More Than the Final Score: Photographing Pocket Little League All-Stars

Pocket Little League's U-10 All-Stars in action during their district championship run.

Every June for the past three years, I’ve had the opportunity to photograph several of the Pocket Little League All-Star teams here in Sacramento. This summer, I covered the U-10, U-11 and U-12 teams, with many of the same families I’ve photographed over the past several seasons.

That continuity is one of the things I enjoy most about this kind of team coverage.

For these kids and their families, baseball is a big part of their lives. They practice and play from spring into fall. Parents spend countless hours at fields and practices. Many of the coaches are parents themselves. And for the U-12 players, this summer marked something even bigger: their final Little League All-Star season before aging out.

I've photographed many of these kids for three years now. At the same time, I'm starting over with a new generation of U-10 players and families.

There is something pretty special about getting to document both.

The photographs matter regardless of the score

Of course, every team wants to win.

The U-12 team lost the game I photographed this year. They bounced back to win a couple more before their All-Star run eventually came to an end.

In the moment, a loss can be disappointing. But I don't think that makes the photographs from that game any less valuable.

Years from now, the score probably won't be the first thing these kids remember when they see these photographs. They'll see themselves playing baseball with their friends. Parents will see their kids in those uniforms again. They'll remember the practices, tournaments, teammates and everything else that made up that particular summer.

That's part of why I think photographing youth sports is about much more than documenting the result of a game.

Sometimes, it's the unexpected moments that become my favorite photographs.

During the U-12 game, one of the Pocket players had a cousin playing for the opposing team. At one point, one cousin was pitching while the other stepped into the batter's box.

Of course I photographed it.

Cousin versus cousin: one of those moments I knew their families would want to remember.

That's a moment their families may never get again, and it's exactly the kind of thing I'm always watching for when I'm covering a team.

There are photographs in every game

The U-10 and U-11 teams had very different games. Both won convincingly, and the U-10 team went on to win its district and came close to advancing even farther.

Before games like those, parents sometimes worry that there won't be enough opportunities for good photographs, especially if the game ends early.

I've never found that to be a problem.

As long as the kids are playing baseball, there are photographs to make.

I'm looking for the obvious action, but I'm also watching everything happening around it: reactions in the dugout, teammates together, coaches talking with players, celebrations, and those smaller moments between pitches and innings.

That's also why I photograph warmups.

Not every player will get the same amount of playing time, especially during an All-Star tournament. But every kid put in the work to earn that uniform, and seeing their child out there matters to a parent.

During warmups, I can photograph players fielding, throwing and hitting while they're relaxed and engaged in the game. Some of those photographs can be every bit as meaningful as something that happened during an inning.

My job isn't simply to wait for the biggest play.

It's to tell the story of the team and make sure the kids who are part of that story are seen.

Some of my favorite photographs happen before the first pitch—the small moments between teammates that are part of the season, too.

Supporting the league beyond photography

This was also my second year sponsoring Pocket Little League.

Of course, I appreciate that families continue to hire me to photograph their teams. Having parents come back year after year means a lot to me.

But sponsoring the league is important to me for another reason.

Local sports organizations give kids a place to play, learn, compete and be part of a team. Most of these kids won't ultimately make baseball their career, and that's not really the point. Sports can still be an important part of their childhood and help shape who they become.

I'm happy that my sponsorship can play a small role in helping Pocket Little League provide those opportunities, equipment and training for local kids.

And I'm grateful that, for the third summer in a row, families trusted me to document a little piece of it.

The U-12 players will move on. The U-11s will become next year's oldest group. A new group of U-10s is just getting started.

The scores will eventually become harder to remember.

But they'll still have the photographs.