Hi, my name is Joy. (:

I’m trying out The Rookie League, sort of a sports team made especially for babies and toddlers. I have three children, ages 6, 5, and 2. My 2-year-old regularly watches his older siblings in their structured activities, playing with their friends at the park, climbing, running, jumping, riding, and trying new things. Naturally, he wants to do everything they do, and honestly, he does a pretty good job at most of it.

My hope was to find more toddlers his age with those same big ambitions and give them something that feels like it’s theirs. A chance to put on a little jersey, meet friends their own age, try different sports, learn through play, and feel like one of the big kids for a while.

This isn’t meant to be a super structured or competitive sports league. They are still babies. Some days they may kick the ball, some days they may pick it up and run the complete opposite direction. That’s okay. The goal is simply to introduce them to sports in a fun, age-appropriate way, with their parents right there helping them participate.

The Rookie League is really just a trial to see what happens when we give our littlest athletes a space made for them—to play, explore, make friends, and find out what they enjoy. And hopefully, we have a whole lot of fun doing it. (:

I went a lot deeper into starting this than I originally planned, and it is because I’m really hoping our babies, and us as parents love and enjoy it so much that it sticks. I want it to feel less like a super serious sports league and more like a really fun, organized group playdate—with little jerseys, different sports to try, familiar faces, and just enough structure for them to start learning how it all works. Something that gives our babies their own little community, while giving us parents a chance to meet other families with toddlers in the same stage of life.🤍