Weston Little League Challenger Season Starts Saturday

The following information is from the Weston Little League Challenger's Division:

The second season of Weston Little League's Challenger Division starts this Saturday, May 5, at Burchard Park and is open to Weston and surrounding towns without their own division. Registration is still open and players are needed to join the program.

The Challenger Division is an adaptive baseball program, which allows for communities to establish a structured athletic program for children with physical and mental challenges. Boys and girls, ages 5 to 18 (up to age 22 if enrolled in high school), can enjoy the game of baseball tailored to their abilities, and can benefit from the socialization of team sports.

Ann Delduchetto of Weston was a teacher and a coach for the Challenger Division where she lived in New York. She wanted to bring the program to Weston when she moved here, since she knows first-hand what the program brings to the whole community.

“This is a very special program which fits the needs of every child participating. Last year we earned our charter by having two games and now we look forward to expanding our program and offering more kids the opportunity to play, we hope to play other town divisions in the near future!”

In Challenger, everyone gets to play. Teams are made up of five to 10 players, and the same equipment and fields are used as the other little league divisions. Teams are established according to player-ability, rather than age, and the levels of play are tee-ball, coach-pitch or player-pitch. The games are only one or two innings, about one hour of play, and every child goes up to bat, each run is a homerun, and there are no scores.

Depending on the player’s ability, Buddies are used to assist the players. “The Buddy element is the most wonderful addition,” says Delduchetto, “This set-up allows the parents of the players to sit back, relax, and enjoy their children as they watch them play a game of baseball.”

Volunteer Buddies are trained in how to assist their player as necessary per their specific need and the players choose their Buddy. It is preferred that the Buddies make it to each game so that the players can have the same person for the whole season.

“What I hope is that the Challenger Division takes off and the other community sports in town start offering adaptive programs,” says Kimberly Costello, of Weston who has registered her daughter. “The Challenger division allows my daughter the opportunity to be a part of a team. She wants to be with her peers. Meghan sees her brother and sister participating in activities and wants to play, too.”

Each Challenger player will receive a hat, team jersey, trophy, and a certificate of participation. Registration is open now for players and the cost is $35 per player. Opportunities are available for volunteer Buddies. The first Challenger game is this Saturday, May 5 at 11 a.m. at Burchard Park in Weston. To register to play, volunteer to be a Buddy, or request additional information, contact Ann Delduchetto, League Director, at challenger@westonbaseball.org.

Little League Challenger Division was started 23 years ago through Little League International. More than 30,000 children participate in nearly 1,000 Challenger Divisions in seven countries.

For program information, contact Ann Delduchetto at challenger@westonbaseball.org