Late in June, 52 teams took part in the Lincolnshire Sports Association’s third annual Summer Slam baseball tournament for travel teams of players age 8 to 14.
Because Lincolnshire doesn’t have a true park district, the program relies heavily on volunteers and donations, according to LSA travel baseball program director Lee Fell.
LSA uses five village-maintained baseball fields at the corner of Riverwoods and Everett roads in Lincolnshire, but Summer Slam serves to help fund the organization and its vision of providing opportunities to play sports for local youth.
Lee said every little bit helps make the program a success for the kids.
“We have people who are kind enough to help us run concessions, operate scoreboards, all kinds of things,” he said. “It really does take an entire community full of families to make this all work. And we’re always looking for more volunteers.”
Here’s more from Fell’s interview with Pioneer Press contributor Tim Froehlig.
Q: How long have you been director of the LSA’s travel baseball program?
A: I’ve been travel director for four years. This was our third annual Summer Slam baseball tournament. What we’ve been able to do in the past is take the funds we bring in and give them back to the village, so they can put time back into the fields.
Q: Why do you think your summer tournament has grown so quickly?
A: Three years ago we had 23 or 24 teams in it. When we first started the tournament several years ago, we always just envisioned it as a bunch of kids playing, practicing and having fun. We didn’t know how fast it would grow.
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Q: Do you get help from any other communities during your tournament?
A: Deerfield was kind enough to help us out and let us use a few fields in their town, because we had over 80 games at this year’s tournament. It was a five-day tournament and took a lot of help organizing.
Q: How many games does a team typically play in the LSA’s summer baseball travel program?
A: They’ll typically play 14 to 16 regular season games and several postseason tournaments, so somewhere between 25 to 30 games is normal. We just want to make sure the kids have an enjoyable time. That’s what we envisioned from the beginning of this program.
Q: Do you have a lot of local sponsors that helped with the tournament?
A: Sunset Foods provided 800 hamburgers and hot dogs and buns for free. PepsiCo provided Gatorade, Culligan provided bottled water. Sam’s Club allowed us to purchase certain items. We had volunteers for our concession stands. We had junior high kids in there helping. It’s a community effort.
Tim Froehlig is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @TFroehlig