Little League Brazilian Style

Today we attended our first Little League Saturday, organized and sponsored by The American Society of Sao Paulo. It was nothing like we expected, but so much more. First of all, the only day we meet for Little league is Saturday. There are no practices during the week. There are no week night games. Furthermore, there are no teams.

Really, what Little League is in Sao Paulo, is in my opinion what sports should be for kids under age 12, a chance to play with their friends, develop their skills, practice teamwork, engage in good sportsmanship and get some exercise, all while the parents spend time visiting, socializing, and enjoying each others company.

We arrived at The Graded School (the American school in Sao Paulo) and children and parents were all dressed like they were ready to play a sport. They called the kids to the field and the parents started to walk/run around the school track. The kids who signed up for flag football were from 6-12 years of age and ranged from about 2 feet to 6 feet in height, yet they all warmed up together, did drills together and broke off into two teams. Although it sounds like it wouldn't work, amazingly it did. After a fun scrimmage, the age groups were broken part and they got down to more difficult skill drills for the older kids.

In the meantime, the parents visited, exercised, and spoke English.

They also had high school students there to play with the younger siblings so the parents had the freedom to talk and relax. We didn't see Camryn for the entire hour and a half. David and I actually had an uninterrupted conversation.

It was the perfect way to spend the morning.

I have to admit, I really didn't want to sign up for Little League when the opportunity presented itself. I just didn't want the drama and the stress of games won and lost, trying to get to practice and hang out with parents who take sports a little too seriously.

Instead, we all seemed happy to sacrifice our Saturday morning, to spend time with people in the same boat, who find comfort in the normalcy of the Little League we left behind, even if it's in name only. And there's nothing like the sound of kids having a good time, no matter what language it's in.