Buddy Baseball April 2017 Newsletter

Hello Buddy Baseball Fans,

What a great season we had! Wonderful weather and no rainouts. This was our biggest season to date. We had over 100 players and over 100 buddies forming 16 teams. Thanks to all the buddies, coaches, volunteers and sponsors that made it a success. We ended the season with a huge bowling party at Pinchasers with over 250 in attendance. Thanks to all who completed our Buddy Baseball survey.

Buddy Baseball continues to be out in the community. We were represented at the Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce Business Expo and the WEDU Autism Town Hall Meeting, spreading the word of our successful program.

Buddy Baseball will have a team at the Best Buddies Friendship Walk on Saturday morning April 22nd. It's not too late to join the team. See below for more information.

Thanks to the Tampa Breakfast Sertoma Club and the Tampa North Rotary Club for the cookouts this season.

Our fall season will start on September 30th. Registration will open in July. Watch your email and Facebook for updates.

Have a great off season and we will see you in the Fall.

Russ Oberbroeckling

Executive Director

Link to our website

Buddy Scholarship

Congratulations to Cassidy Haglund from Steinbrenner High School and Aidan Bursten and Hannah Oberbroeckling from King High School as this year's Buddy Baseball scholarship winners. Cassidy, Aidan and Hannah each received a check for $750 at the end of the Buddy Baseball season. Scholarship applicants submitted essays and responded to questions describing their extracurricular activities, community service involvement, why they chose to participate in Buddy Baseball, a highlight of their Buddy Baseball experience and how they thought their Buddy Baseball involvement will help them in the future.

Cassidy has participated in Buddy Baseball for 8 seasons (4 years) and will be attending Florida State University. Aidan and Hannah have each participated all 16 seasons (8 years). Aidan will be attending the University of Richmond and Hannah will be attending the University of Central Florida. This year, Dr. Howard and Donya McLeod made a generous contribution to the scholarship fund allowing a third scholarship winner and the honorable mention applicants to each receive a $100 for their commitment to the league.

End of Season Party

It's always great to end the season with a Bash! In addition to bowling and lunch, we had a face painter, balloon twisters and a whole lot of fun. Thanks to all of the volunteers for their help in making it a success.

First Pitch

Zack Kantrowitz and his buddy Jack James threw out the first pitch at Tampa Catholic High School and Zack Mueller and his buddy Benny Vaughan threw out the first pitch at Sunlake High School. Thanks to Tampa Catholic and Sunlake for having us out.

Player Spotlight - David Kennedy

David Kennedy

David is 16 years old and this is his tenth season in Buddy Baseball. He attends the Pepin Academy. David loves to cook and he has a boxer dog named Max. If he were famous it would be for hitting the most home runs.

Buddy Spotlight - Katie Whitaker

Katie Whitaker

Katie is 16 years old and this is her sixth season as a buddy. She attends Brandon High School. Katie has two dogs and wants to be a veterinarian or a chef. Her favorite subject in school is Science.

Rookie Spotlight - Juan Jurado

Juan Jurado

This is Juan's first season of Buddy Baseball. He is 10 years old and attends Florida Autism Charter School. His favorite TV show is Spongebob Squarepants and his special talent is being polite. If Juan had $1000, he would buy a playground set.

Coach Spotlight - Patrick Lee

Patrick Lee

Patrick has coached all but our first season of Buddy Baseball, all with the Sharks. He is a private investigator and coaches baseball at Carrollwood Day School.

Volunteer Spotlight

King High School

National Honor Society

King High School - National Honor Society

Thanks to members of the King High School - National Honor Society for volunteering for two Saturdays this past season. I asked one of the volunteers what he thought of Buddy Baseball, he smiled and said, "It makes me feel good!" Come back anytime!

Grandparent Spotlight

Jim Yucuis

Jim Yucuis

Jim is 86 years old and is Kelly Carpenter's grandfather. Kelly is a player on the Sharks team. Jim has been coming to Buddy Baseball games for four seasons. A Chicago native, Jim is a Cubs fan and now lives in Wesley Chapel. He has 6 children, 13 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. He worked for the Burlington Northern Railroad for 38 years. Retiring at age 55 as the Operations Director. Jim enjoys going to the pool and spending time in the sun. His Claim to Fame is winning the "Knobby Knees Contest" at the Highland Games in Chicago.

Special Needs Trusts

Thanks to attorney Elizabeth Allen with Gibbs Neuman Attorneys at Law for taking the time to give a presentation to our Buddy Baseball families on Special Needs Trusts, Social Security benefits, ABLE accounts and other topics pertaining to children with special needs. It was a very informative presentation. If you would like to contact Elizabeth, click on the link for her information.

Elizabeth Allen

Where are they now?

Patrick Fuhr

Patrick enjoyed being a Buddy for Buddy Baseball every year from the 6th through 12th grades and enjoyed making friends with many of the players on several different teams. In his last few seasons of Buddy Baseball, he helped out with setting up and breaking down the fields.

Patrick is finishing up his first year at Florida State University, majoring in accounting and finance. He joined Chi Phi fraternity and recently participated with the fraternity in a charity dance marathon benefiting the Children's Miracle Network. He's looking forward to being back in Tampa this summer after a busy couple of semesters at FSU.

Sponsor Spotlight

CJN&W CPAs have been a long time sponsor of Buddy Baseball. Jim Carlstedt, a coach on the Thunder is a partner with CJN&W CPAs. Jim is on our Board of Directors serving as our treasurer. Thanks to your commitment to the league.

CJN&W CPAs

Best Buddies Friendship Walk

The Best Buddies Friendship Walk is the number one walk in the country raising awareness and funds to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. (IDD) The walk plays a key role in funding Best Buddies programs dedicated to one-to-one friendships, leadership development, and integrated job opportunities for individuals with IDD.

Proceeds from the Best Buddies Friendship Walk provide the necessary tools for people with IDD to become more independent and valued members of our society.

The walk is on Saturday morning in downtown Tampa on April 22nd. Our team name is "Super Buddies." If you would like to be a part of our team, just click on the link below.

Super Buddies

Give Day Tampa Bay

Give Day Tampa Bay is a community-wide, 24-hour online giving challenge hosted by The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. This charitable event helps Tampa Bay area nonprofits raise much-needed dollars and bring awareness to their organization.

How it Works

It's so simple to participate. Just visit this website on May 2, 2017anytime between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. and with just a few simple clicks, you can make a donation to your favorite nonprofit organization, such as Buddy Baseball. :) Donations from the public will be boosted with funds from corporate sponsors of Give Day Tampa Bay. Nonprofits can also win monetary awards and additional prizes based on their day's donations. Here is the link to donate.

Give Day Tampa Bay May 2, 2017