Little League® is about providing opportunities for children to play baseball and softball, and one of the options that local leagues have in creating those opportunities is through combined teams. Combined teams allow two or more leagues to place registrants for a given division of play (e.g. Junior Softball) into one pool and select teams from all players. One league must host the combination, while other leagues involved participate in the combination. Host leagues must charter the actual number of teams, and participating leagues must charter one team each.
This option is often used by leagues in which there are not enough players to field a team. It can also be used when there are enough players to field one team, but not enough for two.
By following the online process through the Little League Data Center, a local league must choose the “Combined Teams” option either during the chartering process or when making changes to their charter in order to have players from its own league join with another league’s players at a given division of play.
To use the Combined Teams option, the league identification number and population for the “host” or “participating” league(s) and league-age breakdown of the players (using the current year’s age-determination chart) are required.
3 reasons to consider using the Combined Teams option:
- Interest from a specific age group/division, but not enough players to form a team.
- Leagues with players, but do not have playing facility (e.g. – softball or Intermediate 50/70 baseball).
- Enough players to form one team, but not enough to form two teams.
In either case, two or more leagues could use the Combined Teams option to pool their players, and select the teams from among all players in the pool. The leagues could also request permission to allow a combination for Tournament Play.
Any Little League division can use the Combined Teams option, and leagues can use the Combined Teams option in different divisions of play during the same season.
Combinations can be updated during the season, using the Little League Data Center, and District Administrators have the ability approve proposed combinations through the Little League Data Center.