'It's their team'

Kids with mental and physical disabilities find their talents and build their self-esteem as they play on a Little League team just for them.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 28, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- As Peggy Ramsey-Yea scooped up a rotting fish near the stands at Azalea Little League baseball field, she wondered aloud about its origin.

It was 8:30 on a Saturday morning and the Little League mom was getting an early start. As usual, she opened the gates, checked the restrooms, put out the garbage pails and set out the bases. This particular morning, she also laid out new photographs of team members on a round picnic table.

By 9 a.m., she was ready to greet the kids.

[Times photos: Jennifer Davis] Theo Steckhuizen, 12, who has spina bifida, rounds the bases during a recent game.

No ordinary athletes, among them was a little boy in a wheelchair. Another was visually impaired. One had cerebral palsy. And there was Mrs. Ramsey-Yea's son, Justin Beauchesne, whose right foot and hands were amputated after he contracted a severe bacterial infection as an infant.

The children are members of the Azalea Challenger League, a division of Little League Baseball organized for mentally and physically disabled youths.

"These kids, when they come out and play ball, they don't feel different," Mrs. Ramsey-Yea said.

"They belong. It's their team and they're socially accepted. It's also a good social outlet for the parents."

Eddie Gross who cheers for his daughter, Amanda, 8, from the stands at 30th Avenue N between 75th and 76th streets, can't agree more.

"This is her first season," Gross said of his emotionally handicapped daughter.

Matthew McCullough, 5, catches the ball during practice. Matthew, who is autistic, recently joined the St. Pete Lions, a team in the Challnger program.

"She loves it. She wakes me up as soon as the sun comes up. "Daddy, it's time to go to baseball.' She's hyperactive, and it helps wear her out and it gives her something to do."

These Saturday mornings are good for him too, Gross said.

"It's actually something that I can relate to," he said. "It's hard to sit down and play Barbies with her."

The Challenger division has become one of Little League's most successful programs, said Lance Van Auken, director of media relations for Little League Baseball.

"It started in 1989 and grew out of something some of our leagues were doing on their own. In the first year, there were 519 teams and a total of 6,734 players. Today there are 1,500 teams and 22,500 players," Van Auken said, speaking from Little League Baseball headquarters in Williamsport, Pa.

"It's something that Little League is very proud of even though the total number of players involved is pretty small. We point to the Challenger program as being one of the biggest successes in Little League just because it now makes Little League Baseball available to any child, regardless of ability or disability."

With about 60 players and four teams catering to ages five to 22, the Azalea Challenger League is thriving, Mrs. Ramsey-Yea said. Yet she yearns to involve more children and their parents in the program.

"I think the biggest challenge we have is getting the word out, because there are so many children that are appropriate for it and their parents don't know," said Mrs. Ramsey-Yea, who distributes fliers about the program to schools. "A lot of parents think that their children can't play baseball."

Tyler Cook considers stealing home plate while Cody Judson, 9, guards third base.

It was quite by accident that she found out about the division, said Mrs. Ramsey-Yea, who learned of it when her son was 3.

"Justin had to wait two years from that point, but I was really excited that there was something for him," she said of her son, who is now 121/2.

The first year he joined, Mrs. Ramsey-Yea, a pediatric nurse at All Children's Hospital and the Bishop Center, a medical day care center for children, was named team mom. Halfway through the season, she became vice president and has held the post ever since.

Helping her are several coaches along with a group of volunteers called buddies, whose job is to assist the players.

"A lot of the buddies are siblings," said Mrs. Ramsey-Yea, adding that players from other Little League teams sometimes fill the role of buddies.

For Lee Fulmer, his wife, son, sister and nephew, volunteering with the Azalea Challenger League has become a family project.

"I'm not a parent that has an impaired child," said Fulmer, an accountant with Primex Technology in St. Petersburg.

Seven years ago, he said, "My wife and I got involved in the Challenger League through a suggestion of a teacher at Tyrone Elementary School. After the first year, it's just been a devotion of love. We just enjoy the people that have come down here. It's a joy watching the kids progress and grow up."

His sister, Pat Carlson, a retired nurse, who began volunteering as a Challenger Division coach three years ago, seems never to tire as she throws pitch after pitch on Saturday mornings. Her son, Jay Carlson, also coaches for the league.

"It's a lot of fun. It makes you feel good," the executive recruiter said. Carlson's brother-in-law, Adam Lisewych, 28, who has Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that also affects one of the Azalea Challenger League players, also volunteers.

The team needs more willing hands, Fulmer said.

"All you have to do is come out one time and work with the kids and see how happy it makes them. Once you get involved with these kids, it's enjoyable, it's rewarding."

David Jones, who is in the 11th grade at Pinellas Park High School, is earning community service credit as a volunteer for the team. David is a buddy to a child who uses a wheelchair.

"He loves to go fast," David said. "I help him hit the ball, catch it and everything."

Understandably, the rules are different in the Challenger Division.

"The rules can be modified from one league to another just based on the particular disabilities of the players involved," Van Auken said. "If a player is confined to a wheelchair, someone is going to have to move that around."

Added Mrs. Ramsey-Yea, "As far as rules go, we kind of make them up as we go. We attempt to teach the basics of baseball, but we don't do that keeping score thing and if a kid gets out, he still gets to run around the bases, things like that. . . . We're more there to have fun."

That certainly is the philosophy of team mom and coach Georganne Long, whose son Jeffrey has cerebral palsy. She's an enthusiastic cheerleader for the team.

"I love these children, and I think I have more fun than they do on the field," she said.

"Attendance has been remarkably good and they all seem to be having a marvelous time. They just appreciate everything you do for them and most of all, they appreciate being able to participate in a regular team sport."

That certainly is true, said Justin's father, Danny Beauchesne.

"He obviously enjoys it very much. He's always trying to steal the bases. It's a joy for me to see him do this. We didn't think he was going to walk," Beauchesne said.

Cheering from the stands one recent Saturday morning, Jimmie L. Hardy also marveled at her son's accomplishments.

"He doesn't like the outfield. He likes the batting," she said of Lorenzo, who is visually impaired.

"He likes me to cheer him on with the batting. He says, "Mama, did you see me bat?' He loves the praises. . . . He can see the shadows. When the ball is coming, he just has to time it right. About the fourth or fifth swing, he gets it."

For information

To find out about the Azalea Challenger League and sign up for the new season, call the Azalea Little League, 347-3325.

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