MLB’s Access Innovation Fund out to improve youth baseball and softball equity

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Design in Design Innovation | 0 Comments

On Monday afternoon before the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, MLB hosted the Access Innovation Fund Panel at Play Ball Park, with Mariners legend Harold Reynolds serving as moderator. The first part of the panel featured Cha Cha Sawyer and Julie McCleery from the King County Play Equity Coalition, along with Nova Newcomer, the Mariners director of community relations and the Mariners Care foundation.

McCleery led off the panel by noting that 50,000 kids in Washington State play Little League baseball, which is 3 percent of the total population. After the age of 7, participation in Little League Baseball begins to dwindle and, as the kids get into middle school, there are very few baseball opportunities at their academic institutions. Seattle’s rainy weather limits field access, with only 5 percent of fields being turfed and 15 percent having lights. Even if other fields are available, transportation is an issue in Seattle.

“The Mariners are looking at this Access Innovation Fund to build capacity in the organizations that are doing this work on the ground,” Newcomer said. “How to reach families, how to engage kids both in rural areas, but also in the inner city and then also where folks have been displaced through gentrification, as well.”

The lack of properly trained coaches is another factor that can contribute to decisions on youth participation. McCleery said that most coaches are focused on winning, rather than helping with the personal development of their players, which is the backbone of youth sports. That could sometimes intimidate a player and cause them to fall out of love with the game while also hindering their potential as human beings.

“I just want to encourage all of you who are parents to know that you have the power to change the system,” McCleery said. “It’s your questions and your decisions that are going to make those changes, and so if you start asking how the coaches in your program or chain drained, that makes a difference to that program.