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Sports

Poway American Little League: Building the Future

Celebrating 50 years of kids playing baseball and making memories.

Walking to the fields so many years after my last at bat, the sights, sounds and smells brought back a lot of memories.

There was my walk-off, game-winning, three-RBI triple in Minor B, getting the call from Coach Gil telling me I made Majors (which considering my lack of talent was a minor miracle). And then there was my amazing, over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track in Junior league.

Two of the three made me cry at the time, and all of them will forever be fantastic memories of my youth.

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Playing baseball from the age of 5 till I was 17 and making my way through the Little League ranks really developed my love and passion for the game, despite the fact I was terrible at playing.

This year the Poway American Little League is celebrating 50 years of serving the community’s young baseball players.

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The Little League serves kids from age 4 to 16, with the age groups being: Tee Ball 4-7, Rookie 7-9, Minor B 8-12, Minor A 9-12, Majors 10-12, Juniors 13-14, Seniors 14-16.

They also have a summer league where the games are only on Sundays and no scores or standings are kept.

“It is a way to come out here and hone your skills and play baseball,” said league president Don Sharp.

But we live in a hypercompetitive environment where parents tell their kids at a young age that in order to be great at one sport, they can only play that one sport year round. This has reduced the number of kids playing from 1,000 about 10 years ago to 470 this year.

Which leads to the league’s main point of focus: It’s not how many games you win or how good of a player you are, it is what you learn on the field.

“It’s a leadership program, we teach them to take responsibility, and we teach them to own their own,” Sharp said. “We teach these guys life lessons, but we use Little League and baseball as a vehicle for that.”

The league is also conducive to all talent levels, with rules that give everybody the chance to play in the field the entire game, with each player guaranteed at least four complete games in the field, and that they will get up to bat multiple times a game with the bat-around rule.

“Our minimum play rules are the most inclusive,” Sharp said. “Little League has a minimum play rule of six defensive outs and an at bat, we have nine (defensive outs). Little League doesn’t have a complete-game rule, here we do, kids have to have four complete games where they don’t get taken out.”

As much as the league is about winning and competing, it is as much about learning and growing and having fun playing sports.

Sharp used the game going on in the background as the example. An Orioles batter just hit a two-RBI single off the A’s pitcher.

“That kid could have struck out and been mad at himself, instead he hits a two-RBI single and now he is a hero,” he said.

Parents play a major part in keeping the league running since the organization relies on volunteers.

“We are 100 percent volunteers. Everybody you see out here, the umpires, the coaches, people in the snack bar. They are all volunteers,” Sharp said.

Dave Miller, coach of the 11- and 12-year-old all-star team, agreed: “It is really about the community," he said. "You are in the grocery store and see the scorekeeper. It’s, ‘Oh, hey Dave, how are you?’ It is friendships and it is really about adopting Poway.”

Even for the parents, Little League is fun and addictive.

“It gets in your blood, there are certain people when they start doing it they catch it and they catch the fever,” Sharp said.  

Sharp, who has been involved in the Poway Little League system for more than 18 years, added: “It is a passion of mine and I love doing it and it is fun, because I get to see guys like you come back after you graduate high school and are playing in college and guys in the pros come back and say, ‘Hi Coach.’ ”

The bug got Miller as well.

“It’s what I love to do. My kids are done after this year, but I will probably come back and umpire a bunch of games and stay on the board because I have so many friendships and I want to be sure this league is good for its 51st year, its 52nd year and 53rd year. You can always find time.”

The bug even got me, and after watching the Orioles take on the A’s I was ready to don a mask, get behind the plate, and call balls and strikes.

Observations from the week that was May 21-27:

On Monday I made the decision to watch the season premier of The Bachelorette over the Padres-Cardinals game. It turned out to be a pretty good decision. One guy passing out and getting kicked off the show and another wearing a mask straight out of a masquerade party was more interesting than the Padres’ six hits and one run…

Former Padres closer and current member of the front office Trevor Hoffman was elected into the University of Arizona’s Sports Hall of Fame. One step closer to Cooperstown…

Now that the Padres aren’t hitting, the blame game is starting. This week the movement to move the fences in has gained momentum. The only problem is no matter how far you move the fences in, it doesn’t matter if you can’t hit the ball out of the infield, which the Padres can’t seem to do…

David Beckham took down a fan wandering around the pitch…

Everybody hates the Miami Heat, so what’s one more incident going to do on public perception? This time Mike Bibby threw a towel in the air during Derrek Rose free throws late in game 5. First off, Bibby shouldn’t have done it because it’s stupid and because everybody in America was going to call him out on it. Secondly, any fans that are mad that he did it are also stupid: Was it childish and a bit unsportsmanlike? Sure. Did it have any affect on the game? No…

And finally, another athlete said something stupid this week. This time it’s ex-NFL star Tiki Barber, comparing him living in his Jewish agent’s attic to Anne Frank. How a millionaire athlete voluntarily living in an attic has anything to do with Anne Frank’s story is beyond me. If I remember correctly from middle school, Anne and her family were hiding from the Nazis, constantly living in fear of death. Yeah, you’re right Tiki, totally comparable. Another example of why athletes should not be allowed to talk, ever, for any reason… 

Fantasy corner:

Giants star catcher Buster Posey was in a collision at home plate the other night and suffered a fractured bone in his lower left leg. ESPN reported that there is a possibility he could return before the end of the season. If you have room on the DL for him, stash him there till more is known about his timetable of return. And if somebody drops him in a keeper/dynasty league, grab him and put him on the DL.

Sports tweet of the week:

This week’s tweet comes from Fake AP Stylebook (@FakeAPStylebook), “Note to sports editors: Soccer scores that total more than “2” are not errors. These games do actually happen.”

For the record:

The Padres might as well trade Heath Bell and Ryan Ludwick away. Get some prospects that will never develop and help the major league team. After all, history shows it’s what they do.

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