Multiple choice question: Which kids are entitled to participate in Little League baseball?

A) Any kid who isn't affected by a severe physical or mental disability.
B) Any kid who passes a basic skills test.
C) Any kid whatsoever, regardless of skill level or disability.

If you chose Answer C, you're right! Take a run around the bases, do a victory dance on home plate and scarf down a couple of hot dogs for good measure.

If you answered A or B, you probably don't know all you should about Little League, particularly about a special part of the program called the Challenger Division.

A CHALLENGING IDEA

L.B. Hoff, a 7-year-old with Duchenne MD, gets in the swing of things with help from his dad as they warm up for the 1999 Challenger Little League season. Photo by Vikki Schmoeger

Challenger Little League was established in 1989 for youngsters with physical or mental disabilities, ages 5 to 18.

L.B. Hoff, a 7-year-old from Burlington, N.C., has been taking part in the program for several years. He has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

"He loves it," says his dad, Bill Hoff, an advocate for children with disabilities. "He just has fun with it like you wouldn't believe."

L.B.'s Duchenne, which was diagnosed at 18 months, is advancing more rapidly than the norm. Although most boys with Duchenne don't start relying upon a wheelchair until they are 10 or older, 7-year-old L.B. -- short for "Little Bill" -- recently began using a manual chair full-time and will soon graduate to a power chair.

"His heart and his lungs are already affected," says his dad of the cheerful, sweet-faced boy who revels in the fun and excitement of being a Challenger player.

L.B. is one of some 23,000 youngsters nationwide who take part in the Challenger program, according to Lance Van Auken, director of publications and media relations for Little League Baseball, a nonprofit organization with its international headquarters in Williamsport, Pa.

"We have learning disabilities and physical ones," Hoff says of the Challenger teams in his area.

"We have some kids with cerebral palsy, some with multiple sclerosis. Many of the children are wheelchair users. Some have muscular dystrophy. Some have Down's syndrome. Everybody's treated equal."

"It runs a full gamut," says Van Auken of the range of disabilities that may be found on a Challenger team.

Challenger teams, which usually have 15 to 20 players, always play against other Challenger teams. As in other Little League divisions, both boys and girls are welcome to play.

BASEBALL FEVER

Like L.B., Matt Swinton of Southlake, Texas, loves playing Challenger ball. Matt is 8 and has spinal muscular atrophy.

Matt Swinton, seated, and his Challenger "buddy" learn tolerance and cooperation while playing baseball.

Matt is an enthusiast and a straight-A student who is up to almost any challenge. "I would say he's an over-achiever," says Matt's mother, DeAnn Swinton. Recently Matt competed in and completed a 5K run in his motorized wheelchair, which goes 8 miles per hour.

Matt experienced a "Babe Ruth moment" at a Texas Rangers game several years ago when he was allowed to give a special "good luck touch" to the bat of Rangers catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. Rodriguez hit a home run and the team went on to win the game.

Matt really got stuck on playing ball through his participation in an annual softball tournament coordinated by local MDA staff at the Dr Pepper Youth Ballpark in Arlington in conjunction with MDA "Love Network" station KXAS-TV's local broadcast of the Telethon.

Each year, able-bodied young people from an organization called Texas Rangers Teens on the Ball are on hand to help "Jerry's kids" like Matt fully participate in a softball game. Parts of the game have been broadcast on the Telethon, showing Matt zipping around the bases like a real pro.

The event is especially fun for Matt because it allows him to reunite with other kids with neuromuscular diseases he has befriended at MDA summer camp. But as great as it is, the event only takes place one day a year, not nearly enough to placate Matt's baseball fever.

"We started looking around and found the Challenger league," DeAnn Swinton says. "It's an awesome opportunity for him. He's had so much fun."

Challenger baseball lasts not for one day but for a whole season, about two months of weekly play starting around the beginning of spring.

BUDDY, BUDDY

"One of the nicest things about the Challenger Division is that most of the players are assigned a 'buddy' for a game," Van Auken says.

A buddy, sometimes a parent but often an able-bodied child from one of the other divisions of Little League, helps the Challenger player fulfill all the actions of a regular Little League game.

"If the Challenger player needs help swinging a bat, the buddy helps swing the bat, or maybe will bend down to pick up the ball if the player is in a wheelchair, or push them around the bases," Van Auken explains. "It's not only a great thing for those Challenger Division players, but it's a great education process for the able-bodied players."

"No child is left alone," Bill Hoff says. "There's a parent or a buddy that participates in the game and helps them bat and get around to the bases. Everybody hits, and everybody goes to the bases. It doesn't matter how long it takes. Everybody hits the ball."

Matt Swinton invites a different friend to be his "buddy" each time he plays. Even before the season started this year, several of his able-bodied friends asked if they'd be able to join him on the playing field as his "buddy."

"I think they learn as much as he does when they are in that setting," Swinton says. "One of his friends goes out on the field with him and they have an absolute ball, and then we all go out for pizza or ice cream after the game."

Matt has had some exposure to children with various disabilities due to his mother's work as a special education teacher, so he's not fazed by being exposed to teammates with developmental disabilities. "It's just been assumed that differences are something to be celebrated," Swinton says. "He's not uncomfortable, he understands."

REGULAR PLAY, WITH LATITUDE

Van Auken says Challenger games follow the regular rules of play as much as possible. "A foul ball is foul, a fair ball is fair," he says.

However, there are accommodations. When a player goes up to bat, depending on his skill level, he might hit the ball off a stationary tee; he might have the ball pitched to him by the coach; or, if his skill level is high enough, he'll have it pitched to him by another player.

Baseball fever is "catching" for L.B. and his teammates.

"If they hit the ball into the outfield and they make it to second base, that's a double. If they're put out at first base, they have to wait for their next time at bat," Van Auken says.

In Challenger, it's up to the local league as to whether or not a score is kept. "We recommend that no score be kept, but if they want to do that at the local level, then they certainly are able to," Van Auken says.

"We don't stress who wins or loses," says Thelma Domblisky, a Phoenix educator whose work with children with disabilities led her to help establish a Challenger Little League team there in 1990. "We don't even keep score. A lot of times, if the kids ask, we just say it was tied today."

GETTING STARTED

Domblisky and her husband, who was president of the local Little League, heard about the Challenger Division and sent for information from Little League headquarters to get started.

"You have to get chartered, just as in regular Little League," she says. Charter fees to start a team are reasonable, and rule books and organizational materials are supplied free. Her team includes kids with autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy.

"We get outside sponsorship and donations from local car dealerships, pizza parlors, places like that," Hoff says. "That's how you pay for the uniforms and keep the program running."

Domblisky emphasizes that, in Challenger ball, developing social skills is as important as developing baseball skills.

She tells the story of an autistic child who at first was too intimidated to come near the field of play. "He wouldn't even come in the gate when we first started. One week, we let him wear a helmet. Each week, he worked his way a little bit further into the gate. Then he got to hold the bat. And then he started sitting on the bench and interacting with the kids. It was kind of a neat thing, to see him go from standing outside the gate the whole game, to actually batting and running around the bases. It took us a couple of years."

FRIENDS GATHERING

L.B. Hoff has a teammate and friend from Burlington named Josh Cranfill. Josh is 15 and has used a motorized wheelchair since he was 2 due to Werdnig-Hoffmann disease. Josh plays first base on the team.

"It's a lot of fun," Josh says.

The Challenger program allows players with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities to enjoy Little League baseball.

L.B. and Josh go to Virginia Beach each year in May to attend a Challenger tournament, one of a number of gatherings of Challenger teams that take place in various states each year.

"We make a big deal of it," Bill Hoff says of the annual event. "We had 3,000 kids last year." The city's Parks Department, the Navy, the National Guard and the mayor's office all get involved, making sure the kids get to enjoy playoff games and special activities such as visits to an aircraft carrier. "The Navy helps provide the ramps and they carry those kids that can't make it," Hoff says.

He says that one of the few things that can hurt the success of the program is lack of active participation by parents. Parents need to bring the kids regularly and come with a positive attitude and a willingness to get out on the field as a "buddy" now and again.

Occasionally, a parent will seem more intent on complaining than on appreciating the beauty and joy of his child's participation in the game. "They have their own little world of their own little hurt," says Hoff of such parents.

In addition to Challenger Little League, L.B. takes part in other leagues for kids with disabilities that include soccer, basketball and bowling, which are coordinated through Parks and Recreation and aren't officially associated with Challenger Little League.

"We haven't yet figured out how to do a field hockey program, but we're working on it," Hoff says.

L.B.'s Duchenne MD continues to take a toll. Last year, he missed out on MDA summer camp because of a trip to the emergency room. Due to his Duchenne, he'll be taken out of school next year and begin home-school.

Nonetheless, L.B. is looking forward to playing ball again this spring. "He gets tired easily, but he's not a quitter," says his dad, who is determined to continue helping L.B. pack in as many fun activities as possible.

"He means more to me than my own life," Hoff says.

For information about finding a Challenger team in your area or starting a new one, please contact:

Jim Ferguson
Director of Challenger Division
Little League Baseball Headquarters
P.O. Box 3485
Williamsport, PA 17701
(570) 326-1921
www.littleleague.org