Evanston Buddy Baseball League Welcomes Special Needs Players

The following is from the Evanston Baseball & Softball Association: 

Evanston Baseball & Softball Association (EBSA) invites individuals with special needs to participate in the Third Annual Evanston Buddy BasebALL League.  Buddy BasebALL provides the opportunity for individuals with a mental and/or physical disability to play baseball, regardless of their abilities. According to Mike Hamann, VP of Operations at EBSA, Buddy BasebALL will help individuals learn teamwork, promote self-esteem, and have fun.

"Two of EBSA's core values are that every child has the opportunity to play and to give back to the community.  We feel that our Buddy BasebALL program accomplishes both of these by giving children with special needs a chance to play and by teaching our players the importance of giving back to the community," said Hamann.

The EBSA Buddy BasebALL league will not charge any fees to participate, and tee shirts and ball caps will be provided for all players.  Each player with special needs will be paired with an Evanston travel baseball player from EBSA’s 14U travel league, comprised of 14 year old players. The target age group for individuals with special needs is between 5 and 20 years old. Ideally there will be enough participants to field two teams. The games will last approximately 5 innings and take place on Sundays in August, at 2pm on James Park Field 3 in Evanston, starting August 3rd, 2014.

By attending one game, it will be clear that Buddy Ball is a special kind of league which can make a huge difference in many lives. Buddy Ball moves beyond a sport and becomes an affair of the heart.

"EBSA families have been overwhelmingly supportive of our initiative to create this inclusive baseball program.  As a community based organization, we believe it is our responsibility to support all children in our community," said EBSA President Steve Brown.

Please see www.evanstonbaseball.com if you know any players with special needs that are interested; or if you have any questions.

EBSA has been operating in Evanston for over 60 years and is the largest non-profit youth sports organization in Evanston and is run entirely by volunteers.  Each year EBSA serves over 1,400 boys and girls ages 5-14 in youth baseball and softball programs.