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With the increasing competitiveness in youth sports these days, it's a slippery slope balancing the desire to win with trying to avoid alienating kids from the sport.
Super Series Baseball of America attempts that balancing act with a brand of baseball more like that played in Yankee Stadium than your local Little League diamond. Super Series is the same as your local Little League but with a twist.
The Indiana Flame, a team comprising of local 11-year-olds and younger, are experiencing the same thrill of the Little League World Series that will be shown on ESPN next month in Williamsport, Pa. What the Flame will lack in coverage and TV cameras they will more than make up for in terms of pure baseball.
Unlike the Little League, Super Series allows base stealing, leading off, incorporates the dropped third strike rule and has no mandatory substitution rules. The latter never comes into question for Indiana Flame skipper Barry Ousley. All 11 kids play, and Ousley doesn't keep individual stats.
"I don't keep stats. I don't believe in that at this age. I know who can do what."
Ousley, who's been involved with the Pierceton Youth League for several years, stumbled upon Super Series after his son had played on a traveling team last year. Ousley also was familiar having been involved in national softball tournaments himself.
The team left this morning for Sherwood, Ark., where the 2004 Super Series of baseball National Championships will take place July 23-30. The Flame, singular like the Stanford Cardinal, will compete in the American division. Super Series events are split into three divisions, with National and Minors accompanying the American. National divisions cater to teams composed of statewide talent while the American and Minor divisions select players regionally and locally.
The Flame won two Super Series national qualifiers in Warsaw at the CCAC and competed in one in South Bend to earn one of only 32 spots in the World Series.
Ousley may not keep stats, but he's not bringing his kids down there with the "just happy to be here" attitude.
"We'll go down there and give it our best shot. This is a good group of kids and I have a good feeling about our chances," said Ousley. "If I didn't think we had a chance to win, I wouldn't go."
Along with the pro style rules that separate Little League from Super Series, the dimensions are also different. From the pitching rubber to home plate measures 50 feet as compared to Little League, which is 46 feet. The distance of the bases is 70 feet, as opposed to the 60 feet in Little League.
No matter the distance, the Flame are ready to compete and do it playing team baseball. Earlier in the season, the concept of team baseball left Coach Ousley in a bit of a pickle.
"One of the Super Series we won, they put me on the spot. They gave me a watch and told me to give it to our MVP," Ousley explained.
"Well, without each one of these kids, we wouldn't be standing here. Each one has done something different to get us here. So I gave it to our bat boy."
The team consists of Jordyn Coon, James Hackworth, Brad Ousley, Aaron Christenberry from Warsaw; Tyler Minix, Dan Kitch, Ashton Krider and Cory Krider from Akron; Brody Andrews, Tanner Andrews (bat boy) from Pierceton; and Bret Cooper from Milford.
