Get Your Children Involved in Malibu Little League

If you haven't signed up your sons or daughters for the 2012 Malibu Little League season, you still have a chance. A special makeup tryout session will take place on Tuesday at from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. You can also contribute to the league by becoming a team manager or coach.

Little League Teaches Lasting Positive Values

 In the hectic and distracted world of 2012, it can sometimes be very difficult to make sure our children are learning values that will benefit them throughout their lives. We have less time to give and more work to fit in than ever before. Fortunately, it might be easier than we think not only to offer our children valuable life lessons, but also to improve our relationship with them.

Organized little league can offer a better balance in both our children's lives and our own. Not only does a little league season add some good old-fashioned fun to the week, but it also creates another dimension to child development that may not currently be part of their education. There are several specific values that little league can offer to you and your child in 2012.

Teamwork

To become successful in life, we cannot act alone. No man or woman is an island, and the earlier we learn how to work with others the better we can interact with those around us. When we are young, it is easy to give in to selfish desires and difficult to see something from another's perspective.

However, little league coaches instill a priceless understanding of working together for a common goal and as our children train and play together they learn this lesson naturally as well. The feeling of struggling with others to reach success reinforces the value of teamwork in our children. Little league can also create more respect for our peers as we work together with other people of all types.

Discipline

The ability to control our emotions and modify our behavior to match the current situation is a value that can allow us to interact more effectively with other people in daily life. This skill can lead to increased success in our education and our career as well.

Little league teaches excellent discipline to our children and as parents, we can see immediate positive results in our child's behavior. The mentorship that little league coaches offer their players gives children disciplinary guidelines, rewards for stewardship and consequences for unethical behavior. Children have a special place in their hearts for their coaches and often remember their little league coach for life.

Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

Sometimes, when we are young we feel that we are different; that no one else understands us and that we can never do anything right. We have to build up our confidence and self-esteem before we can stand up and turn our ideas into a reality. Healthy self-esteem can boost grades in school and increase job performance later on in life. It's also crucial for social situations that we find ourselves in every day.

One of the best ways to build the self-esteem of our children is team sports. Coaches can identify behavior that is not conducive to high self-confidence and know exactly how to motivate players to get the best performance out of children on the field. When players are successful during the game, they are more likely to translate the confidence they have learned into their daily life.

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There are many more positive benefits to little league such as parent involvement, the value of practice, increased understanding of fairness and humanity and others that can’t be explained in detail here.

If you're interested in your child being a part of such a wonderful community-based extracurricular activity, then you should bring him or her to Bluffs Park on tuesday for league tryouts for baseball and softball. You can also volunteer to become a manager or coach if you want to get more involved. Any questions should be directed to info@malibulittleleague.org. See you on Tuesday!

Bruce Gordon is a Malibu Little League board member.