

I remember what it was like playing little league and I know that it's more fun to win than to lose. It's more fun to catch the ball and have your teammates run over and give you high fives than it is to drop the ball. It's more fun to hit the ball and help the team win than it is to strikeout. In fact, striking out, dropping fly balls and throwing the ball away are no fun at all and kids know it’s no fun. There’s no reason to tell them it doesn’t matter if they caught the ball or not – it matters to the kids - even to the ones counting dandelions in the outfield.

Hitting, catching and throwing well, especially well enough to do it in a game situation,
require practice. This is the part the "Just have fun" crowd has trouble grasping. Of course, parents should not be overly pushy about practice, but kids who like and want to play baseball (or any sport) will have fun practicing if practice time is designed to be fun. And they will enjoy upgrading their skills, they will enjoy the process of improvement and take pride in their achievements as they catch better, throw farther and straighter and hit the ball farther and more often. That's what makes it fun. And it's that internal reward for hard work that feels even more fun than winning, yet it also contributes to winning the game.

Kids who want to excel and win aren’t being helped when adults belittle their hard work and commitment to playing their best by suggesting that just having fun is somehow a more worthy goal than playing hard and winning - as if winning is unworthy of their efforts. In fact, there may be nothing more fun in sports than when you practice, play hard and win - and nothing more important than learning that sometimes you practice, play hard and lose anyway.

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