2013 Moreland Little League Challenger Jamboree Overview

It is a struggle to keep a community together. It is easy to get caught up in the noise and lose sight of the bigger picture. The more difficult thing is to set aside differences, find common ground and move forward. This has been one take-away from my two years as president of Moreland Little League.

One value that Little League provides is it gives a bunch of otherwise disconnected citizens something in common and is the thread that can stitch together community. In urban areas especially, its system of boundaries forces a tight geographic community, which is unlike the direction of youth sports today where the community is increasingly based around performance. With Little League, everyone plays, regardless of income or ability.

The primary benefit is not obvious. Baseball is just the vehicle to impart positive values to our youth, and, in the process, it helps adults if they are open to learning. It has certainly taught me a great deal. Everything that is good about Little League is manifested in its Challenger program.

It was an honor to be part of the 2013 Challenger Jamboree, which featured teams from south Silicon Valley to San Francisco to the north. This truly was an extraordinary event that wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work by so many volunteers and the generous donations by the many sponsors. It is one thing to read and understand the impact this program has on the children and their families, but it doesn’t compare to the tangibility of being there. The next best thing to being there is this video, which provides a flavor for the day’s events and what this great program is all about.