In a sports world defined by nine-figure contracts, performance enhancing drugs, and extravagant purchases, Bethesda Little League achieves success while focusing on traditional and grassroots principles.

Founded in 2007, Bethesda Little League has grown substantially larger and more successful since its inception. The league has expanded from four to ten teams and has progressed further than ever before in recent district and state tournaments.

Every summer, the league selects three all star teams (10, 11 and 12 under) from the best players in the league. If the 12 and under team wins the district, state and Mid-Atlantic regional tournaments, they travel to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to play in the internationally televised Little League World Series.

While the teams have yet to travel to Williamsport, they have become very successful in recent years. This past summer, the 12 and under team won their district, played in the Maryland state tournament first time in a row and finished as one of the eight best teams in the state.  The 11 and under team also won their district and ended up finishing third in the state.

Sophomore Danny Mills played in the League from 2007 to 2010 and now plays baseball for Whitman.

“It’s pretty cool because it started off with four teams of local kids and now they are actually pulling together some good talent,” Mills said.

Even with all of the recent success, league founder and president Brant Hester said that the league is not about recruiting the best players or winning.

“People always think that we are trying to compete with the other area leagues but we just provide a different experience,” Hester said. “If they are like chocolate or vanilla ice cream, we’re strawberry or mango.”

The league doesn’t advertise like many other leagues do and is run entirely by volunteers. The league’s grassroots feel is seen in its numbers: BCC Baseball fields 3,000 kids, MSI Soccer—15,000, Bethesda Little League—just a little over 100.

With so few kids, Hester focuses on making each one count.

“We want the kids who sleep with their gloves, get excited for opening day and really love the game,” Hester said. “Those are the ones who stand out and really get it.”

Since there is only one field, the small number of players, coaches and volunteers associated with the league see each other frequently.

“Players and coaches and parents all get to know one another,” team manager Ray Thomas said.

Thomas has spent the last five years volunteering for the league, even after his son had grown too old to play.

While teaching the kids baseball is one of the volunteers’ goals, the league also strives for something greater. One of the league’s mottos is “superior citizens not superior athletes.”

“The kids learn that,” Hester said. “We make them pick up every piece of trash, we make them respect the uniform they are wearing.”

Thomas said that the league’s sense of community and emphasis on both baseball and life skills are what makes the league special.

A number of those kids who “get it” have gone on to play high school baseball at Whitman and other area schools.

“We counted last year 18 or 20 kids from little league playing for their high schools,” Hester said. “It made us really proud.”