Special to the Times
The Babe Ruth Baseball Organization in Union County is a group of volunteers dedicated to providing a sports program for area youth. In conjunction with the national organizations of Babe Ruth and Pop Warner (BR & PW) who promote sports programs and provide organizational structure for smaller local programs that need help developing opportunities for community youth sports organizations.
The County commission has created a recreation board with Kevin Orton as presiding president. Mark Johns is the interim Chairman of the board and has coached baseball for the past 30 years. He is now the active coach for the Union County Babe Ruth baseball program. His wife Vickey Johns is the Vice President and coordinator for the sports activities. The county will provide facilities and maintenance for this program at the OJ Phillips Recreation center. The Babe Ruth and Pop Warner organizations will provide the structure and planning to establish a team oriented sports program for the kids.
This organization run entirely by volunteers has had an issue with the fluctuation of available personal to handle the responsibilities of maintaining the facilities and preparing the field for games. A request for a permanent paid position has been submitted by the Athletic Director. For the first time this year a position for maintenance personnel has been created to handle the tasks required to keep up appearances through maintenance of the playing field and to keep the facilities clean and available for scheduled events. Baseball and softball programs have been doing very well in the year and a half that it has taken to bring the program up to par. The baseball program has opened up for the girls choose to play with the boys to compete in scheduled games. Last season three girls held positions on the baseball team. The softball teams are limited to all girl teams. No boys allowed. The full contact football teams are limited to all boys. The girls are teamed up to play flag football where contact is limited. Future options for other sports teams are being considered soccer has been one of the most requested programs by both parents and team members.
A new incentive to introduce baseball to the younger generations is a T ball program for the 5 to 7 year olds. This program is for mixed groups of boys and girls to get the feel of the sport. This has been a good program to involve the entire family. Parents and grandparents are anxious to see their kids out on the field learning good sportsmanship and team ethics while having fun playing the game. This age group offers the advantage of more teams as the number of families wanting their kids on teams. These programs promote good family participation, involving the entire family from the children on the teams to parents and grandparents cheering in the stands. The younger teams seem to involve the entire family as the concession sales are greater at the T-ball games when the whole family is in attendance, watching and making lifelong memories.
Ball season opened on Oct. 9 and runs through the third week of November. Approximately 200 boys will play baseball and T-ball as teams are formed. About 15 teams have been formed. Each team has a 300 sponsor that helps cover the cost of the team so the family expense to get their children involved is $100 or less per child. Sign up for the Spring ball season opens in mid-January. The 15 teams and their sponsors are:
Westmoreland Majors – Emerson Rental Plants
Fitzpatrick Majors – Union Direct Primary Care
Snyder Majors – Clay Electric Co-op
Wilson Minors – Laststeel
Emery Rookies – Liberty Trucking
Blizzard 8USB – Belle Oaks Barn
Gulbrand 10USB – Skip’s Deli
Traver 8USB – Jackson Construction
Gill T Ball – FLPESCO Ranch
Halle T Ball – Shadd Trucking
Mobley T Ball – Dick’s Wings
Bennett T Ball – North Florida Pharmacy
Johns Seniors – RRCH
Orton 12USB – Brian’s Sporting Goods
Kent Rookies – Thornton and Co. Realty Inc.
For more information contact Mack Johns, Chairman of the Union County Recreation Board and owner of Springtown Automotive in Worthington Springs. He may be contacted at 386-878-9664.
