BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — America's favorite pastime is being shared with everyone on the baseball diamond in Brooksville.
A new team is taking to the field this season, along with new dreams, thanks to the Buddy Ball program.
The all-inclusive program is run through Babe Ruth baseball and allows children of all abilities and disabilities to play.
Blake Nester, 10, joined the team for its first season.
He's always watched the sport his older sister played but never thought he could be on the field too.
"I did not think that there was going to be something like this," Nester said.
When his mom, Patricia Sullivan, saw the opportunity to get him involved, she didn't hesitate to sign her son up.
"He's paralyzed waist down but he has a stronger upper body. He's fully capable of doing a lot," Sullivan said. "It gives me a little fire to want to do more. To want to show everybody. To get this out there."
Jessica Owen is the director of the program and said Buddy Ball is part of her purpose.
"We accommodate wheelchairs, walkers, whatever they need, and then we assign a buddy to each player so that whatever they can't do, their buddy can then get the ball for them," Owen said. "This means everything to the players because now they can do something that they were always told they can't."
The program supplies everything for the players and doesn't cost the families a dime, but they need a little support of their own.
They're working to raise money for mats—the kind of mats that are used along the beaches to help people who use a wheelchair.
Owen said the mats are ideal to allow kids who use a wheelchair to move from base to base.
"With the clay and the wheelchairs and the electric chairs, it's really hard. Sometimes the kids get stuck," Owen said.
The mats will be a huge help, but the obstacle won't stop the kids from taking to the field or taking on a new way of thinking when they leave it.
"You can do anything anybody else can do and more," Nester said.
To learn more about the Buddy Ball program, click here or send an email to hylsoftball@yahoo.com or call 352-340-1891.
