B.C.'s Little Mountain player Lichel Hirakawa-Kao jumps onto home plate and is greeted by teammates after a home run during action at the Canadian Little League Championship game against the Ancaster Cardinals in Ancaster, Ontario on Saturday Aug. 14, 2010.Kaz Novak/The Canadian Press
Win or lose, make sure it's fun.
That's a key tenet of manager Pat Chaba's approach to coaching the Vancouver-based Little Mountain Mountaineers, and he believes it's a major component in the success of his kids.
From pre-game dugout dance-offs to stuffing stinky socks in frowning faces, the silly hijinks have helped take his team all the way to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
They are representing Canada at the 16-team tournament and plan to relish every moment of it.
"We're ultra-competitive people, they're ultra-competitive kids, but what's the point in all of this if you're 12 years old and not having fun?" Chaba said Thursday amid preparations for his team's opener Saturday against Panama (TSN2, 1 p.m. ET).
"We try to make kids smile in the dugout, we sing songs, we cheer for each other, before you step into home plate you have to smile at the third base coach (Frank Soper) or you get the stinky sock at the end of the game.
"Honestly, the kids enjoy themselves more and I think because they're not tense, their muscle memory and everything else reacts better. They're more competitive because they're not all pent up."
The antics will surely be handy in easing nerves once tournament play begins Friday. The Little League World Series is, after all, the pinnacle for baseball players aged 11 to 13, with games on magnificent fields that are broadcast worldwide.
It's certainly not like playing on the basic sandlots most teams call home, with only family and friends in the stands. That could make Chaba's many games before the game - the routine includes a 90-second max strategy chat, singing songs like "Sweet Caroline," dance contests in the dugout, and charades while the opposition takes infield - more important than ever.
"There are TV delays, there are delays for VIPs, there are delays for lots of things and the kids are just there waiting," he said. "We keep them moving and happy instead of waiting and getting tense."
The Canadians will play out of Pool D which also includes Taiwan and Saudi Arabia in a double-knockout format, meaning teams are eliminated once they lose twice.
The Mountaineers outscored their opponents 89-13 in seven games at the Canadian championships last week, but will get a much stiffer test now.
"I think offensively and defensively we're just as good as a number of teams here at the tournament," said Chaba, who played some games with the Canadian national team in 1984. "The difference is we've got a couple of ace pitchers (Lucas Soper and Lichel Hirakawa-Kao) and other teams might have five or six kids who can throw really, really hard by our standards."
The Canadians have held three-hour practices every day since they arrived at Williamsport on Sunday - turning up the velocity on the pitching machines to adjust - and lounged by the pool while chatting up players from the other teams during their down time.
They were outfitted with a large haul of free equipment from sponsors - including bats, shoes, batting helmets and gloves, and undershirts - but the highlight was getting their Canada jerseys on Monday.
Making things even better, they get to keep them, unlike previous teams that have had to give their uniforms back after the event.
"That's a memento they're going to treasure for life," said Chaba. "When the kids first pulled them over their heads and saw Canada on their chests, half of them just started crying they were so proud. I'm surprised the buttons didn't pop."
Another treat coming is getting to turn around the stinky sock on their coaches.
The tradition started when Chaba told his players of how when he was a 22-year-old, he had a 46-game hit streak playing senior men's baseball, and didn't change his socks until it ended.
"It got to the point I had to pull another pair of socks over them because they were just too gross for people to see," said Chaba. "A couple of the kids stopped changing their socks when we started winning and we won 20 games in a row.
"Those stinky socks are now in a bio-hazard bag and we pull one out when we need it."
The players will dip in for socks to stuff in the faces of Chaba, Soper and Pat Reynold, who promised the team they could get some revenge if they won the Canadian championship.
ESPN is planning to film the proceedings.
"We're going to have a big ceremony," said Chaba. "The kids that got the stinky sock the most give it to the coaches."
There's never a dull moment.
"It's Little League, and we try to remember it's Little League," said Chaba. "Whether or not we won provincials or nationals, our players were going to be glad they were on our team."