Want to know about youth sports in the Sacramento region?

The Abridged version:

Introducing a new feature for Abridged, Beyond the Bleachers, where reporter Carolyn Becker explores experiences on and off the field for youth sports’ kids and parents. 

Becker is mother to two young athletes and previously served as president of the Land Park Pacific Little League Board of Directors. 

She wants to hear directly from Sacramento-region parents about the challenges they face and questions they have about the youth sports world. You can help shape Abridged’s coverage by writing to her at abridged@kvie.org.

With wintry weather in Northern California finally in full swing, keeping kids active can be hard. 

But that’s not necessarily the case for parents of kids who play sports. This time of year brings mostly indoor athletics, of course, like basketball and volleyball. Young athletes not on a court may also be found sliding down the slopes or dribbling across the soccer pitch. I mean, raise your hand if your kid got a new snowboard for the holidays, a gear bag from Grandma, big brother’s used baseball bat, shiny new shin guards, Grandpa’s old golf clubs or a new mitt from Mom and Dad. 

Baseball families — don’t make the mistake I did the first year my firstborn was eligible for T-ball. Baseball is a spring sport, of course, so when my son was 4 years old, I started searching online around March, looking for sign-ups. Turns out I was several months too late. Registration for most area little leagues is under way now, and some may even be full already!

One thing I have learned in the 12 years since then is that the topic of youth sports is a year-round ballgame. 

West Park High School (Roseville) takes on Pioneer High School (Woodland) in boys’ soccer on Jan. 2, 2025 at West Park High School in Roseville. (Martin Christian)

Welcome to a new regular feature for Abridged: Beyond the Bleachers. Youth sports can bring heart and hustle, sideline drama and life lessons that go well beyond any game, tournament, match or race. We’ll explore it all — and answer your questions along the way.

When looking at regional and demographic census data, combined with estimated state and national sports participation rates, I feel confident suggesting that roughly 300,000 kids between the ages of 4 and 18 play sports in the greater Sacramento area. 

I’ll be writing about experiences on and off the field that can be pretty universal for youth sports families. Parents of older athletes may feel validated hearing lots of families have been through similar experiences; parents of younger kids just breaking into sports may get some interesting insight about what they’re signing up for.

I’ve never been an athlete. Growing up in El Dorado County, I snow-skied in the winter and water-skied nearly every weekend in the summer — never competitively, and my only team sports experiences were during P.E. at school.

Fast forward a few decades, and somehow — together with my husband — I’m raising two young athletes. My sons are in high school and middle school, and both play competitive baseball in Sacramento, having come up through the aforementioned little league ranks. Until this past spring, our family was part of Land Park Pacific Little League for more than a decade. 

Entrance to Dooley Field, Land Park Pacific Little League’s home field and a hidden, little slice of Americana in the heart of Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood. (Courtesy of Carolyn Becker)

I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I’ve definitely seen some things. That’s probably because when I showed up to a little league members meeting once, so I could  make a few suggestions that I thought could improve the website, the next thing I knew my name was on a ballot for a board spot — a ballot with the same number of names as positions.

D’oh – I was now on the Board of Directors. That was 2018.

One of my most memorable board meetings happened in March 2020 as a solid and incredibly thoughtful group of grown-ups (all volunteers) debated whether to cancel, or at least postpone, the beloved Land Park Pacific opening day ceremony and parade because of what would soon be known as the COVID-19 pandemic. In that meeting, our initial reluctance quickly turned into resolve — resolve to keep our kids and the baseball community safe.

That September, during the thick of the pandemic, I became the board president. Not sure how that happened, other than I didn’t say no.

I served on the board until spring of 2024. It didn’t take me long into my tenure on the board to realize that so many parents, which had previously included me, don’t realize everything that goes into putting on a youth sports program. 

Whenever someone would lodge any kind of complaint — and there were many, both big and small — I’d invite them to join the board. When they would inevitably decline, I’d remind them that board members and gen pop parents in the league get paid exactly the same. No salaries here, folks. About 15 board members every season — in a league of about 500 families — regularly put in countless hours, standing up a youth baseball and softball league for kids to enjoy. 

I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

But enough about me. I’m excited to learn more from you — our incredible Sacramento region community, full of youth athletes in all kinds of programs: baseball, soccer, volleyball, hockey, tae kwon do, golf, swimming, basketball, you name it. 

If you have kids in sports, kids who quit sports, kids who want to play sports, or any kind of interesting take on anything youth sports related, I’d love to hear from you. I want to tell your stories and explore experiences we can all either relate to or learn from. Game on! 

Reach out at abridged@kvie.org.

Carolyn Becker is a regular contributor covering youth sports for Abridged in her feature Beyond the Bleachers. She’s lived in Northern California most of her life and worked in journalism and communications in Sacramento for more than 25 years. She and her husband are raising two boys, both of whom play competitive baseball.