Canaryville Little League: The Reshaping of a Community Organization

Many communities have that one or two organizations that bring their people together several times a year for events, sports and whathaveyou. In the inner-city of Chicago, the community of Canaryville, has its baseball little league, an organization that has been up an running since the 1950s.

Johnny Kozlar and David Akinin

1955- Canaryville Little League, the beginning.

In the past years, as it came to my attention last summer through my friend Johnny Kozlar, the management of the organization had been decaying, it was much less transparent and the general experience of those who actively participated wasn't the same.

The Old Field

Johnny and I, along with some other peers at the University of Chicago- Dyia Aboasha and Rob Serpico, immediately decided to get involved and bring in our experience, ambition and spirit to start the organization anew, leave behind a transparent, efficient and organized model for this and potentially other communities to follow.

Johnny Kozlar, David Akinin and Dyia Aboasha

Mark Baker helped us create our official website, www.canaryvillelittleleague.org. We met with the St. Gabriel's Athletic Association and the Parish to get their approval back in 2009. We presented them with our plan of management, an ambitious plan to renovate the entire little league stadium, and our qualifications. Months went by and we saw ourselves holding biweekly sign-up days at the Boyce Park building in Canaryville, aggressively fundraising in the surrounding neighborhoods, including Hyde Park where the University of Chicago is based and reaching out to the entire community to come out, support and sign their kids up.

St. Gabriel's Board and University of Chicago Contingent

The beginning was tough- the community was a bit skeptical of our potential- as any community would be with outsiders who propose to renovate their estate and manage an organization free of cost. I remember our first sign up day, when the first parent walked in... The parent was eager to sign his son up for the Little League, as he'd be off the playstation for a change. He said "I'm happy someone is doing this, we didn't think there'd a be a little league this year". Immediately, I felt pride for what we were doing; the thankfulness in each of the 250+ parents who walked in to sign up their kids in a two month period, is the highest form of payment I could ever receive.

Meeting with Coaches at Boyce Park

Many parents approached us about not being able to afford the participation and uniform fee we were charging, and despite our fundraising (a $35,000 campaign which was mainly for the field rennovation), our Excel spreadsheets indicated that we could not sponsor as many players, as the need expressed. In turn, we developed a system whereby anyone who signed up would get 10 raffle tickets to sell. The system was simple- they'd keep the revenue from the ticket sales, which in fact covered exactly the league's fees, and they just had to return the tickets to us. Basically, we are probably one of the few leagues were any player can play for free if they so desire!

Hands-on! (David, Johnny, Dyia)

Uniforms, we ordered from Texas, the Cool Breeze technology- official MLB apparel. We held our uniform pick up days, and till this day we're dealing with exchanges here and there, but couldn't be happier about our choice.

In the meantime, we had hired all the contractors that'd renovate our field, mainly from the local neighborhoods in order to put back the money we raised to those business, but some from other states, as we were after quality and expertise at large.

David Akinin and Johnny Kozlar, Renovation Underway

Renovation in Process

Among the many fundraisers we've held and plan on holding throughout the summer, we had concert nights, car wash weekends, Elvis Night, and many more.

Grass Delivery

Inflield Red Dirt

Despite the differences, the bumps along the road, the hours of planning and arguments, the experience has been one that has shaped me and my peers infinitely. It has brought us strongly together, helped us grow in many respects and increased our pool of values and appreciation for community needs in a manner that will remain unique.

Stocking up the Concession Stand

First Game 2010

Opening day was Sunday May 2nd 2010. It kicked off with a community parade, where nearly 700 people walked the streets in a way that I've never seen any other community do before. The route kicked off from Boyce Park where our operations had started, and arrived at 455 W 45th Street, where the new Canaryville Little League baseball field awaited its new owners, the community of Canaryville. If it wasn't for the help and unity of the entire community, none of this would have ever been accomplished.

We had a beautiful kick off ceremony, in which over 300 helium balloons signaling the US Flag colors were let go by all the innaugurating players, as hundreds of parents clapped and cheered.

Girl's Red Sox Team

Canaryville's Phillies

Girls Minors' First Game

T-Ballers

I picked up the microphone and said "Let the Games Begin", and Kozlar responded "Play Ball!"

Opening Night

Boys Major League- Cubs Team

Dyia Aboasha, David Akinin and John Kozlar

We did it!