Harford Miracle League breaks ground on adaptive ball field for youth with special needs

Gina Paul has seen first-hand what a Miracle League adaptive baseball field for children and young adults with disabilities can bring to a community.

Her son, Josh Paul, was the first Miracle League Harford County participant, representing the county on an All-Star team during a tournament in Finley, Ohio, last year.

“What we witnessed that weekend in Ohio was what it does for the community and the other able people in the community, the support and camaraderie,” Gina Paul said Tuesday during a groundbreaking for Harford’s Miracle League field at Schucks Road Regional Park.

“I can’t even express to you the significance of what Tom is trying to bring to Harford County,” she said, referring to Tom Walls, who founded the Harford County chapter of Miracle League with his family in 2016 and has been working to get a field built ever since.

“The field in and of itself, I can vouch for what he says the field is and what it does for these young adults and kids who might not otherwise be able to play ball.”

The mission of the Conyers, Georgia-based Miracle League, founded in 2000, is to give people with special needs the opportunity to play baseball on fields designed to accommodate them and their wheelchairs or other support devices, according to the organization’s website.

Walls learned about Miracle League from his nephews in Alabama who were involved with building a field there. He first saw the Alabama field in 2014 and knew he wanted to bring one to Harford.

“We want to create a state-of-the-art, specially designed ball field for accessible activities as a symbol of hope and healthy choices for everyone who plays on the field,” Walls said at the groundbreaking. “We can’t cure or change the medical issues life has dealt children with disabilities; what we can do is provide them with an opportunity to experience the joy and benefits that come with playing our national pastime.”

Walls, who is president of Plaza Ford in Bel Air, recalled his cousin who had Down syndrome who loved watching baseball but could never play, as well as the number of siblings with disabilities he saw watching their brothers and sisters play ball during his time coaching girls softball for the Forest Hill Recreation Council.

“These two situations broke my heart,” said Walls, who also served on several boards with The Arc Northern Chesapeake Region, which supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Harford County.

In 2017, Walls and other members of the Miracle League Harford County board met with Harford County Executive Barry Glassman and several county department heads to discuss the idea, and to see if the county would be amenable to the field being built on county land.

“We were unsure how the concept of a special ball field — built on county land, with donations from corporate and private donors, and only intended to serve individuals with special needs and disabilities — would be accepted,” Walls said.

It didn’t take much persuasion to get the county on board, as the adaptive ball field fit in with the Glassman administration’s vision to expand services to Harford residents with disabilities.

During the groundbreaking, Glassman referenced events such as the Learn-to-Ride bike camp, the upcoming wheelchair Halloween costume event at Ripken Stadium next month, and the county’s award-winning sensory trail at Schucks Road Regional Park, where the county has agreed to allow the Miracle League to build its field.

“I truly believe giving one person with a differing ability a chance to socialize learn new skills and have fun — simply have fun — lifts up a whole family, and the ripple effect, the entire community can feel,” Glassman said.

“I got to help out, it wasn’t my idea, but we are so proud to be able to provide space for it and a little bit of financial assistance to get it moving so we can create this historic baseball field for all our citizens throughout the county,” he said.

Ben Mayforth, who is a board member for the Harford Miracle League, said it was sports programs like these that prepared him to play wheelchair basketball at the University of Missouri, Columbia, but also gave him structure in his life and taught him lessons about discipline and teamwork.

“Those lessons are priceless to me. And I’m thankful for those opportunities that changed my life forever,” he said at Tuesday’s groundbreaking. “This field will allow the access for disabled athletes to experience opportunities that will change your life forever right here in Harford County.”

The hope is to have the field ready by April 1, if Mother Nature cooperates. Walls said the plan is to have bulldozers working on grading in early December.

Walls thanked those attending the groundbreaking for their support of the project, financially and otherwise — particularly the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, which will oversee construction and has been instrumental in opening doors for the organization along the way, he said.

But the Miracle League is still looking for more help.

Thus far, $650,000 has been raised to build the field, projected to cost $825,000 to $850,000, he said. The league is working with local contractors for in-kind donations for their work, but could use additional financial support, with expenses once the field and the league are up-and-running to be about $25,000 annually.

But the league also needs volunteers to help with coordinating teams and game schedules, and to help out with fundraising events — a golf tournament is scheduled for Oct. 11 at Winters Run Golf Club, and the Knights of Columbus from St. Mary’s church in Pylesville will have a second annual bowling event for Miracle League in February.

Most importantly, they need volunteers to be buddies for the players.

“The buddy will help the player when batting, fielding and running the bases,” Walls said. “And that buddy a lot of times will become a personal friend to that player.”

Gina Paul spoke about the buddy system she saw in place while her son participated in the All-Star game in Ohio.

“The family that was Joshua’s buddy system was wonderful. The wife was a volunteer, the husband was a volunteer. They even had their young daughters on the field helping Josh’s adult buddy," she said.

“Just to even watch their faces, their interactions with not only Josh to but everyone on the field, it’s just really heartwarming. I wish I could express in words better what it does for the community as a whole, not just the kids and young adults with special needs and disabilities.”

For more information about the Harford Miracle League or to donate or volunteer, visit miracleleagueharford.org.