As far as many people in the Lawrence baseball community can remember, competitive baseball in the area began with the Douglas County Amateur Baseball Assn. for players as young as 6 years old.
"There are people who come and watch the kids play on the same very same fields they used to play on," Steve Toalson said.
Toalson, who coaches the Clippers, the team his son Chris is on now, said the league hasn't changed much since he coached his son Colin five years ago.
"Things change but you see the same types of kids," he said.
One change that he does see is that numbers are down slightly. He remembers 10 teams being in the league then compared to the six teams in the 8-U league this year. Toalson said that the bigger the number of participants who begin playing baseball in DCABA at a young age, the more the baseball community will thrive in Lawrence in the long run.
"The more experience players have playing contributes to more quality baseball at the Heinrich League level and in high school," Toalson said.
One factor that may have had an effect on turnout is the Lawrence school district preventing private organizations from handing out flyers at the school.
"Now the only people who know about DCABA are those who have been involved in it or have heard about it from people who have been involved in it," Toalson said.
Toalson said he couldn't call every 7-year-old in Lawrence, but he made an attempt to spread the word by calling the parents of the students at his son's school, Langston Hughes.
The 8-U DCABA league is unique from the other age divisions in the league because players are assigned to teams based on the region of Lawrence they live in. The players on the Clippers are from Langston Hughes Elementary School and Sunflower Elementary School.
Creating teams in this way helps to create deeper relationships and other benefits off the field. Because they live near each other they have the opportunity to share experiences in different contexts and grow and learn together. Toalson has coached some of the same kids throughout the league since T-ball and knows many of them off the field from his involvement with Cub Scouts and soccer. He uses this familiarity to share his passion of baseball with them.
"I want to see DCABA around for a long time," Toalson said. "People who have been around know the history of DCABA and how important it is to our community, but now we need to build the knowledge base."
Fortunately for the 8-U league, fewer teams have not affected the level of competition. Even though the players in DCABA are only beginning to learn the game, they also cling to the competition that playing an organized game lends itself to.
"I'd love to see more teams playing, but I still think the league would be successful if there were only three teams," Toalson said. "A lot of the kids check the Web site to see the standings."
The kids aren't the only ones who check the site regularly; Toalson admits to using his lunch break to catch up on league action while en route to double-checking what field his team is playing on that night.
Even though the Jets and Bulls are on top of the 8-U League, they have seen their fair share of close battles in league play, which will wrap up before the Fourth of July.
The Hornets (4-5) defeated the Jets, 22-21, Wednesday, and the next night the Hornets replicated their work from the night before and beat the Jets again by the same score.
The Hornets are in a dog fight in the league standings with the Pistons and Clippers. In fact, all teams are within one game of each other.
Toalson said that this competition that DCABA provides is an opportunity for players that they can't find elsewhere starting at a young age.
"This is where kids come to play and learn the game of baseball," he said. "We get a lot of kids who really are serious about playing, and there are a lot of great teachers out here which really makes it special."
For players who aren't quite as serious about baseball, DCABA meets their niche also.
"It's a growth opportunity," Toalson said of the organization.
It's teaching these players that Toalson finds the most rewarding, though.
"It sends tingles down my spine when I see players who aren't necessarily the stars of the team be the star of the game," he said.
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