Get Involved with the Challenger League This Season
Sasha Bush
The Ashland Beacon
Baseball season is in full swing with several of the areas local little leagues holding their opening day ceremonies over the weekend. Thousands of eager baseball and softball players of all ages flocked to the fields and took the first swings of the season. For many people, baseball season is the most anticipated event of the year. For the team members of the local Challenger League, baseball season brings with it a way in which children of all ages with various special abilities can experience what it is like to run the bases of our beloved fields. They get to experience what it’s like to hear the roar of the crowd as they make contact with that first pitch or step across home plate.
The Challenger’s Program was started by Amy McGuire, the Director of Special Education with Russell Independent Schools. Through her passion with working with these kids, she organized a partnership with the Russell-Flatwoods Little League to start with a baseball team in 2016. In 2017, she partnered with the high school basketball team at Russell, so kids had something to do in the winter months.
The Challenger League was inspired by none other than the children themselves. Taylor Stumbo, one of the coaches with the Challenger League shared, “The inspiration is derived from the kids themselves to allow them the same joys other kids find in team sports. This is a place where the kids as well as the parents are just happy to have their child healthy and experience the joys of having a crowd cheer them on. It is setup in a way to hopefully be peer driven, so the entire community reaps the benefits.”
Stumbo’s own son has had great success from being part of the Challenger League program over the years. “I have seen firsthand what programs such as this can do for a kid. Just look at my son, Gavin, who has Down Syndrome. He started in this program when we moved in the district back in 2018. There is no doubt it helped ease the transition of switching schools. The relationships made from the program allowed him to be where he is now, which is the team manager for the Russell Red Devils Boys Basketball team.” shared Stumbo.
Programs such as this not only provide an opportunity to make lifetime memories for these kids and their families, but the volunteers and fans as well. Plus, with this being peer driven with their classmates, it allows for more inclusion and to form relationships outside of a school setting. These kids are no different than anyone else; they just happen to have something that makes them that much more special. Stumbo believes that the best thing anyone can do is to go out and support these kids. If you are free one evening, go out to your local ball field and watch these kids play. “Every single one of them deserves to a have a stand packed full of people rooting them on,” stated Stumbo. The memories that are built from this league will stay with these children for the rest of their lives.
Challenger Baseball Schedule 2023
(All games are held at the Russell Flatwoods Little League Fields)
April 22, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
April 29, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
May 6, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
May 13, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
May 20, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
May 27, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
June 3, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
