Clean slate

No matter what takes place on the field, grade-school softballer Madeline Butler always goes home a winner.

Of course, so do her opponents.

An 8-year-old from Ellicott City, Md., Butler plays in the Howard County Youth Programs softball league, which doesn’t keep score for girls 8 and under.

“It’s nice,” said Andrea Butler, 38, Madeline’s mother and media relations director at Baltimore’s National Aquarium. “There’s no pressure to win or lose. I don’t have to console her after a loss, or hype her up if they won. I can just talk to her about how much fun she had. That’s very important in the early years.”

Howard County isn’t unusual. From Maryland to Massachusetts, youth sports leagues across the nation are leaving the scoreboard blank, de-emphasizing competition in favor of skill-building, sportsmanship and — take heart, Stuart Smalley — self-esteem.

The goal? In the absence of, well, goals? Encourage athletic participation. And discourage the adult violence and boorish behavior that has marred everything from Little League to junior hockey in recent years.

“Kids shouldn’t be playing adult games,” said Scott Lancaster, senior director of youth development for the National Football League. “It’s just not fair to them. There’s a glaring need for radical change in the whole structure of how kids learn and play sports.”

The NFL’s Junior Player Development camps — one of which will take place at H.D. Woodson High in the District this month — epitomize the kinder, gentler approach to youth sports.

Designed to teach tackle football basics to boys and girls ages 12 to 14, the six-week camps stress learning and fun over competition and results.

Unlike many youth football programs, the camps are open to children of all sizes and skill levels, even those who never have played the game.

“In our program, everybody plays,” said Lancaster, also the author of the book “Fair Play: Making Organized Sports a Great Experience for Your Kids.” “There’s no scoreboard. No angry parents. Everybody walks away happy.”

In the NFL camps, each child serves as a team captain, creates practice drills for their peers and learns to play every position on the field.

Likewise, players in the Howard County softball league rotate positions between innings. Catchers, for example, trade places with shortstops, who in turn shift to the outfield.

By contrast, Lancaster said, traditional youth sports programs often pigeonhole children into specific roles before they have a chance to learn the rudiments of the game.

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