The Maple Valley Tigers Shetland baseball team played the Lava Monsters Saturday at the Black Diamond Elementary School field, and it was special game for many reasons.

The Tigers are just like all the others – a dozen or so boys and girls that are playing team baseball for the first time in their lives, learning to learn from the coach and trying to remain focused on the game while there are so many interests besides the game that need immediate inspection like bugs, dirt, flowers or the soccer game next door.  But in one special way the the team, sponsored by Ross Olive State Farm, is quite distinctive. 

About half the team has what our society calls special needs. Disregarding for the moment that most parents would sigh and agree that the 4 to 6 year old age group in general has special needs, the five special needs Tigers are children with Down syndrome, aged 5 to 10 years old, who play on the same team with the other seven typical children aged 4 to 6 years. 

The approach the coaches take to the players is fairly standard, which means assessing each player’s needs, adapting specific drills and instruction to those needs, paying individual attention where necessary and then just playing baseball against other teams. 

In the first three games, all 12 Tigers hit the ball (pitched or off a T), ran the bases, caught grounders and threw to first base. They learned to get down and ready and then roar (like a Tiger) when the coach yells, “Ready position!” They know to take turns batting and that foul ball means do over. More importantly, to the players, they know that excellent treats await them after they have run the bases at the end of the game. There is no winning or losing at this level. No scores are reported, no batting averages are tracked and the cleanup hitter, No. 4 batter, is not the most powerful, but the player with the number 4 on the back of their jersey. However, there is a primary objective: each player’s baseball skills will be twice as good at the end of the season as they were at the beginning. For a few of the kids, it means hitting the pitch to the outfield. For others, it means throwing the runner out at first. And for a few others, it means simply running the bases unassisted by the coaches or remembering where to stand when you are the shortstop. For all the Tigers, at least this first year, it means doing something you’ve never done before. For Tiger parents, it means cheering loudly as their little one plays team ball for the first time. For society in general, it is a reminder that every child has gifts, but that they simply unwrap their packages at different times.

For more information on integrating special needs children with typical children on a Maple Valley PONY baseball team, contact PONY President Kathi Turner at turnerk30@comcast.net. 

For more information on Maple Valley Pony Baseball go to the website.