Dear Neartown Family,
I love Neartown Little League and our community. Weber field is at the end of my street. During baseball season, I spend more time at the park than at home, thus making my wife a “baseball widow.” I do it because I love our league and what we stand for. I do it because it is ours; we make the league; we make the community. A tribute to this league is the commitment of our board members. Dawn Mena, Dave and Gail Baxter, Paige Pecore, and others that kids have not played for years but are committed to the league because of what it has meant in raising our children and making lifelong friends. Tonight we are adding new board members, thus refreshing the bloodline.
We place our children in this league to learn to love baseball. We place trust in our board, commissioners, managers, coach, bench coaches, team parents to make an experience where each player grows and enjoys baseball. There are aspirations for greatness, but expectations are not to make major league players but to make baseball lovers. Making great players is a byproduct of promoting commitment, sportsmanship, teammates, hustle, and fun. Learning how to win gracefully is just as important as learning how to lose gracefully. Our job as parents is to support the whole league, support all the players, and support all the volunteers.
Over the last ten years of coaching, I have seen t-ballers that ran to 3rd base first with their shoes on the wrong feet turn into High School All-Stars. I have watched four years olds grow into incredible young men and women. I feel our league has had a hand in making them leaders, volunteers, and all in all, just really great people. I was umpiring a game this weekend, and I looked at the pitcher, and I realized I’d known him for more than half his life. I was proud to watch him play a great game while having great fun, knowing that I had coached him in t-ball. It has been my philosophy to tell my players, “run as fast as you can, throw as hard as you can, hit as best you can,” because each player has their own physical attributes. The player’s support for one another is as important as the fans’ or coach’s. When a team starts playing for each other and takes on the personal responsibility of commitment to their teammates, I feel successful as a coach.
There was a time I knew all players by name. My kid has aged out of Neartown LL, and that makes me sad. But I am not leaving the league. This year I’ve turned my coach’s clipboard in for an umpire’s mask. I look forward to my new role within the community and watching the league grow and emerge from this covid pandemic stronger and more incredible than ever before.
Very Truly Yours,
Michael DeGeurin
Neartown LL Board Member |