How are teams selected to participate in the Little League World Series?

Question

Wow! Great answers!! My son has been selected to his league's All Star team (it's his first year to play too - proud momma moment) & he wanted to know. Kudos all!!

Answer 1

and now....more than you probably wanted to know


Qualifying tournaments
In the summer months leading up to the Little League World Series, held each year in August, nearly every Little League organization around the world selects an All-Star team made up of players from its respective league. It is these All-Star teams that compete in district, sectional, state, and regional tournaments in hopes of advancing to Williamsport for the Little League World Series. Just how many games a team has to play varies widely from region to region. In the United States alone, for instance, the tournaments at the lowest (district) level lack nationwide standardization. Some use pool play or double elimination, others use single elimination.

In the United States, the fate of district winners varies widely from state to state. In certain larger states such as New York, Florida and California, the district winners advance to one of several sectional tournaments. The winners of each sectional tournament then advance to a state or divisional tournament. Divisional tournaments, currently held only in the Texas and California, closely resemble the state tournaments held in less densely populated states. Most smaller states lack competition at the sectional level and go straight from district to state tournaments. A handful of states are composed of only one district, and the district champion is the automatic state champion.

With four exceptions, every state, as well as the District of Columbia crowns a state champion, and sends that team as its representative to one of eight regional tournaments. For example, the Nevada state champion advances to the West Regional tournament, while the Georgia state champion advances to the Southeast regional tournament. Because of their large geographic and population size, California and Texas send two representatives to their respective regional tournament: Northern California and Southern California both send teams to play in the West region tournament, while Texas East and Texas West (whose areas encompass more than the geographical areas of East Texas and West Texas, splitting roughly along the I-35/I-37 corridor) compete in the Southwest region tournament. Conversely, because of their sparse population, the Dakotas have just one district spanning the two states, and its winner becomes the joint champion and advances to the Midwest region tournament.

The state champions, as well as the Northern California, Southern California, Texas East, Texas West and Dakotas champions, compete in one of eight different regional tournaments. Each regional tournament winner then advances to the Little League World Series. See [1] for a comprehensive breakdown of current and historical US regional tournament locations, participants and results.

Other countries and regions select their own way of crowning a champion. Little League Canada, for instance, holds tournaments at the provincial and regional level to field five champions at the national tournament: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, the Atlantic Provinces, and the Prairie Provinces. The host site of the national tournament varies from year to year, and the home team gets an automatic berth as the sixth team. The winner of the national tournament earns the right to represent Canada at the Little League World Series.


[edit] World Series breakdown
Currently, the Little League World Series consists of 16 teams—8 from the United States, and 8 from other countries. The teams are divided into two brackets: the United States Bracket and the International Bracket. Each team is then randomly assigned to one of two "pools" in their respective bracket. In the opening days of the tournament, the teams compete round robin within their own pool. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinal of their bracket, where the 1st place team from one pool competes against the 2nd place team from the other. The respective winners advance to play in either the United States or International Final. The U.S. champion and the International champion advance to compete in the Little League World Series Championship Game. The Winner of the Little League World Series Championship Game is crowned the Little League World Champion.

The eight regional tournament winners which compete in the United States Bracket of the Little League World Series, as well as the states those regional champions could possibly hail from are as follows:

New England (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT)
Mid-Atlantic (PA, NY, NJ, MD, DC, DE)
Midwest (ND/SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, MO)
Great Lakes (MI, WI, OH, IN, IL, KY)
Southeast (VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN)
Southwest (MS, LA, AR, TX West, OK, CO, NM, TX East)
Northwest (AK, WY, WA, OR, ID, MT)
West (AZ, NV, Northern CA, UT, Southern CA, HI)
The eight divisions which compete in the International Bracket are as follows:

Canada
Mexico
Caribbean
Latin America
Japan
Asia-Pacific
Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA)
Trans-Atlantic
There is considerable territorial overlap between the Trans-Atlantic and EMEA regions. The leagues within the so-called "Trans-Atlantic" region generally consist of children and other dependents of American expatriates, typically Armed Forces personnel, international organization members, and oil company workers. The leagues within the "EMEA" region, conversely, generally consist of players native to the league's own country.

Beginning in 2007, the Japan champion will advance directly to Williamsport. The Asia Region and Pacific Region will now be combined to form the Asia-Pacific Region.

Answer 2

Teams are not selected to participate in the Little League World Series. Each Little League is given the opportunity to select an All Star team that will compete in the District Tournament. Teams must win their district in order to advance to the State Tournament. If teams win the state tournament, they advance to the regional tournament, the regional winners go to Williamsport, PA to play against each other, the US regional champion plays the International champion in the Little League World Series.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

For the American teams, the country is divided into eight regions. Each region has 6-8 teams who have qualified by winning their sub-regional championship.

The winner of each region then goes on to the LLWS. Similar formats are also used for the international teams. You can take a look at the '06 championship to see how teams qualified:

http://www.littleleague.org/series/2006divisions/llbb/series.htm

Answer 4

they usually play in many tournaments then work all the way up to the world series. From area teams, to regional teams, to state teams, etc...

Answer 5

thank you! Very valuable information and it gives me better knowledge on the topic

Answer 6

It's not by selection. They have to earn it, just as in MLB.