The Miracle League at Town and Country

The Miracle League at Town and Country

Written by Tiffany Young Thursday, 17 April 2008

When Steve Brown saw a television program about The Miracle League, a nonprofit organization that allows disabled children to play baseball, he not only knew Austin needed the program, he decided he would be the one to start it.

Brown was a board member of the Town and Country Optimist Club at the time and knew the Optimist Club’s 96-acre sports complex could easily accommodate the new field, alongside the softball, baseball, football, and soccer fields already in existence.

“Something like this just kind of worked perfectly into what we do,” said Brown, who is now the president of the board of the Town and Country Optimist Club. “The fact it’s something we should be doing is kind of the viewpoint I took on it. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing [the Miracle League] – somebody should be doing it here in Austin.”

While the land was already donated, The Miracle League needed funding to make the field happen. So the club contacted the Round Rock Express and the Nolan Ryan Foundation, which decided to become the field name sponsor, donating $250,000 to The Miracle League. With money backing their plans, the Optimist Club could start work on the field. With the help and donations of architect Michael Antenora, along with Cunningham Allen, Inc. engineers, Hellas Construction and some others, the field plans were under way.

Original estimates for the field were anywhere from $750,000 to $900,000, but with the donations from local businesses, it was built with just $500,000.

“We just had a lot of people step up and help out,” said Brown. “It was really refreshing.”

The Miracle League did not wait for the field to be built to begin its games. The first games were played on softball fields and showed Brown why they needed special fields for the Miracle League games.

“We needed a specialized field for these kids with walkers and wheelchairs and we wanted them to have their own field,” said Brown. “And we wanted it out at Town and Country as well because their siblings could be playing on another field right at the same complex and they [could] come over and play their own game.”

The field took about one year to build from breaking ground to finish and includes a large concession stand, two large public restrooms, and two smaller private restrooms along the site.

The field was completed in spring of last year.

In the fall, over 90 players were registered to play, and Brown hopes to sign up at least a hundred this spring.

Because there is a buddy system with teenagers helping each disabled child during the game, parents can relax and watch the kids from the stands, cheering the players on.

There are seven games per season, each game consisting of about two innings per game with each player getting to bat every inning. Everyone is safe, meaning everyone scores and the last batter of each inning scores a homerun.

“It’s a laid back game,” Brown said. “In between the innings everyone comes in to the backstop and we have a microphone and everyone sings ‘Take me out to the ball game.’ And then we do the chicken dance.”

The Miracle League spring season runs through May. To register or for more information, visit www.tancsports.org or call 335-7434.

Buddy up

The Miracle League has a buddy system in which local teenagers volunteer to assist Miracle League players during games. Each player gets two buddies to ensure that someone will be at each game. The buddies must get recommendations from a teacher, coach or other adult leader to become involved in The Miracle League buddy system.

“We don’t want kids who have to be out there for community service,” Brown said. “We want kids who want to be out there.”

Brown said one of the biggest rewards in working with the Miracle League is “watching the buddies get involved and realize that these kids aren’t going to fall apart if you touch them and kid around with them. They get really close and the buddies come in there the first day and they’re so timid and shy and ‘gosh, what do we do?’ By the second game they’re just rolling around with them.”

The Miracle League at Town & Country, PO Box 200277, Austin TX 78720, 335-7434