I think the age 13 was chosen beacuse this is the age that Little League seems to lose most of their players. As I understand it, next year they will include 14's also. District 57 is the district you need to contact for information about this program. As far as the bases....we played about 1/4 of the games at 90's. We played alot of good competition, for these kids were the best 13's in these districts. My son plays travel ball all year, and was not looking forward to playing Junior little League because the competition is just not the same. Where I live we do not have anything other then Little League. My son played out of our district to participate in the Gold Program. The cost is a little more but you play better competition and more games.