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Not sure whether wlof brothers have exposure to the above. LLWS has been in existence for well over 50 years and is the cradle for many of todays' major league players.
A Little bit of history here.
Baseball is like a national sports in USA. It is very popular to say the least, even among adults, particularly among parents with children playing the game.
Initially it was a game/championship played only by US kids during the summer holidays. After WW-II, USA established many military bases around the world, so the geographic area expanded to include teams from these overseas military bases which later expanded to included civilian teams from local clubs. The event then re-named as LLWS.
LL as the name implies, is for players between 12 -14 (?, may be less, I am not sure about the age range now). There is also a "league" for 14-16 agre group which is not as popular and is not the topic for discussion here.
Prior to 60's, the Championship was always won by a US domestic team. When Japanese kids picked up the sport, and due to less distraction and more time spent on training and preparing for the games, Japan emerged as a power house and started winning many Championships.
Then came Taiwan, beating Japan in qualifying rounds, and winning the Championship for many years in succession.
The Championship is played each year in Williamsport, Pennsyvannia in 2nd half of AUG, and before the kids return to school.
The playing are mostly similar to Major League except with a duration of 6 innings, and players on base cannot start running UNTIL the catcher has the ball in his/her* (only sports activity in which both genders can play on the same pitch) glove.
* There was one year in which the star pitcher was a black girl from USA!
Kids are kids, eye-hand coordination is not as developed as adults, and they make mistakes which make the game much more interesting because the unexpected always happen. However, the kids still play very nice baseball, expecially when the series reach the quarterly final rounds.
As usual, there will be live TV coverage. Just watch it with an open mind, it is very entertaining! (I have followed and watch LLWS for I don't know how many years now!)
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