Sometime shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday at the Bridgeport Recreation Complex, what many could easily argue is the best sporting moment of each of the last 15 years will take place. And you’ll know it’s underway when Josh Rhine sings “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

 

“He’s been doing that for the last 10 years. Josh is a big part of what we do along with his older brother Zach. He’s always ready to sign,” joked Mike Martin. “That’s the sign that we’re ready to get started.”

 

What’s ready to get started is the 15^th season of the Challenger Division of Little League Baseball. The division, stared by Martin and his wife Kim, involves nearly 90 physically and mentally challenged youngsters of various ages from counties throughout the region that are allowed to take part in the Little League experience.

 

“It’s a fun day for everyone,” said Martin. "We would like to invite the entire community to come out and watch these wonderful children."

 

The event will include several standard features that the children and spectators enjoy. Every member of all eight teams will be introduced along with their coaches. Josh Rhine will do his solo performance and a ceremonial first pitch will be thrown out. Martin is still working on who will do the honors this season.

 

“It will be fun and it’s nice to see that we have our number of participants up a little bit this year,” said Martin. “What’s amazing is that we started off thinking we would run this for a couple of years and let someone else take it over, but it’s become a big part of our lives. You just can’t help but to fall in love with these kids.”

 

Martin and others involved in the program have touted the pure joy experienced at Challenger Little League. He said there’s no arguing, no fighting and even the fans in the stands are always smiling.

 

“We’ve never had an issue and I think a lot of that rests with what the families of these children deal with; they understand adversity and not hitting a home run every time up to bat is not adversity,” said Martin. “I can’t place myself in the shoes of our families to understand why a child is born with a burden such as the burdens of our players, but being able to be involved and watch those same parents sit in the stands and watch and enjoy their children is such a wonderful thing.”

 

Martin said those involved run the gamut of physical and mental issues. Participants face autism, blindness, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome and numerous others, including many rare ailments.

 

“You bond with these children and you create friendships with them and their families. Myself and Kim, and our family and everyone involved, are blessed to have these individuals in our lives,” said Martin.

 

Martin said along with allowing the families and those playing to have a good time, the biggest thing that’s taken place in the last 15 years is watching the progression of the “buddy” system. The buddy system involves players from Bridgeport’s other Little League and any other baseball program, as well as long-time buddies that have moved on, to come out and help with a player on the teams. Each player has at least one buddy that hangs out and helps their player.

 

“The buddy system is something that’s been better than anything we could have imagined. From my experience with handicapped and special needs children, they are often socially accepted in grade school, but that often changes toward middle school and in high school,” said Martin. “We hoped friendships would be formed and carry over to the school and into our players’ social lives and it really had. The thing is that if you ask some of our buddies that have been around for a while they’ll tell you that they’ve been impacted by this just as much as the players. It’s really a beautiful thing to see.”

 

Martin said he’s had some buddies that were around for years such as Steve Stout and Curtis Stanley. Right now, he said Joe Cain and Tristan Knapp – both in college – have been involved since their Little League playing days.

 

“They’ll both be there Sunday. Joe is going to be dressed up as a baseball and Tristan is buddies with a little girl on the Red Sox team,” said Martin. “We’ve got a lot of really good young people in our community and it’s on display at this event.”

 

The league has two teams with youngsters 5 to 11 years of age and four teams at that feature kids 11 and older. Those teams consist of youth with disabilities that may not allow them to participate fully at a competitive level.

 

The remaining two teams, said Martin, are higher functioning children. He said they can usually run, throw and hit the ball a little bit better.

 

“We actually decided to keep score with that group a few years ago as long as we didn’t have any problems. We’re still doing it now so that tells you there aren’t problems,” said Martin.

 

For most of the years of Challenger League in Bridgeport, the children could participate as long as they were in high school or 21 years of age. Martin said Little League changed that recently and lifted the age requirement.

 

“We’ll have kids in their mid-20s playing Sunday. They’ll be having as much fun as our youngest players,” said Martin.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Mike Martin at his Bridgeport Physical Therapy office with an autographed jersey from one of the teams, while players are shown below.