Yesterday Bob Sigall, in his Star Advertiser's Rear View Mirror, provided an article entitled, Coaches helped Honolulu Little League victors keep championship journey in perspective. The story goes on to detail how the team's managers did everything right from a humanitarian standpoint, and still won. In this day of Trumpisms, we need more examples of how fair play and meritorious conduct can also lead to meeting your ultimate goals.
I also learned a few things:
- worldwide, there around 500,000 little league teams
- eventually, 8,000 of them will make some annual tournament
- while Hawaii has only 0.02% of the world population, we now have won the the World Little League World Series three times: 2005, 2008 and 2018
- the 2018 World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was the 72nd edition, again featuring eight teams from the USA and eight world around world, competing from August 16 to 26
There is complete coverage by ESPN, beginning with the U.S. regional games. Is this....
Bill Plaschke is a Los Angeles Times sports writer who also contributes to ESPN from time to time. He has written an article about the exploitation witnessed during a televised game of the Little League World Series. He describes in detail situations, such as children pouting in an attempt to hold themselves together in tough situations, parents yelling at the players, all which is aired in what can be perceived as an exploitation of their situations, for which there are many examples of in television. Plaschke says the blame is not on the networks, but on the Little League itself because if ESPN or ABC did not show the games then some other network would. Plaschke also said we just don't need to see it, and they don't need us to see it. Cameras do not help already tense situations, arbitrarily deter from what matters, and unjustly exploit. The cameras change everything for kids who just aren't ready for it. He brings up the point that no other league exploits their kids at such an early age. Most of these kids are between the age of 11-12. The earliest you see football and basketball stars are High school, and you cannot see hockey stars till college. A lot of this may have to do with popularity, and money, but that is why Plaschke blames the League the most for this.[9]
The pressures of these kids mirror those of a major league baseball team on any given day. On most days these kids are playing in front of crowds of 45,000 people who are hanging onto their every pitch. This is more fans than some major league teams can only dream about having in their own stadiums. Most of the star pitchers are throwing about 200 pitches on short rest which is something that you will never even see anymore in the major leagues.[10]
There is a sense that many parents, coaches and players maybe take this all too seriously. Win at any cost is the mantra of pro sports, but for 11 and 12 year old children? This is why the 2018 Honolulu Little League leadership deserves commendation. According to Sigall (right):
- Gerald Oda, manager of the Honolulu Little League team that won the 12-and-under World Series in August in South Williamsport, Pa., spoke to my Downtown Exchange Club recently.
- Gerald Oda, Willis Kato and Keith Oda managed the Hawaii team that won the World Series in 2018. It gave up only three runs in the entire tournament and shut out four of its five opponents.
- The three things that the managers stressed, Oda said, are:
- >> Focus on the effort, not the result.
- >> Live in the moment.
- >> Love and support one another.
- “We never, ever talked about winning. We never said that you have to win this game. We never, ever mentioned it. All we would say is, ‘Just give us your best effort.’ That’s all.
- “Don’t be afraid if you don’t get on base,” Oda told the youngsters. “Instead, really enjoy this moment. This is your time. Face this challenge and do your best, whether you make it or not. Success is based on the effort, not the outcome.
- “As long as you do your best, that’s all we can ask. Then you can walk away proud.”
- The second point Oda emphasized is to live in the moment. “Enjoy this moment because it’s never going to come again,” Oda often told the team. “In tournament baseball it’s not about coaching them anymore. It’s just more about helping them really enjoy the moment.
- “It’s going to be a great day” leads into enjoying the battle, Oda said. “Whatever happens, you guys are doing great. Just keep battling. It’s a great day. A great, great day.”
- “You cannot worry about things you cannot control,” he said.
- “Focus instead on the things you can control. So what we would tell the kids to focus on, the simplest thing is breathing. When athletes are under a lot of stress, breathing can be very difficult. Breathing helped to stay in the moment and kept the kids loose.
- The Hawaii boys had to face a Korean team that had not given up a home run in the tournament. “What we told the kids is, ‘Don’t be ashamed if you strike out.’
- “And guess what? The first pitch of the game, Mana Lau Kong hit a home run over the right-center field fence. Gone. By the second inning we had five hits and one run. Two innings later we had three runs.”
But even more importantly:
- “Whether it was the person that did the laundry or fed us in the cafeteria, or the grounds crew, we made sure that all our players always thanked them.
- “We gave gifts to everybody, and I think that’s the Hawaiian style. We bring omiyage; we bring gifts and we share it with everyone. ‘Show appreciation for everyone that’s supporting us here at Williamsport and everyone back home,’ we said.”
- Many team uniforms have the players’ names on the back. The Hawaii team’s said “We > Me.”
- “We” meant all of Hawaii. “Playing in the World Series meant it was our responsibility to show the world the spirit of aloha and how we Hawaiians can compete and still be humble.
- Oda continued, “We constantly taught our kids that whoever we played wasn’t the enemy. Some teams demonize their opponent. We did not want to do that, especially in this day and age.
- “Our opponent in the U.S. championship game was Georgia,” Oda recalled. “Before the game they had made a donation to the Hawaii Salvation Army to help those hurt by Hurricane Lane. “So once we heard that, we made it a point to show our appreciation for Georgia by giving every single person a lei and having the kids hug them before the game. “If you watched our games, you notice that we hugged a lot. This was not natural for 12-year-olds. This was actually something that we had to practice.
- “And so I just want to say thank you to the fans. Because of your guys’ support, it made our journey so much more memorable for our kids. So thank you very much. We did our best to be ambassadors of aloha and represent our great state.”
One point that should be said. Of course, we in Hawaii tend to want to feel that we are kinder, nicer and all that. Part of that has to do with tourism, which is the dominant industry, and you really should act this way for that reason, too. Same for the Honolulu Little League team. While we feel proud to be local and want to show the world that we are generous, it's more than that. Coach Oda's philosophy applies well to pre-teenagers, who will perform better under stressful condition when they are not under pressure. Whether this applies to adults can be debated.
A couple of anecdotes. Wondered why this championship is held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania? Well, the first national championship was organized in Pennsylvania, with one alien team from New Jersey. Williamsport won that tournament, and immediately became the home of little league baseball. The stadia were later moved to South Williamsport.
I myself have had two earlier stages of little league. When a youth I was not good enough to make the local Kakaako Police Activities League team. I recall one afternoon, when the team first met to receive their uniforms. We were the Brooklyn Dodgers. I felt the material, and my first thought was that, this is flannel, and will be really hot out there in the sun. But I did follow my team. I've always been a good fan of most sports. I was the only faculty member I knew at the University of Hawaii who had season tickets to football, baseball and basketball.
The second phase occurred in the summer of 1961 when I had a summer job with C. Brewer in Hilo. I was housed in the Boy's Club. The Hilo American League team played there, went on to beat Oahu's Pearl City team, then Japan, to become the Pacific-Asia representative to South Williamsport. In their first game, Russell Arikawa (I think this him today, now in real estate) had a grand slam home run, the first such feat in the then 15-year history of the competition. Said Arikawa, "I just closed my eyes and swung the bat." 1961 was a big year also for Major League Baseball, as the Washington Senators moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Mickey Mantle became the highest paid player at $75,000 and teammate Roger Maris hit a record 61 home runs.
Are you ready for more baseball? The 2019 Little League World Series regionals begin in two weeks:
On the basis of population, Hawaii has one chance in 5000 of winning the next little league world series. But with "only" 500,000 teams in the competition, one of ours has a more favorable 1 in 2500 chance.
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Hurricane Barry made landfall over Louisiana as a Category 1. Note the rain pattern to the eastern side of the storm:
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