By Mike Morsch, Executive editor
When it rains in the spring and summer, youth baseball players have to stop playing baseball. It’s a sport that’s played outside, so that’s just the way that’s kind of always been.
But some of the parents of the East Windsor and Hightstown ballplayers started thinking that there may be another option.
“A bunch of us got together and said you know what, we could really use an indoor baseball/softball complex,” said East Windsor resident Dan Klim. “It’s one of those things that you can talk about it and talk about it and talk about it. You just have to decide to commit to it and do it. Let’s move forward.”
So that’s what a group of parents have done. Spurred by the fact that participation in youth team sports has decreased over the past several years and the desire to have a local indoor facility for youth sports, the parents have formed the East Windsor Hightstown Youth Sports Parent Group – comprised of parents, coaches and volunteers – whose goal is to develop young athletes into future leaders and to raise enough money to build such an indoor facility.
The group will have its inaugural fundraising event, a youth sports panel discussion, from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at the Erik B. Hanson Field House on the Peddie School campus in Hightstown.
The event will feature a presentation by Roman Oben, the National Football League’s director of youth and high school football. He is responsible for the NFL’s youth football strategy and also with developing new programs to encourage participation in tackle and flag football.
Mr. Oben is a 12-year veteran of the NFL and was an offensive lineman for the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Diego Chargers. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl championship team in 2003.
“It became clear that we needed a facility where all kids can come together and participate. Kids who love to play sports and be active,” said Mr. Klim. “We’re all seeing the trend that youth sports are on the decline. This group kind of grew organically to say, we do need to bring awareness to what sports specialization is doing. We need to bring awareness to the fact that kids – for whatever reasons now – aren’t playing sports or being as active as they should be.”
As executive director of the American Physical Therapy Association of New Jersey, Mr. Klim had in the past worked with NFL Players Association and knew some of the players.
“I know Roman is a passionate youth sports advocate. He feels that kids should be playing multiple sports. He’s an intelligent and well-spoken guy, one of the people that I admire and respect,” said Mr. Klim. “He agreed to come down and give a presentation on what the NFL is seeing, and not just from a football vantage point. But a global youth sports vantage point.”
The fundraising project is still in its infancy and the group is organically evolving, so there isn’t currently a timeline to when a local indoor sports arena could be built. Although it started with baseball parents, the group has evolved include parents, coaches and volunteers from many different youth sports.
“The first step is getting the message out there that this is an impact that youth sports parents, coaches and volunteers can make on the community because we all want our kids to be active,” said Mr. Klim. “We’re in the beginning stages. This is a real opportunity to set the tone for what we want to do in Hightstown and East Windsor to bring about awareness and we hope over time that we can engage more kids.”
Online registration for the event is $10 per person is now open at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-youth-sports-panel-discussion-with-the-nfls-roman-oben-tickets-18912950143. Area high school students and athletes can attend for free. Advanced registration is recommended. For more information, visit www.ewhyspg.wordpress.com.
“The more parents that we can engage in the dialogue, the more that are willing to say yes, I want to be a part of it, that’s how we’ll make an impact. If the local businesses are willing to assist us as well, that would be great. So that’s really where we’re going,” said Mr. Klim.
