INTRODUCTION
The goal of this page is to inform BLL's community about our District teams (often referred to as Little League All-Star teams). Each season in July, BLL sends at least one team to participate in the District 4 Little League tournament at 8U, 9U, 10U (referred to as Minors), 11U, 12U (referred to as Majors) and Intermediate and/or Juniors (which are for 13U and 14U players). To determine a child's "Little League Age" and, therefore, his/her eligibility, note the child's age on August 31st of that particular baseball season. So, for example, if during the 2024 season, a child will turn 9 on September 2, 2024, he/she is 8U for Little League purposes during 2024 District play. If it's helpful, consider September 1st the "best" Little League birthday and August 31st the "worst." As many know, this September 1st cutoff is different than travel baseball, which uses a May 1st date.
TEAM FORMATION
Preparation for the District tournaments starts in August of the preceding season when Bulldogs tryouts commence. At this time, the Bulldogs coaching staff selects players whom they believe will be good candidates to participate in the aforementioned July tournaments. These players are committed to the Bulldogs program (see the separate Birmingham Bulldogs tab) and playing in the BLL regular season. While making the Bulldogs team in August often provides a player an advantage to making the District team, making the Bulldogs is NOT guarantee a player will be selected for Districts. Instead, each coaching staff must conduct a non-perfunctory tryout in June of each season to select a roster for the District tournament. These teams can have as many as 14 players, but a minimum of 12. Moreover, each player must have played at least 60% of their BLL regular season games (not including playoffs) and each coach on the District staff must have been a Manager or Coach of a regular season team.
As many in the BLL community know, it is the Board of Directors' strong preference to field two District teams at each age level to provide more children the thrill of District play and to maintain more players in BLL. Moreover, recent history illustrates that players on one team (Red) are often promoted to what's considered the more competitive team (Blue) during their Little League careers.
DISTRICT TOURNAMENT AND BEYOND
As anyone who has ever been a part of a District tournament knows, the experience provides an almost indescribable atmosphere, the product of competition, community and the collective spirit of coaches/players/families having a singular goal (District champs!). The District Tournament for each age group occurs at one of the District 4 sites (most often Commerce, Birmingham or Rochester) typically in early to mid July. Each tournament lasts roughly one week and can involve near daily games. Starting at 10U, District Tournament winners advance to State Tournaments typically in late July or early August, where the atmosphere is just as exciting as the Districts, but many times over. At 12U and beyond, players can dream about moving onto Regional Tournaments and the Little League World Series, these latter events nationally televised! Given the work, planning and execution needed to have a successful run, each player trying out for Districts (or Bulldogs for that matter) is expected to clear their summer calendars so they are available for Districts, States and anything beyond.
BLL takes great pride in its District Team program (check out recent championships below and note its 1973 Little League World Series appearance). We strongly encourage players who love the game, are committed to the team and dream high to be an integral part of the precious District team experience. Go Birmingham!