Title: ESPN Little League: Stands Agency: DCode, New York

ESPN Little League: Stands

Bob Garfield, adage.com

Baseball is here, and what does that mean?

It means renewal. It means optimism. It means spitting. It means San Francisco is going to have a very bad six months. Title: ESPN Little League: Stands

That's because the Giants stink, substantially because their best hitter is a Giant no more, but an unsigned free agent, languishing at home with his all-time career home-run record and tattered reputation.

Yeah, Barry Bonds, the most prolific slugger ever, can't get a job because he's been denounced as a cheater. Very good power to all fields. Very bad role model.

Baseball's steroid scandal has robbed a generation of children of so many heroes. Bonds, Jose Canseco, Mark Maguire, Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada -- tainted by drug allegations all -- have left a trail of disillusionment. Baseball may have long since ceased being the true national pastime, but it is still uniquely situated for role modeling. Every player's approach -- swing, delivery, batting stance -- is distinct, and therefore prime for imitation by the kids who see it again and again over 162 games.

And kids imitate what they observe. (That, by the way, explains the spitting. Long ago, players chewed tobacco and spit out the juice. This led to generations of Little Leaguers spitting, too. When they got to the big leagues, they kept on spitting. The actual tobacco chaws are long gone, but the spitting goes on, a vestigial habit in a never-ending cycle of expectoration.)

But we digress. So if a kid can't believe in Barry Bonds, then who? Why, Dad, of course. He's the instructor, the mentor, the No. 1 fan and the voice of encouragement in the stands.

Or (sigh) not. Because with spring comes another annual rite: the obnoxious Little League parent at a kids' game, behaving like a jackass. He screams at the umpire. He hectors the other team. He second-guesses the coach. He berates his own child. And he can't claim he was doped covertly.

He's a dope all by himself.

PRESS RELEASE

         Contact: Tim Donovan, Director
April 29, 2008

Players from Six SUNY Baseball Teams, Competitors; Volunteer to Help Little League Coaching Standards and with Free Hudson Valley Baseball Clinic

Cortland NY- A clinic, free for Little League players, is being conducted on field, while a new coaching certification is being offered inside, for the introductory price of $20.00 per coach. Program is offered at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill, NY through a joint effort by the State University of New York Youth Sports Institute, the Hudson Valley Renegades and players and coaches from the SUNY baseball teams at Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester Community Colleges. Attendees may join one of the two sessions on Sunday May 18 from 9 AM-12 PM and 1PM-3PM. There is a maximum of 10 registered Little Leaguers for every registered coach.

In the first step toward the ultimate goal of playing in the National Junior College World Series, players from six SUNY Community College baseball teams compete each spring for the championship of the Mid-Hudson Athletic Conference. These outstanding players and coaches will put their standings aside and join together to hold this unique Little League players’ clinic. The event is part of a SUNY youth coaching certification program, Youth Sports NY, designed to improve the culture of local youth sports; for players, for parents and for communities.

Our college players wore Little League uniforms a few short years ago. They know the effect that coaches and parents have on youth sports and they’re jointly taking a unique stand to encourage our youngest players while the men and women who coach our children become trained in a comprehensive coaching program.

According to Timothy Donovan, Director of the SUNY Youth Sports Institute, "Organized youth sports have become an important part of the fabric of family life for millions of New Yorkers." "Youth sports programs rely almost exclusively on volunteer coaches and lowly paid or volunteer officials, 90% of whom have little or no formal training. These youth programs are responsible for formative experiences in sportsmanship, physical education and relationship building through organized sports".

For many players who do not progress on to interscholastic or intercollegiate sports, youth sports are their singular organized sports experience. Sadly however, for a growing number of kids, the experience is a poor one replete with hostility and unsportsmanlike conduct from coaches, parents, players and fans. On May 18, while the Little League players enjoy a clinic on the field run by college coaches and players, Little League coaches will be upstairs in the stadium attending the SUNY Youth Sports Institute’s youth coaching certification course.

 

About the SUNY Youth Sports Institute

In 2008 youth sports have become a professionalized environment while proving to be a robust challenge for civility in many communities. The SUNY Youth Sports Institute was established in 2007 as a response to community and youth development issues arising within the current organized youth sports model. For the past year its training program, Youth Sports NY, has created a statewide network of training centers with 47 trainers at 29 community colleges. After drafting its comprehensive non-sports specific coaching curriculum at SUNY Cortland, in March 2008 the Institute began training coaches through the Continuing Education programs at SUNY Community Colleges across New York State .

In the Youth Sports NY program coaches in diverse sports are all trained to a common set of coaching standards. Following the three-hour certification course and online test, coaches are provided with sport specific skills and drills training to improve their competency in their specific sport. Youth Sports NY is eager to come to your community. Please call the number below for more information. Training centers for coaches are being established in urban, rural and suburban centers across New York State.

Advanced registration for the clinic is required and can be done at www.youthsportsny.org, at Dutchess Stadium, or by calling toll free 877-828-8811. The maximum is 10 Little League players per coach. The first 150 Little League players who sign up at Dutchess Stadium will receive a shirt with emblems from the participating teams.

 

By George Vescey New York Times, 4-30-08

Something remarkable happened in a college softball game last Saturday in Ellensburg, Wash. At least, I am conditioned to think it was remarkable, since it involved an act of sportsmanship, with two players helping an injured opponent complete the home run she had just slugged.

Why this generous act should seem so unusual probably stems from the normal range of bulked-up baseball players, police-blotter football players, diving soccer and hockey players and other high-profile professionals.

The moment of grace came after Sara Tucholsky, a diminutive senior for Western Oregon, hit what looked like a three-run homer against Central Washington. Never in her 21 years had Tucholsky propelled a ball over a fence, so she did not have her home run trot in order, gazing in awe, missing first base. When she turned back to touch the bag, her right knee buckled, and she went down, crying and crawling back to first base.

Pam Knox, the Western Oregon coach, made sure no teammates touched Tucholsky, which would have automatically made her unable to advance. The umpires ruled that if Tucholsky could not make it around the bases, two runs would score but she would be credited with only a single. ("She'll kill me if I take it away from her," Knox thought.)

Then Mallory Holtman, the powerful first baseman for Central Washington, said words that brought a chill to everybody who heard them:

"Excuse me, would it be O.K. if we carried her around and she touched each bag?"

By Mystic Matthews

April 29th, 2008

First News 12

DENISON, TX - Many kids start playing sports at a very early age. But when a child has a disability, sports aren't always an option. But now, the Denison Little League has a new division designed specifically for children who are mentally or physically challenged. Here’s Mystic Matthews with more about this new program.

The first challenger game hasn't even taken place, but the division has already received an overwhelming response from the little league community.

Coaches and kids are fired up and can't wait to play ball!

Millions of kids play little league ball all over the world. But this weekend in Denison, a new group of players will be taking the field for the first time.

“The challenger division is for physically and mentally challenged children," says Scott Marr, the Denison Little League President.

Read on...

By Clem Richardson

April 14th, 2008

Daily News

When Frank Reali 3rd was found dead in his Staten Island real estate office a year ago this month, his parents pledged to do something in his honor to benefit the community.

What Francine (Fran) and Frank Reali came up with could transform high school sports in this town, maybe nationally.

The couple, owners of Safari Realty on Staten Island, wants to provide free magnetic resonance imaging scans for all students about to begin high school sports.

MRI scans provide noninvasive but remarkably accurate pictures of a patient's body.

Produced by passing the patient through a powerful, often circular magnet, these photos can show even the tiniest injury or abnormality.

Read on...