By: Danny May
Hearing Paula Lamar describe her son Tyler, you quickly realize he is like most teenage boys. He’s good with technology, he loves pizza, he quotes movie lines non-stop, he listens to country music, and he plays his Wii almost every afternoon. At first glance you would also notice that he’s tall for his age. But the one thing that makes Tyler different from most of his Apollo High School classmates is that he was born with Down syndrome. And when he was just a few years old doctors discovered Tyler also had autism as well.
Paula Lamar, a member of the Buddy Ball Board and a Special Education teacher for Daviess County Public Schools, explains, “As a parent, it’s easy to dwell on what your special needs child can’t do. Tyler won’t ever get to drive a car. He’ll never be married. But the things he can do definitely outweigh the few things he can’t do.”
Because of Two Rivers Buddy Ball, playing sports goes on the “can do” list.
Buddy Ball gives children with disabilities an opportunity to be a part of a sports team by taking out the competition and focusing on fun. Even though teams might wear different shirts, the sidelines and dugouts seem more like one big team in Buddy Ball because everyone cheers and roots for each other. It’s all about inclusion and focusing on abilities. There’s no need to keep track of errors. A kid might swing and miss twenty times but when they do hit the ball – everyone cheers.
They just go out and have fun.
Spectators at Buddy Ball events have plenty to smile about as well. “There are lots of high fives and standing ‘O’s in Buddy Ball, that’s for sure,” Lamar said, smiling as a memory came to mind. “There was one game where Tyler actually waltzed with his mentor all the way to first base!”
The name “Buddy Ball” comes from the idea of pairing each participant with a mentor to help assist the players during games. Local schools and churches recruit the mentors, who are usually high school or college students interested in working with disabilities as a career.
Within the Buddy Ball community, there is an automatic camaraderie that develops among the parents. “For me,” Paula Lamar explained, “The great thing about Buddy Ball is the chance to meet more parents who share the same experience I have. The stands are full of people who support each other by sharing resources, stories, which doctors and specialists to go to, things like that. It really is a community and it helped me to not feel so isolated.”
The story of Two Rivers Buddy Ball traces back to 2003 when founder Billy Shain and his wife Tami adopted two sons with special needs. The boys played in a special needs baseball league in Henderson and had a blast! Sadly, the league disbanded the next season, but that is what lead Billy to try and start a similar league here in Owensboro. With help from his friend Charlie Pierce, the first season of Buddy Ball was held in 2008 with 43 players. One of the initial goals was to make Buddy Ball free of charge for parents because the founders felt that parents of special needs children already have enough to deal with. Since its first season, Buddy Ball has become so popular that they’ve added new sports every year since. Today, Buddy Ball has grown to include bowling, soccer, a fishying tournament, baseball, swimming, the Jared Payne memorial mini golf scramble, basketball, cheerleading, and the special needs awareness fair.
“It’s a safe place,” Paula says. “And they just enjoy it so much. We all do! It’s something Tyler really looks forward to. Especially in the summer months because it’s a way to stay in touch with his friends he wouldn’t get to see until school started again if it wasn’t for Buddy Ball.”
It takes an entire community to run a program as involved as Buddy Ball. Obviously it needs players and their parents, but it also takes mentors, coaches, volunteers, and donors to maintain the program. Because of Owensboro’s continued support, the future looks bright for Two Rivers Buddy Ball. A portion of the proceeds from the Color Blast 5K will help Buddy Ball continue to grow its sports programs and increase it’s outreach to other children with special needs.