By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher South Jersey Field of Dreams is an organization dedicated to bringing joy to the lives of physically and mentally challenged youth and adults by allowing them a special field and a league of their own to enjoy baseball, something many of the athletes involved have never had the chance to do before in their lifetimes. But the organization is doing good for surrounding communities in a way that perhaps the people involved with organizing and cultivating the success of the league in Absecon never really intended, or imagined would happen on such a grand scale. It’s easy to see what the players involved in the league get out of the weekend games in the fall and spring. Wide smiles spread across the faces of kids in wheelchairs or walkers who are getting the chance to experience a game they love in a way they never have before, aside from watching on television. But if you look out at the newly renovated turf field that was specially designed to accommodate physically challenged athletes, you’ll see the games have an equally powerful affect on some of the most gifted athletes in the area. 
Absegami High School athlete Lauren Kromenacker helps Lucia Corso run to first base after a big hit in a recent South Jersey Field of Dreams game in Absecon. High school athletes volunteering their time to help disadvantaged youth enjoy baseball games is a big reason the league has been so successful throughout the years. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) For years, area high school teams have been volunteering their time to buddy up with a Field of Dreams athlete, be a friend for a day, help them navigate the base paths and provide a steady stream of encouragement. Many times the star high school athletes go along on their first trip to the complex at 1000 Morton Avenue in Absecon because it’s required by their coaches as a community service event. There is a reason these coaches require their athletes to spend time at Field of Dreams, however. They want to give their athletes, who for most of their lives have been tremendously talented and successful, some perspective on what sports mean to kids who are less fortunate. And Joe Sabath, an assistant baseball coach and teacher at Absegami High School, said once a high school athlete attends a session, often times they are instantly hooked and continue to return as volunteer buddies. “All the kids that were there from Absegami (at the Sept. 20 season opener) came down on their own free will. They had all been there before with their sports teams. They just keep coming on their own because they know how important it is. As a teacher and a coach, that’s one of the things that is most impressive,” Sabath said. “And it’s not just Absegami. We’ve had Mainland, Holy Spirit, St. Joseph, Cedar Creek, EHT, Oakcrest. We have people from Stockton and Rowan. They show up once with their team and the next thing you know they are showing up the next week saying, ‘hey, I’m here to help. Can I help again?’ As a teacher in the high school, that’s really the coolest thing, whether they are my kids or other high school students.” The season opener for the fall schedule was an especially exciting moment for the league, as they unveiled their new mascot, “Goodwin.” Goodwin is an oversized beaver who wears a Field of Dreams jersey and a backwards hat, and the league collaborated with a professional mascot developer to come up with Goodwin’s costume. Sabatch said the infusion of an official mascot could go a long way in helping to garner donations from local businesses that help fund the league. “The biggest thing with the mascot is, it’s a big step. But every year we seem to do something bigger than we did the year before. Eleven years ago when we started we had that indoor-outdoor turf that people put on their porch. There was no fence, just the backstop. One bleacher. Now we have a turf field, a fence, we’ve had parties, we take the kids fishing. We jokingly say that we’re going to dome the whole stadium in one day. And with the way we come up with ideas and pull them off, I wouldn’t put it past us. But the idea of now having a mascot, it almost seems like we are really real now. And, ironically, the girl who is going to be the mascot is an Absegami student. She’s going to learn from the guy who was Mr. Met,” Sabath said. “It gives us another piece of advertising we can use when we go out into the public to talk about our organization, because it’s all donations and grants. We’re out there year-round talking to organizations trying to make this thing happen. Because this league, for the players, is 100 percent free. They don’t pay a penny for anything. We’ve spent a lot of money in the last 11 years, but it’s through the donations and people realizing how important it is. “We even have school organizations doing fund-raisers and donating money because the kids realize this is a good cause and this is something we should be trying to do.” Some of the high school students who were on hand for the fall season opener on Sept. 20 talked about their experiences with Field of Dreams. “It’s kind of emotional, I guess. It’s rewarding. It gives us perspective on how lucky we are and how we have everything, and how the little things matter with so many people,” said Calli Malia, a senior cheerleader at Holy Spirit High School. “I’ve done this for the last four years with cheerleading, and in middle school we came here and volunteered. Every year it’s different. Every year there are different kids and they have different perspectives, and they just brighten your day.” Said her cheerleading teammate Emily Kane, also a senior, “It’s very rewarding. We have a great time and I love to see their personalities come out when I get to talk to them. It gets very emotional sometimes because you realize how grateful you should be for what you have.” Kane said she has begun to realize just how highly regarded the high school athletes are by the kids in the league. “I think they definitely look up to us,” Kane said. “It makes us so happy to know that we can bring joy to the kids and make their experience a little better.” “It’s amazing. These kids idolize everybody who plays sports and to come out here and give back just a little bit of your time, it means the world to these kids. And just to see the smile on their faces is priceless,” said Caroline Kelley, a sophomore athlete at Absegami. 
Cheerleaders from Holy Spirit High School trumpet the arrival of Goodwin, the league’s new mascot who was introduced during the season-opener in September. Teachable moments Sabath said the best thing about having the high school athletes out there volunteering is the perspective it gives them and the newfound appreciation for their own talents that they have after working with the kids in the league. “It’s a very eye-opening thing and it’s a very teachable moment for any educator or coach who brings their kids down there. We really emphasize, meaning head coach Brian Wastell and the other Absegami coaches, and I know baseball coach (Bryan Carmichael) and his assistants at EHT do the same thing, (Mike) Isgro and his boys at Cedar Creek, it’s all about taking these kids and making them realize that when you strike out and you want to cuss and throw your helmet, next time that happens to you stop and rea
lize just how lucky you are to play the game you love and how well you can play it. Appreciate your talents. And it is an absolute teachable moment,” Sabath said. “I’ve seen kids from our program who were the helmet throwers really mature from this experience because of the realization of how lucky they are to be able to play the game compared to the kids out here.” Sabath said he really gets a kick out of the changes he sees in the football players. Their macho bravado subsides when they step onto the field in Absecon and he gets to see a compassionate side of them that rarely comes out on the football field. “I think the biggest surprise is seeing the big, bad football kids come down, and then they show up week after week,” Sabath said. “We have some kids in the league who go to Absegami now and I vividly remember walking into the senior cafeteria during the last couple of years and seeing those defensive and offensive linemen sitting at the table with the kids, helping them get their lunch. When they walk down the hallway they are treated just like any other kid. We have our athletes who go just to cheer on the (Absegami) kids who are in the league. It definitely has carried over into the school.” Sabath said each spring the Absegami baseball coaching staff makes it a mandatory practice for the freshmen to volunteer on a Saturday. They want to plant the seed early on in a high school athlete’s career that there is a bigger world out there beyond the baseball diamond. “We take the (Absegami) baseball team and we make the freshmen go. We emphasize that this is a mandatory practice for them. And every year we have a freshman baseball player who is just hanging out in the back during the first game, and then the next game he’s helping, and the next thing you know he shows up the following week on his own,” Sabath said. “It’s not surprising anymore because it happens so frequently from the kids from all the high schools, but to see kids give up a Saturday, a Sunday afternoon, to come out and do that is pretty cool. They work five or six days a week practicing for their sports and then they find an hour or two on the weekends when they probably should be relaxing, to come down and do that.” Carry-over effect Another byproduct of the high school athletes volunteering, Sabath said, is their experiences act as a tool to break down some of the barriers between teenagers. Disabled kids who might normally get bullied in the school hallways are now revered because of their dedication to the way they play baseball, and Sabath said it’s not uncommon to see friendships blossom between teenagers who normally would never interact with each other. “On a larger scale, I think it has carried over into the local community here. I think giving the high school athletes this experience, we’ve broken down some of the social barriers in the local community. You don’t have the kids walking to the other side of the grocery store when you have a disabled person coming their way,” Sabath said. “I really think we’ve impacted the local community. The kids in the league are just like any other kids. They go to prom, they are treated just like regular kids and I think it’s because these athletes are helping us out. They are breaking those barriers down. “The kids who come over and help out are different kids now. It’s definitely made an impact.” Said Kelley, “It really puts things into perspective and you realize just how blessed you are. It’s mind-blowing. These kids come from all over, they drive hours to get here just to play a simple game of baseball. It really makes you think about how lucky you are, and just the simplest things we do mean the world to them. “I love coming out here and seeing all the smiles and how happy everybody is. It’s really fun, you enjoy it, you bond with the kids. It’s really fun to come out here and interact with them. It’s a really great way to spend your day.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
South Jersey Field of Dreams relies on high school athletes volunteering to sustain success
