SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- Thousands of fans come to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, but some of the teams' biggest cheerleaders are their own families.
Some of those families travel great distances to get to South Williamsport.
Little League pays for the players to travel to the World Series, but their families must pay their own way. For families traveling thousands of miles, that can involve making some big sacrifices.
Parents from Mexico and Australia filled the stands at Volunteer Stadium Wednesday. The team from Australia is from Sydney and traveled almost 10,000 miles to get here.
"Spent over a day, 24 hours, traveling by plane and bus," said Chris Lautier, a parent of a player from Australia.
"We flew into Los Angeles, which is about a 14-hour flight and then we actually flew into Boston first because we wanted to catch a Red Sox game," said Australia parent Sean Treble.
Even though they came such a long way, the Australian team came with more than 40 fans.
"Grandparents, aunts, and uncles and some people have relatives in the U.S.," said Treble.
And the trip from Sydney is not cheap.
"We had a couple of charity cases with the family and some credit here and there," said Lautier.
It's not only the international families who made sacrifices. Team West is from Chula Vista, California, near San Diego.
"Getting the funds to buy tickets to fly over here, hotel stays. We're in the middle of selling our house, so that was very challenging," said Rob Leon of Chula Vista, California.
"We knew that this was going to be expensive, but really this is a priceless experience. We were ready to do whatever it takes to get here," said Eve Leon.
Even though it was a big sacrifice to be here, all of the parents we spoke with say they wouldn't have missed it for the world.
"There's no option," said Lautier. "As soon as we made it in the nationals, it was just by hell or high water we were coming."
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for, not only him, but our entire family."
Some of the players are also making sacrifices. A few of the teams are missing school, so when they get home, they will have to do some extra school work.
