Challenger Baseball Starts Swinging For the Fences For the 2024 Season
/Peterborough Challenger Baseball broke out the gloves and bats as it kicked off their season opener for 2024 at Brinton Carpet Park on Monday night.
Photo by David Tuan Bui.
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Photos: Challenger Baseball Caps Off Home Run With A Complete Season
/Peterborough Challenger Baseball closes out their years after two years prior of cancelled or modified seasons with their Pizza Pizza Championship at the East City Bowl on Monday night.
The championship took place between the Peterborough Challenger Blue team and the Red team. The organization supports anyone with cognitive or developmental challenges or chronic health issues that prevents them from playing an organized sport. The blue team won by a score of 22-10 over the red team.
Challenger Baseball Continues In Full Swing After Modified Seasons In Years Prior
/After going through the past few years on cancelled or modified seasons, Peterborough Challenger Baseball is operating in full swing this year.
Social worker Craig Meredith (left) gets to first base as Peterborough Challenger Makaya Dafoe fields the throw. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Last year, the league operated on a modified schedule from mid-June through September. This year, they resume their regular season beginning after the May 24 weekend with the final game on Aug. 29.
The organization supports anyone with cognitive or developmental challenges or chronic health issues that prevents them from playing an organized sport.
“A lot of this activity is the social hub of their week and it's great that they're able to play a full season,” said Bev Quinlan, director of baseball.
The non-profit organization allows anyone with cognitive and/or physical disabilities to be involved in baseball. They are divided into junior, intermediate and senior groups depending on their cognitive and skill level. Those benefitting from the program learn skills such as communication, teamwork and confidence-building while getting exercise and having fun.
The Challengers were made up of members who benefit from the program, playing other teams within the group and baseball organizations in the Peterborough area in friendly games.
“The players for the most part are willing to listen and be coached and that's significant,” explained Quinlan. “If you want to get better, you have to be able to be coached and you have to be willing to listen and we were able to put those two things together so the players have improved.”
Hometown PTBO: Emma Keating on Her Playing Tenure With Peterborough Challenger Baseball and Love For the Game
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This week on Hometown PTBO, Pete Dalliday talks with 14-year-old and Peterborough Challenger Baseball player Emma Keating about the past weekend's Friendship game, her hobbies and her love of baseball.
Peterborough Challenger Baseball Hosting Friendship Games This Weekend
/Peterborough Challenger Baseball is hosting their second ‘Friendship Games’ after taking two years off due to COVID-19 this Saturday.
Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Challenger Baseball is an adaptive baseball program designed to empower children, youth and adults, living with cognitive and/or physical disabilities.
In 2019, they hosted their first-ever ‘Friendship Games’ with plans to host it annually though COVID-19 put a pause on their plans.
Saturday will see teams from London and Hamilton competing at Bowers Park.
Opening ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. with the first game beginning at 10:05 a.m.
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Peterborough Challenger Baseball Hits a Home Run In Their Season Finale Return
/There was no shortage of smiles and fly balls as Peterborough Challenger Baseball concluded their comeback season with the final game of the year at Kinsmen Park on Thursday.
The Senior division kicked off the final game of the season for the non-profit organization. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The Peterborough Challengers squeaked a 16-13 win over the PTBO Rockstars in the championship game of the senior division.
The organization supports anyone with cognitive or developmental challenges or chronic health issues that prevents them from playing an organized sport.
Peterborough Challenger Baseball has 24 volunteer coaches that are all mentored and instructed by the Jays Care Foundation, the charity arm of the Toronto Blue Jays. There were 76 active players this year with several regulars who sat out for safety reasons.
The Challengers were made up of members who benefit from the non-profit organization while the Rockstars are pick-up players that vary week-to-week as their opponents. The games are casual but the competitive spirit resides in every player that walks onto the field according to Bernie Daynes, Peterborough Challenger Baseball president.
“It's all about learning for them as well as some of them can hit a ball. Tonight (Thursday) was quite competitive but it's all about having fun as well,” he said. “They’re still learning some fielding fundamentals and that's what we do here.”
Peterborough Challenger Baseball has several divisions of all ages including Little League Juniors, Martinez Intermediates and Barfield Seniors. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The organization last year was able to have a season from the COVID-19 pandemic but got the thumbs-up for this summer. Weekly play typically begins in May but was delayed until mid-June through September.
Playing baseball was an activity both the players and staff were aiming for after coming off a forced hiatus of 16 months.
“We started planning for a return to play in January of this year. As soon as we got the go-ahead from the province and the local health board, we had our plan in action and we put the players back on the field very quickly,” said Daynes.
The PTBO Rockstars during their final game of the season. The team welcomes all skill levels to participate against the Challengers. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
