What is Challenger Baseball?
Baseball for children with special needs! It’s AWESOME. It’s Energetic!
It’s down-right super fun! I restarted
the Challenger League in Vacaville 3 years after it had been dissolved for 15
years.
I have a child with Down syndrome
who LOVES baseball just like his brothers. I wanted him to be able to
participate in this sport in which he could learn and have fun in a positive,
non-competitive environment.
The first year, we had 20 children sign up and we
had an amazing season full of laughs and tears! Tears of joy as we watched one
little person, with cerebral palsy hit the first live pitch.
Tears of joy and awe as we watched that same player walk the bases with
his walker. By the end of the season, he walked the bases unassisted! And tears of pride...
as we watched these special children have the time of time of their lives with
their Buddies!
You might be asking...what IS a buddy....well, Every game, we use Buddies from the other Little League
teams. These Buddies come out and are
used as a role model to the Challengers. Talk about PoSiTiVe PeEr PrEsSuRe...Our challengers adore the buddies!
Honestly, I think this league is better for the Buddies than it is for our
special children. To this date, we have had over 1,000 buddies! The life
lessons of patience and kindness are quickly learned in just one game.
It truly is heartwarming to
watch. This league has been such a
blessing to me as it continues to grow.
We went from 2 teams... to 7 teams in just 3 years! Others cities in our
district have joined us and we have had even more fun traveling to games and
playing other towns! The lives that have
been touched are too many to count! Every year, these children are getting
better! Not only in the sport, but socially and emotionally. It means so much to see children with Autism
who didn’t make much eye contact the first year, come back and have full
conversations with me this year. Watching my son hit a live pitch for the first time was priceless!
And watching
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