The Miracle League of Riverside Baseball has announced the opening of registration for players, coaches and volunteers for the 2023 season.
The league held their inaugural year in 2022, due to the pandemic pushing the league’s kickoff back two years.
The Miracle League of Riverside Baseball provides the opportunity for children and adults with disabilities a chance to play baseball, make new friends, and build self esteem.
Commissioner Jason Dupuis says they're looking forward to getting back on the field.
He's hoping they see similar numbers turn out as they did last year, and maybe even more as they plan to do more outreach this year with a season under their belts.
"Aside from that we were kind of comfortable with where we were at last year. We know Amherstburg will be up and running again this year, which wasn't the case when we kicked off in the spring of last year. So we're just hoping to get as many players as want to come out and participate, and we hope we can provide an experience for anyone that wants to," he said.
Dupuis says they had a lot of fun last year, but that there were a number of challenges that they learned a lot from.
He says everyone involved is hoping to implement those lessons in order to create a better experience for everyone involved this year.
"Once we got it up and running everything went pretty well. Obviously there were hiccups along the way, things that we wouldn't have necessarily expected. Things in the programming and ways to make the game a little bit smoother for everyone. Learning those things and applying them to our next season hopefully will create a much better experience for our players."
Volunteers and coaches are the driving force behind the league, and Dupuis is hoping to recruit a diverse and enthusiastic group to support the league.
He says they were lucky to have a great group of volunteers last year who dedicated incredible amounts of time and energy.
With a more normal situation this year compared to where we were heading into spring a year ago, Dupuis says the excitement is there from everyone involved.
"We've got a core group of volunteers that's really done a great job in kind of taking the lessons that we learned last year and applied them towards creating a better experience," Dupuis continued. "And just having the history of last year giving us more tools that we can use to create an amazing atmosphere for the players is pretty exciting."
All games are played at the Miracle Field, which is adjacent to the Riverside Baseball Centre.
Anyone wishing to sponsor a team, or to bring a group out to volunteer for a game, can also contact the Miracle League.
Player and volunteer registration is available online here, and a nominal fee of $45 applies to all player registrations.
Spring season begins on May 13, and runs through to June 24.
Dupuis says anyone who registers for the spring will also be registered for the fall as well.