When I look back at my childhood while growing up in a rural setting on the Miramichi River in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick, I feel very lucky. I feel lucky that, like many others growing up in the seventies and eighties, I was given a lot of space, freedom and opportunity to play freely like children were meant to do. The beach was a one minute walk. The forest was a two minute walk. The ball field was a 30 second walk. The elementary school was a five minute walk. My grandfather’s farm, equipped with horses, pigs, and chickens was a 5 minute drive. And, within my own yard, there were swings, a large sandbox, 2 sets of horseshoe pits, a hill to roll down on in a barrel, an outdoor rink constructed by my Uncle and father, a large-lawned yarn adjoined by other large-lawned yards without fences which made for excellent hide-and-go-seek terrain, a homemade teeter totter and a pitcher’s mound, home plate and back stop that was always measured out to the correct dimension, according to my age category. I was always a pitcher and at 48 years of age as I write this, I still compete in a
competitive league. I’m still playing and it feels great!
I was always playing sports as a kid and doing so with other neighbourhood kids without the supervision of adults. We always figured it out. Were there times when we got hurt? Sure. Were there times when things got out of hand a bit? Sure there were, but we always figured it out and for the most part, we had a blast. I know that times change and that things never stay the same but it’s in my humblest of opinions that kids at play without the constant supervision of adults is one of those things that us adults should try our darnedest to help keep a constant. Unfortunately, it’s not very difficult to see that we are failing to do so.
I have always been interested in helping kids play sports and if I were to be more clear, I have always been interested in helping kids play and learn sport that usually don’t have the chance to do so in an organized manner. Joining an organized sport for an inexperienced child can be a very intimidating venture and if said child doesn't have the same exposure that others may have, it’s quite possible that they would lose interest - not because they’re disinterested, but because the confidence level wouldn’t have a natural time to evolve. I’ve thought a lot about this topic and because of the obvious absence of kids at play without adult supervision in recent years, many kids just aren’t being exposed to sport the way that kids that grew up in different eras were. This is what prompted me to begin a program that aimed at recreating a neighbourhood kids at play scene. I called it ‘BACKYARD BASEBALL...NO PARENTS ALLOWED.’
I was fortunate enough to have received funding from the BC Gaming Grants and for the past couple of summers I was fortunate enough to have had the experience of meeting a wonderful array of children that were interested in learning how to play baseball and were interested in having fun while doing so. I was also very fortunate to have had their parents be on board with my program, which politely asked them to stay away and let us play. The results were positive and the kids wanted more and I was asked to come back but unfortunately, I couldn’t, due to a relocation out of province.
We showed up each Friday evening on a beautiful pitch of grass, we oftentimes shook our shoes off and allowed our feet to feel the earth. We began with tennis balls and with most not even knowing the rules, or having the initial skills of being able to throw and catch and hit. We ended with real baseballs and with everyone knowing the basic rules and evolving the basic skills. We learned by playing and by everyone giving everyone else full respect and patience. It was undoubtedly one of my most fulfilling projects to date. I made a sign that we hung up each week on the fence. I made our own scoreboard. We received equipment from a local Little League in Vancouver. We designed our own logo and tee shirts. We made friends and we had so much fun!
I thank Abigail, Logan, Owen, Wally, Thadian, Hannah, Stefan, Mihalo, Emma, Lacey, Nolan, Ryan, Atticus, Silas, Ezra and Aiden. I thank Meghan (Owen and Wally’s Mom) for manifesting the project, organizing so much, coordinating with everyone and for writing the grant. I thank her especially. I thank all of the parents for supporting the project and for allowing me to be myself to do my work.
I will never forget our time together and I will be forever grateful for the growth that you all allowed me in my life. I hope that our base paths will meet again.
sincerely,
Jamie Comeau
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