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all 50 U.S. states as well as more than 80 countries. "Little League International today remains the world's largest youth sports organization with approximately two million children playing baseball and soball in more than 80 countries around the world," reports Kevin Fountain, senior director of communications. "Additionally, Little League's global participation in recent years has also seen an increase as more leagues around the world have come through the pandemic and are able to return to a pre-pandemic league operation. "Overall, our team numbers were up slightly from what we saw for the 2023 season and slightly up from our 2019 participation, so we're encouraged to see more children returning to youth baseball and soball, especially Little League." According to Fountain, the age groups with the highest participation levels continue to be at the youngest age groups — from T-Ball, which starts at age four, through the Little League Baseball and Soball divisions, which are ages 10-12. PONY BASEBALL & SOFTBALL Since 1951, Pony Baseball & Soball has been busy promoting, organizing and conducting youth baseball programs. e organization started in the same town where the organization is headquartered -- in Washington, PA, and nits presence is felt in 42 states and 50 countries. According to president Abe Key, his organization's biggest presence in the U.S. is in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, and California. Internationally, PONY has a strong presence in Germany, Czech Republic, Holland, Italy, Japan, e Philippines, and Indonesia. is year, there will be eight different Pony Baseball World Series events. One of the more intriguing initiatives has been its role in expanding interest in international women's baseball. BABE RUTH LEAGUE BASEBALL Since 1951 the Babe Ruth League baseball experience has been enjoyed by children aged four to 18. In 2024, the Babe Ruth League—headquartered in Hamilton, NJ – had approximately 625,000 players in its baseball division. According to president/CEO Steven Tellefsen, his organization's highest rates of participation are with younger children. "Our strongest participation numbers are typically in the Cal Ripken Baseball Division, which serves players aged 4-12," he says. e Babe Ruth League Baseball experience is currently enjoyed in 49 states as well as 26 countries where there are more than 3,370 teams. AMERICAN AMATEUR BASEBALL CONGRESS Since 1935, the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC) has been conducting organized/sanctioned baseball programs. According to president Richard Neely, now in his 18th year in charge of the AABC, the organization has a presence in 20 states with 80,000 participants competing under the AABC banner. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Major League Baseball is just as focused on developing players for the future as it is focused on the players currently playing in the big leagues. A few of those programs include MLB's Pitch Hit & Run, e Breakthrough Series, the Nike RBI Program, and the MLB GRIT: Girls ID Tour. • Major League Baseball's Pitch Hit & Run is a free event that provides boys and girls ages 7-14 an opportunity to showcase their skills while earning a chance to attend and perform during the MLB World Series. Athletes are tested, and their measurements are recorded. Based on their scores they advance from a local event to a Team Championship held in MLB stadiums. • e Breakthrough Series, established in 2008, is a joint effort of USA Baseball and Major League Baseball that focuses on developing players on and off the field through seminars, mentorship, gameplay, scout evaluations, video coverage and the highest level of instruction, all while providing a platform for the players to perform for scouts and collegiate coaches. e events are completely cost- free with USA Baseball covering expenses for the players. e Nike RBI Program has served approximately two million young people since its inception back in the early 1990s with many RBI alumni having played in MLB, including Jackie Bradley, Jr. (Kansas City Royals), Hunter Greene (Cincinnati Reds), Alek omas (Arizona Diamondbacks), and Dominic Smith (Washington Nationals). e program is administered by Major League Baseball and designed to give young people from underserved and diverse communities the opportunity to play baseball and soball, while also encouraging academic achievement and success and teaching the value of teamwork and other important life lessons. Nike RBI currently serves youth in more than 200 programs in approximately 200 cities worldwide. • Major League Baseball's MLB GRIT: Girls ID Tour is specifically for female athletes (18 and under) to showcase their talent and ability as baseball players. e event format is similar to a pro-style workout where athletes are evaluated on their talent. e top performers from the event will be selected to participate in the Girls Baseball Elite Development Invitational, a one-week program geared toward providing elite training and instruction, as well as the annual Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series. n teaminsightmag.com January/February 2025 ~ Team Insight • 19

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