Special Needs Players and Mill Woods White Sox Play Sunday

Edmonton’s Little League Challenger Baseball team is pleased to announce that it will be playing with the Host Team for the upcoming Canadian Little League Baseball Championship on Sunday July 22nd at 1:00 PM at the Confederation Park diamond. The Mill Woods White Sox won the right to be the host team in June, and is in preparation to play in the Canadian Championship in August.

The White Sox will join the Edmonton Challenger Baseball team to play a “fun game” of baseball this Sunday. It will be an opportunity for both teams to experience sharing a game from very different perspectives. And it will be an opportunity for the players and the public to see that the game of baseball is for absolutely everyone.

Challenger baseball was founded in 2007 for players between the ages of 5 and 16.  In Edmonton, Challenger ball also started in 2007. It started out with 10 players and has grown to between 20 and 30 today. Challenger Baseball is totally run by volunteers, mostly parents of players, who want to see their children playing ball and never thought this worthwhile program would flourish.

Challenger baseball is all about the players having fun and playing ball. Each player in the league has some form of physical or developmental disability. There are players with Cerebra Palsy, Downs Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Autism, Blindness as well as a variety of other disabilities. Teams do not play a typical game of baseball. Each team bats through the order, and each player gets to put the ball into play and run the bases. Players that need assistance will get help pushing their wheelchair to the bases or holding a hand while running to get to the right base, or just getting encouragement from the “helpers” or “buddies” on the diamond.

It has been truly amazing to see how far some of the  players have come in five years and how far new players come from opening day to the last game of the year. There are players who are very withdrawn at the beginning of the year that come out of their shell and become very excited about playing the game by the end of the season.

Challenger Baseball is for any child who would like to play some ball and have some fun. The league runs every Sunday at 1:00 PM at the Confederation Park diamonds, located on the grounds of Harry Ainley High School (111 Street And Whitemud Drive) in June and July. In conjunction with the Canadian Little League Championship, there will be a special Challenger Game on Saturday August 11^th at 10:00 AM at John Fry Park. Information about the Challenger game and the Challenger Program is available on the 2012 Canadian Little League Championship web page. 

Organizers would love to see this program grow because all participants receive so much from the experience that demonstrates baseball is for everyone!!

To obtain further information about this event, please get in touch with the following contacts;