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Letter to the editor

Swinging for the fences for kids

Harry Preston is using baseball as a way to keep kids out of trouble, learn some life lessons and have fun.

By DEMORRIS A. LEETimes Staff Writer
Published December 27, 2007

Eric Towns, 8, gets hitting lessons from coach Clarence Gregory recently at Clearwater's Jack Russell Stadium. The baseball program is sponsored by the Community Academy for Youth Development, helping kids in North Greenwood stay out of trouble.
	[Atoyia Deans | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Atoyia Deans | Times] Coach Harry Preston, left, talks with Keytric Isaac during a recent baseball practice sponsored by the Community Academy for Youth Development. [Atoyia Deans | Times] Keyandra Bierer, 12, said baseball calms her. "Now I don't like to fight anymore." [Atoyia Deans | Times] Gregory helps Armani Calhoun, 8, get his batting stance straightened out. This was the first time Armani played baseball.

CLEARWATER - Armani Calhoun, 8, stood at the plate on a recent Tuesday evening looking like a natural.

Bat in hands, feet squared, his sweeping swing connected as baseballs came his way. He drove the balls to the back of the batting cage.

It was Armani's first baseball practice. He joined other boys and girls, 7 to 17, from the North Greenwood community, many of whom never had played baseball.

"It was fun," Armani said, finishing his turn at bat.

Harry Preston noticed the smiles on Armani and his cousin Eric Towns, 8, who also attended for the first time. The youngsters' smiles put a shy smile on Preston's face too.

Preston, 57, sees baseball as a tool. He hopes the two-hour baseball outings Tuesday and Thursday evenings will give boys and girls in the community life lessons.

"I'm trying to use baseball to steer them in the right way," Preston said one recent evening while driving from home to home in North Greenwood, picking up players.

"I'm trying to show them other role models and mentors. I want to show them that there are other things to do than standing on the corner in groups and selling drugs."

Preston started the Community Academy for Youth Development in August. It runs the North Greenwood Baseball League. Father of six adult children, Preston has worked 18 years at Angelica Textile in Safety Harbor.

He had to purchase all the equipment. Many kids never had worn a baseball glove. When he was growing up in North Greenwood, baseball was part of the community, Preston said.

"It taught us how to think," said Preston, who played with the North Greenwood Social Club. "It was something about baseball and our coaches that helped us stay focused. But we allowed baseball to leave the community and we've got to change that."

For now, the North Greenwood Baseball boys and girls meet at the Winning Inning Baseball Academy, at Jack Russell Stadium, once the Philadelphia Phillies' spring training site.

Preston has about 20 regulars at practices. They learn to hit, pitch, run bases and catch. Some nights, a guest speaker shares a life experience and the importance of staying out of trouble and off the streets.

"This is my first time playing," said Janiero Crankfield, 10. "I really play football. It's fun and I don't have anything else to do."

Timothy Jackson, 10, is also playing baseball for the first time. He, too, is a football player.

"I like to pitch," Timothy said. "I like to bat, too, but I like to pitch when they let me. If we don't do this play baseball, we go play football at my house."

Preston's competition isn't football. It's the lure "of the streets" - the ease of selling drugs and acceptance of standing on the corner for hours instead of going to school.

Preston once was part of it. Though he hasn't been involved with the judicial system in nearly 20 years, Preston spent time in prison on drug-related offenses in the 1970s and '80s. He tells his story to the program's kids.

"I was a street guy and I don't want to see these children go through what I went through, destroying themselves without knowing there's another way," Preston said. "I want to share with them the bad choices I made so they can make better choices."

Demorris A. Lee can be reached at dalee@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

FAST FACTS

Step up to the plate to help kids hit a homer

The Community Academy for Youth Development Inc. needs for coaches, sponsors and mentors for its North Greenwood Baseball League.

Cost to sponsor a player: $65

Organizers need batting and baseball gloves, a pitching machine, batting tees, catcher's equipment, baseball bats, and caring volunteers.

For more information, contact Harry Preston at (727) 768-6996.

[Last modified December 26, 2007, 20:41:32]