League of Dreams bring special needs athletes, parents together
Sep. 26—Halle Hollowell's face lit up with every shot she took Sunday inside the gym at the RiverLakes Ranch Community Center.
"Awesome, it hit the rim!" she exclaimed with delight as her friend and fellow League of Dreams athlete Elaina Valdepena, 22, watched right alongside her, a pair of "angels," or supporters for the athletes, holding their wheelchairs.
The 21-year-old Hollowell heard about the league from her friend, and was enjoying an opportunity to practice the sport she started playing almost a year ago.
League of Dreams is a 16-year-old local sports organization for special needs athletes. It has an office on Meaney Avenue, and through a number of partnerships, it hosts games on fields and in gyms throughout Bakersfield.
"We provide programs that are fun and sometimes competitive to athletes that typically wouldn't have a chance to play sports," said Jessica Mathews, the organization's outgoing longtime executive director.
It has steadily grown from about 40 athletes in 2007 to the approximately 200 who were registered for Sunday's games, she said.
Like any youth league, many of the coaches had kids who were on their teams, but there didn't seem to be the same focus on the competition on the court Sunday, moreso the camaraderie. And there was no shortage of enthusiasm from the crowd.
Mike Holloway, a coach who has two sons who play in the league, sounded as though he enjoys the games as much as the players and their audience.
"It's a blast. It's a community for us parents," he said, adding he's been involved for about seven years. "It's good for the kids because the kids love it. But it's an actual community for the parents and gives us an opportunity to talk and hang out with people that are the same as us."
Currently, it's a league in transition. Mathews recently announced the search to replace her, with her taking a job as a national fundraiser with Studio 4Forty.
The organization is also looking for volunteers, who are known as angels, to help with its sports leagues.
"We're always looking for volunteers," said Lauren Ponec-Edwards, assistant coordinator for League of Dreams, who added that "we'd never turn down anyone who wanted to help out."
Bryan Jackson, 39, volunteers as a coach because he loves to give back and, as an adult with autism, he's happy to see that such a league exists for athletes ages 5 to 22, because no such organization existed when he was that age.
"I love coaching — these kids are amazing. They really are," Jackson said before the games got started, "and just seeing them happy and having a great time out here means a lot to me."
The organization now offers 10 activities, including baseball, which was the first sport, as well as basketball, bowling, dance, fencing, fitness, gymnastics, karate, yoga and, as of more recently, cheerleading.
Marci Dahm, a parent of three, became emotional as she described how great the league is for her daughter Liz, a 17-year-old with cerebral palsy who's played baseball and basketball, but is currently enjoying cheerleading.
"She's very severely disabled," Dahm said, "so if it wasn't for League of Dreams, she wouldn't get to do anything. I think she enjoys the socialization."
The benefit of having a network of parents is also really helpful, she said, with Holloway also mentioning a Facebook page that parents use.
"You know, it's very helpful, because I feel like navigating the whole system with a disabled child is very difficult," Dahm said. "And so, you know, being able to have some camaraderie, but also ... ask questions, get some resources, find out things that you didn't know, was very helpful."
Anyone looking for more information about League of Dreams can visit ourleagueofdreams.com, or call 661-616-9122.
