Buddy Ball Baseball League

[Guest guest]

This information was shared with me and I thought it might be a good choice

for someŠ.

My name is Blaisdell, and I am the Commissioner of the Buddy Ball

League for Herndon Optimist Youth Baseball. I am also a former special

education teacher with FCPS.

In Buddy Ball we pair up kids with disabilities (ages 6-15) with student

volunteers from our local community. The majority of our players have

physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities or more moderate to severe

developmental disabilities such as autism. These are kids who would not be

able to participate in traditional baseball leagues. The Herndon High School

Baseball team leads the group of volunteer buddies, and runs our games. Each

player has one or two buddies who accompanies them both on the field and at

bat. Assistance is provided on an individualized basis ranging from hands-on

physical guidance to more supervisory roles of the buddies. Buddy Ball

games are Sunday afternoons, and we have approximately 8 games during the

spring season. There are no practices during the week.

Buddy Ball registration is free to the players, the cost is covered by the

league and by donations from our sponsor Network Depot. Players do not need

to be Herndon residents to participate or receive the registration fee

waiver. Players receive a t-shirt and a hat, and we provide bats and

helmets. While players are not required to buy their own glove, these are

not necessarily guaranteed as we have limited extras floating around.

Registration is now open for Buddy Ball and will remain open until the end

of the spring season. We do ask that players (their parents) commit to

attending at least half of the games, and notify me in advance when they

cannot attend.

Opening Day is currently scheduled for Saturday April 2nd, at Bready Field

in Herndon. This is a really fun event where all the teams are presented to

the community and a Buddy Ball player throws out the first pitch!

To register, parents can go to www.herndonbaseball.com

<http://www.herndonbaseball.com/> . The Buddy Ball page will be updated

soon. You're welcome to give interested families my contact information,

including email and phone number.

I have attached an information sheet if you know of any families who might

be a good fit for our program. If you have any questions, please feel free

to contact me.

Thanks so much for your time!

Best,

Blaisdell

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Brown

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