Little League Legends: Navigating Growth, Maturation, and Youth Sports
It’s summer. You are a 12 year old boy, roughly 144+ months out of the womb. Probably just finishing Grade 6.
Many in the U.S. will be playing baseball - either rec, Little League or some other “travel” ball.
Little Big Men
In 1982, I was 12 years old (middle top row in the photo). And so was 5 foot-7 inch, 175 pound Cody Webster of Kirkland, WA. This “man-child” was throwing 75 mph fastballs and hitting 275 foot bombs to propel the West USA representative into the Little League World Series championship against perennial powerhouse Taiwan. I remember watching that game on ABC Sports on a Sunday afternoon in early August. The team from Kirkland, led by Webster, upset Taiwan to captivate the attention of all of America.
Cody Webster was like many big, early maturing 12-year old boys that have dominated baseball past and present.
I always wondered what happened to Cody Webster - and then ESPN released the 30-for-30 “Little Big Men”.
It was another great sports documentary in the 30-for-30 series telling the story of the 1982 season and then catching up with Cody and his teammates into their high school years and beyond.
The story had special interest for me given my work in growth & maturation of young athletes and youth athletic development. And this story is another case of the trials and tribulations of the early maturing boy. As Cody said in the ESPN article "I was average when I was 18" after growing only 4 more inches.
There are several other examples, and more than likely there will be more from this year and beyond. I recall a 5 foot-8 inch 150 pound fireballing pitcher from California who was growing a beard. A few years later I was curious what became of him ….. 5'10" 165 pound high school infielder who hit .290 with 1 HR in 2 years of varsity baseball.
Inspiration for this post came from a few places: 1) watching the regional play-ins for the Little League World Series over the past few days, 2) continuing a project with some of the USA Baseball 12U data that has been previously reported here, 3) co-authoring of a review paper on ‘training during the adolescent growth spurt’, and 4) fielding some interest from clubs and academies around the U.S. to begin consulting on the monitoring of growth & maturation in young athletes.
Things to Consider
A few things to keep in mind as we watch the Little League World Series (Wed, Aug 14, 2024 – Sun, Aug 25, 2024).
Stay focused on holistic youth athletic development - physical, technical, tactical, and psycho-social aspects - develop the whole person
Find ways to nurture and challenge the early maturing, athletically talented boy - and the same for average/on-time and late maturers
Success at an early age does not always predict success later. Keep things in check - remember they are 12 year olds.
Keep as many young athletes in the pipeline for as long as possible. This relates to de-selecting (“cutting”) individuals, many who are often late maturers, and also relates to the relative unpredictability of talent at young age.
Monitor growth and maturation routinely; at minimum every 6 months, preferably every 3-4 months. Calculate growth rates and predict adult stature using the Khamis-Roche method. See below to learn more.
To Learn More
📺 The Influence of Maturation on Physical Performance during Adolescence