MLB offers Compton youth a field of dreams
Jessica Flores | Intersections Contributor | 3-30-2010 | Comments |
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Under a blazing sun and looking out onto newly manicured grass, dozens of Los Angeles area high school baseball players got a chance to hit it like the pros. Twenty-four area high schools are showcasing their skills with wooden bats in the inaugural Dennis Gilbert MLB Urban Youth Academy Easter Classic tournament in Compton this week, which will run until April 3.“To go to the next level, you have to hit with wood anyway, you might as well start now,” says MLB Urban Youth Academy senior director and former Angels catcher Darrel Miller.
The tournament is the latest event in the academy’s string of efforts to give more inner-city youth the tools to get beyond the barriers that keep them from pursuing their dream of college or a career in professional baseball. Using a wooden bat is just one of those tools.
As Josh Valencia stood on deck to bat for West Adams Preparatory High School in Monday’s round of games, he said using a wooden bat felt a bit strange.
“During the rest of the season we bat with aluminum, and this is only a couple of games, so we have an adjustment to make,” said Valencia.
The Urban Youth Academy opened its doors in Compton in 2006 with a goal to support inner-city youth in a relatively expensive sport. The costs, lack of facilities and unsafe parks have kept many urban youth away from the sport. Since the academy’s opening, thousands of area youth have used the professional fields, batting cages, state-of-the-art equipment and free coaching and tutoring lessons.
“We used baseball to be the Trojan horse to get our kids really excited about finishing school and also excited about going to college,” said Miller.
The hope is that the resources will prepare the next generation of inner-city youth for college, and the best of its athletes, for the pros.
"My dream is to go to college, that will set me up for the future, that will further my process in becoming a man before taking that step into the pros," said West Adams’ star player Kory Akins, who has been going to the academy for the past two years.
Akins’s noticed how the academy has helped him overcome some of his weaknesses as a player, such as his shortfalls as a pitcher. He’s also noticed how the academy has been the playing field used to overcome weaknesses in parts of South Los Angeles.
“At the high school there's a lot of drama between black and brown . . . but in the academy and in any field I play, there's really no racial tension at all. Baseball is just baseball and everyone just wants to come out and have fun," said Akins, whose team is composed of black and Latino players.
Akins’ coach, Raul Carlos, thinks his community can learn a lesson from his players.
“We're getting along on the baseball field and being an example to the rest of the community," said Carlos.
While Carlos is proud his team is diverse, he points out that American Major League Baseball is not.
"This is American's pastime, and we hope that we would be able to represent that in a first-class manner, and I say ‘we’ meaning the kids who were born and raised in South L.A.,” said Carlos.
In the past 30 years, the number of black players in the league has gone down. In the 1970s, black players made up about 30 percent of the MLB teams. That figure stands at about 8 percent, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics and Sport, the lowest it has been in at least the last 20 years.
Watching the games from the bleachers, MLB Urban Youth Academy instructor Marques Williams reflects on the change from the days of Hank Aaron and Willie Mays to his own career in professional baseball as a player with the Houston’s Astro’s organization.
“I was one of the few [black men] in my teams everywhere that I went when I was playing professional baseball," said Williams.
William knows how the Urban Youth Academy can level the playing field.
He first got on track for the pros when he started training at the academy’s facility while he was attending Compton Community College, where the academy is located.
Professional baseball was not on his radar until he got the professional training and ability to workout in an MLB-style facility, Williams said.
"A kid can come in off the street and if he wants to play baseball we can show him the right things and he has the ability to work with other players who share the same goal,” said Williams.
Major League Baseball plans to expand its presence in inner city America by opening up a sister facility in Houston.
"When a facility is built like this by Major League Baseball, it gives kids an opportunity to fulfill their dreams," said Williams.
Photo credit: Creative Commons
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