Carter reviving innercity baseball
BY ROBB LUEHR
rluehr@journaltimes.com | Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2009 12:00 am
The saying "The longest journey begins with a single step" certainly applies to the T-ball/softball league at the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Center.
Daryl Carter wanted to begin the league for innercity league youth at four community centers - King, Dr. John Bryant, Tyler-Domer and George Bray - but for this season, the only center that organized teams for the league is the King Center.
The teams are comprised mostly of African-American and Hispanic youth.
Carter, a 1990 Park High School graduate and a Youth Prevention Specialist and Abstinence Educator for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, organized the league at the King Center and is the head coach of the kindergarten/first grade boys T-ball team.
The King Center also fields a girls K-1 team, a second/third grade team and a boys and girls fourth/fifth-grade team and they play their games at
Humble Park. The girls play on Tuesdays and the boys on Wednesdays. The league is part of the Tuesday Optimist League.
With the help of the United Way, participation in the league, team uniforms and gloves were free.
Carter's hope was to get the four centers to form teams and there are plenty of kids who could play, but there was no one to organize them at the other three centers.
"I was at the Tyler-Domer Center (recently) and I asked what happened," Carter said. "They said the children didn't have an interest. I said some of the children (at the King Center) didn't have an interest either, but I would ask them, then someone would ask, then another, and they're like 'why is everyone asking me to play softball?' Then they start playing and they like it. Then their parents come and then everybody is cheering for them."
Carter's team has 11 players and they have caught on quickly to the game. Helping in that cause are the parents who are willing to get their kids to practices and games and those parents who are helping Carter teach the kids.
"That was a blessing to get the people here to commit," Carter said. "Not only them, but parents like Waleed Ahmad. It's always helpful for parents to get involved. The more coaches you have, the better."
Ahmad actually doesn't have children on any of the King teams - his kids are older and live in Milwaukee - but Ahmad was willing to help.
"He said he was interested in getting African-Americans playing baseball again," Ahmad said. "He said he needed some help and I said I'd help him out. It's a good experience for the kids and something to do during the summer. It gives them some structure."
The league will continue through the summer and Carter hopes the other community centers will come on board next summer.
"We can get those teams from the community centers to play together," Carter said. "The wheel is rolling, they just need to jump on it.
"The kids are having a lot of fun and learning about the sport. They're excited about playing and I love it. I love to see children happy and getting experience."
What others are saying …
The Dr. Martin Luther King Community Center, 1134 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., has five teams involved in an inner-city T-ball/softball league that is part of the Tuesday Optimists League. The teams play at Humble Park, 2200 Blaine Ave.
The league was organized by Daryl Carter, who coaches the kindergarten-first grade boys team, and with help from the United Way, the families did not need to pay for participation, uniforms and gloves. There are varied people and varied reasons for their involvement in the league.
SIMON NEAVE: Neave has three sons playing - Mason, 10; Austin, 9; and Eli, 4 - and he didn't hesitate when Carter asked him to help out. Neave's kids have played organized baseball before through Racine Youth Sports, but he believes Carter's program is better.
"I think it's way better than RYS," Neave said. "We are more organized and I like how it works out. It's better going to Humble (Park) than Haban (Park) and we live close to the King Center, so we signed up right away.
"I like how (Carter) is organized and I wouldn't have gotten involved if he wasn't part of it."
KIMBERLY EVANS: Evans got her son, Miles, 6, into the program a couple weeks late, but Miles is catching up quickly. Unlike Neave, Evans doesn't live close to the King Center (she lives in west Racine), but said it's worth the trip.
"No. 1, it's free and with the economy the way it is, I couldn't afford anything else. Plus coach Carter has a good reputation for working with kids and teaching them. And with me being a single parent, he needs this right now. He is really proud of himself.
"He needs interaction with men. There's a lot of single moms out there, but moms can't teach a boy how to be a boy."
WALEED AHMAD: Ahmad volunteered to help Carter with the kindergarten-first grade boys team even though he doesn't have any children in the King program.
"It's a good time," Ahmad said. "A lot don't get the chance to play baseball like they used to and it's good that coach Carter let this happen so they can get this experience and be exposed to another sport instead of basketball or football."
COACH LIST: Aside from Carter, these are the head coaches of the other four King Center teams: Tene' Golden and Christine Golden, kindergarten/first grade girls T-ball; J. Ross and Gary Smith, second/ third grade boys coach pitch; Carolyn Martin, fourth/fifth grade girls kid pitch; Owen San du vol and Phillip McNeal, fourth/fifth grade boys kid pitch.