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Players shake hands down the line after the game.

Respect the Game

Play ball!

Little League's sportsmanship programme. Not extra rules but a way of looking at the game: respect for the opponent, the umpire, the game and yourself.

The opponent

Without an opponent there is no game. You play against each other, never at each other's expense.

The umpire

An umpire is a volunteer who makes decisions in a split second. Sometimes they get it wrong. That is part of the game.

The game

You keep to the rules, even when nobody is watching. And you leave the field tidy.

Yourself

You are allowed to be gutted about a strikeout. You do not throw your bat. You are back in the game when your team needs you.

Two baseball players hug after the game, one still wearing his catcher's mask.

Fun · sportsmanship · respect

Why this programme exists

Little League has been playing ball with children since 1939. In that time it has learned that a youth tournament is as much about what happens beside the field as on it. A child who gets jeered gives up baseball. An umpire who gets shouted down does not come back next year.

That is why Respect the Game is not a separate rulebook but the tone in which we run the tournament. The specific agreements are set out in the code of conduct.

Little League International

Respect the Game comes from the Little League organisation in the United States and is used worldwide, from a local field in the Netherlands to the World Series.
More about the international organisation