Earlier this summer, Dawson International Truck Centres helped take a group of athletes with diverse abilities out to the ball game.
For more than a year, the Kamloops Challenger Baseball program raised funds to allow kids within their program to travel to Toronto, Ont., for the Challenger Baseball National Jamboree and a chance to play other kids from other Challenger Baseball programs, as well as enjoy a Toronto Blue Jays game.
“Dawson International Truck Centres were one of our biggest sponsors and also one of the first that jumped on board to help us out,” said Tyler Carpentier, Head Coach with the Kamloops Challenger Baseball program.
Challenger Baseball is a nation-wide program with locations in various Canadian cities, as they provide opportunities for you with diverse abilities the opportunity to play organized baseball. With the help of a few coaches and volunteers, their program runs from the spring into the fall, where players, from five-to-18-years old meet up once a week to learn and play baseball at McArthur Island Park.
Over the past few years, Carpentier and others within the Kamloops program have dreamt of taking 20 athletes and their support staff to Toronto to enjoy some baseball.
After a year-and-a-half of hard work, they raised enough money and visited Toronto last August.
“Having Dawson’s support was substantial. For many of the players and their families, this trip was something they couldn’t even financially dream about. To have their support and the support of the Kamloops community was pretty incredible,” said Carpentier, who has been coaching in the program for more than five years.
Their trip marked the first time an entire Challenger Baseball program from western Canada visited Toronto. In partnership with Jays Care Foundation and the Toronto Challenger Baseball program, the Kamloops location took on the hometown Toronto team in an extremely fun game on Roy Halladay Field. Roy Halladay Field opened two years ago and is Toronto’s first full-accessible baseball diamond.
Scores are not kept in Challenger Baseball, as every player gets the chance to hit and play the field. The program is designed to help children increase independence, self-esteem, relationships, courage, physical activity and literacy skills, among many things.
After their game against Toronto, the Blue Jays hosted the Kamloops team in their Community Care private box for an evening game against the Baltimore Orioles, which the Jays eventually won 7-6, to the delight of many Kamloopsians in the box.
If you are interested in supporting Kamloops Challenger Baseball, please contact Deanna Jones, Challenger Coordinator, at jones_a@telus.net.
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