by
posted 10/07/2011
Not only do we provide some really great recreational services to 150 – 200 special athletes, but we touch almost 2,000 buddies, coaches and volunteers throughout the western suburbs a year with our basketball and baseball programs. We benefit from having such great buddies and we think the buddy teams walk away with a little bit of a new perspective on the game which we have seen perpetuate as almost a pay it forward phenomenon.
Here is a letter we got from one of the East Tonka Little League coaches that just made my day. This just illustrates what a great partnership we have struck with the western suburb communities (so far Osseo, Edina, Holy Family, Providence Academy, Chanhassen, Shakopee, Orono and of course Minnetonka) and how we are so proud of the impact of this program.
Lisa Adzick
WMMA President
"Dear West Metro Miracle Athletics Board,
I have enclosed a check for a donation for the West Metro Miracle League from the Youngstedts ETLL American League Team of 2011.
I was the coach of the team and after every game the players would nominate “Miracle League Plays” from their teammates. There were a couple of rules. First, a player had to nominate a teammate’s play not his own. They also had to tell why they nominated the play. Second, it did not necessarily have to be a successful play, it could be a play where the player made a great effort but was unable to complete the play or where a player handled adversity well. Third, the players had to make the nominations – not the coaches. Finally, I had full veto power.
Every play that was a “Miracle League Play” I donated $1 to the fund. At first, the players had very few plays they would nominate and when they would they had a hard time explaining their reasoning. As the season went on, they nominated more and more plays and did a good job explaining why they felt their teammate’s play should be nominated.
The last quarter of the season as we would talk after the game, they could not wait to get to the “Miracle League Play.” It was always the last thing we did and they really looked forward to it. It was fun to hear them express their evaluation of the plays and fun to watch their teammate as they talked about him and the play he made. This check represents 200 plays that were nominated and accepted.
Our team had very few issues with behavior and got better and better as the year went on. We won the Raspberry tournament in Hopkins at the end of the season. The kids liked playing with each other and I believe part of this had to do with the fact they were able to be positive and complimentary of their teammate’s performance after each game. Scrappy even nominated his younger brother Peter sometimes!!!
Thanks for everything you and the board have done for WMML. It has added significance to the players that played on Youngstedts this past season at ETLL.
Sincerely,
Steve Haas"