Each week a valued member of the Hennessy team will blog about his/her take on the latest project we are working on, a vacation they took or any number of other topics. To read older posts, please keep scrolling down.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Volunteers Change Lives

Anyone watching ESPN this time of year will see coverage of the Little League World Series. I have been involved with Little League as a volunteer for 11 years. I started out coaching T-Ball and joined the board six years ago and have been the President of Southwest Little League for the past five years.

Little League in South Pinellas county is a group of leagues that comprise Florida District 5; these leagues are Seminole, Cross Bayou, Pinellas Park, Gulf Beaches, Northwest, Meodowlawn, Northeast, Baypoint, Azalea, Gulfport, and Southwest. Local leagues operate under the Little League umbrella and are separate non-profit corporations with very specific boundaries. Only players who live within a league’s boundaries can play for that league. This has been the goal of little league from its beginning - to promote neighborhood baseball and softball. As Little League teams are comprised of players who all live within the same neighborhood, this develops friendships that last a lifetime and a sense of community among the families that participate. Little League players range in age from four to 18 years old, boys and girls.

Little League is a youth sports program organized and run entirely by volunteers. There are no paid staff members or coaches at the local league level. Parents and dedicated volunteers give thousands of hours of their time each year to ensure that the children that live in their neighborhoods have a safe and enjoyable experience playing baseball and softball. The board of a local little league is responsible for a wide range of duties, including: set up and administering player registrations and tryouts, set schedules for games and practices, recruit and train coaches, provide player development training, establish a league safety plan, perform criminal background checks on all volunteers who come in contact with children, organize umpires for games, negotiate leases with local municipalities for fields and field maintenance, purchase uniforms and equipment.

I enjoy the volunteer work I do very much and Little League is my favorite. Helping to be a positive influence in a young person’s life is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Little League has helped me become more connected and a part of the fabric of my community in St. Pete Beach. So if you happen to catch some of the games on ESPN, remember that the umpires on the field are volunteers, the scorekeepers in the stands are volunteers, the tournament site directors are volunteers and the managers and coaches of the teams are volunteers. Volunteers change lives.

For more information on how you can become a Little League volunteer, please visit their website at http://www.eteamz.com/fldistrict5/

Posted by: Mark Stalker

Mark, a new addition to the Hennessy family, has over 29 years of experience in the construction industry. His most notable project was his role as Project Manager of construction on Raymond James Stadium.

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