Dear Baseball Lovers;
As long as I can remember summer has been about one thing, after swimming, baseball. The beginning of my season and my transition from hockey everyday to baseball was the day the Red Sox season began when the game would be played right after school in the spring. I would rush home meet up with my brother and a couple neighbors in order to watch the Red Sox. The first games of the year were normally against the Tigers. The air seemed to get warmer, the smell better, the days longer not only because they were but, spring changed and it started with the Red Sox, even if snow was still on the ground it still became spring. All summer sports are shorter in Maine but no less loved by the youth and will continue to be a great past time as long as politics, new changes in sports program leadership and Liberal control of youth activities does not take place. The game and many sports in general are the only leadership training our youth will get and with Baseball we see many develop with many teams needing leadership over the years creating our leaders in business and education for the future. As an employer and previous director of a National Training center over 10 years, CEO's, Project managers, Office Supervisors and many other leadership positions were filled with leaders from their youth and school sports programs.
Baseball is our past time and hopefully our future. Our Lisbon players are in the Districts this weekend hoping to pass onto the States next Weekend. The 15 and under team is playing in Lisbon through Sunday and the 14 and under are in Boothbay through the weekend.
The greatest games this week in Lisbon may be the youth games going on for both girls and boys in the 12 and under leagues. Patrick Austin and Amy Austin both leaders in our community have taken on the roll with other family and friends to help re-build and stabilize the baseball and softball programs which had taken a significant deterioration in the late 90's through early 2000 when significant new visions and goals were established for the T-Ball, Minor leagues, 9 and under, as well as the Cal Ripken and Softball equivalent age groups. The late season tournaments and games going on for non All Star players are in its third year under the guidance and vision of Patrick Austin. Pat, his brother, wife and many others that have taken what had deteriorated to begin to improve the lower programs quality and its numbers needed to assure a re growth of Lisbon Baseball and Softball will occur. The great old days of winning our divisions almost every year with one or another team have now become a lost vision. Coaches and players of todays program actually look to other towns and marvel at them without ever truly understanding the exceptional leadership of the 70's and 80's and why it has been lost.
The goal of baseball and softball is to allow the kids the enjoyment of playing, team experiences, commradory of team mates, excersize, coordination, learning how to win and lose, learning how to work hard to reach goals, learning how to practice hard and get results and to give kids that make it a true goal the opportunity to play at higher levels, help get many through highschool and college and since we all will most likely have children some day, we pass on a tradition and the potential to make sports a career. Sports is now one of the fastest growing and largest industry's in the united states as well as the world. Careers range from college, high school, broadcasting, reporting, sports medicine, lawyers, retail sales and so on. Sports is not just for fun as many want it to be portrayed. It is no different for many as learning math so it should be treated as such for those that go that direction because if you remove the competition value at younger levels, you lose the ability to compete at older ages which will create drop outs of sports by some of the potential better athletes ending a potential career before ever getting started. Those that do not see sports as a viable industry are ignorant.
Anthony F Riordan Jr.
