Challenger Baseball League- the weekly baseball game played by special needs students with autism. I was in seventh grade when my baseball coach approached me. He asked me to be one of the player ambassadors to help teach the special needs kids to learn baseball. I know it sounds terrible of me, but I was adamant at first as I didn’t want to spend two hours of my Friday evening teaching these kids to play baseball. So I told my coach that I would think about it and went home for the evening. I thought the kids would be disinterested in the game and learning it. While doing my homework in my room I thought of all the volunteer hours I could accumulate by doing this challenger league. It was decided that I would commit to assisting the challenger league in the name of volunteer hours.

Fast forward a couple weeks and it was the first challenger baseball game. I got paired up with a fifth grade special needs student by the name of Jake. After being introduced to Jake and his parents, we traversed through the outfield to find a good spot to throw around a ball. Once he attempted to throw the ball his face was lit up by a smile. Seeing the enjoyment on his face made me realize that what I was doing was special. Maybe this was not just about volunteering hours for me. Maybe it was about spreading my love and passion for the game of baseball to kids who just want to have fun. Teaching these kids the basics of the game gave them much more than just learning baseball. It allowed them to interact with other kids with the same issues, get physical activity, and just have a good time.

Being a player ambassador to the Challenger Baseball League changed my perspective on a few things as well. The first thing is that volunteering does not always have to be so repetitive. There are plenty of ways to volunteer and serve your community while having a good time. My perspective about special needs students was also changed. By participating in this event, I learned that they too can have a good time and participate in sports like non special needs kids. Seeing these kids interacting with one another made me excited to come back next Friday and the Friday after that.