{"id":7342,"date":"2006-08-25T12:53:57","date_gmt":"2006-08-25T17:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=7342"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:34:28","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:34:28","slug":"5108","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/08\/25\/5108\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Field Designed for Challenged Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROCHESTER, MN (August 25, 2006) – The young man in the wheelchair rounded first base and would later score as part of the first baseball game ever to be played on the Paul D. Johnson Miracle Field last Saturday.
\n
\nThe game followed ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the adaptive diamond that drew nearly 300 people, including the city\u2019s mayor and former Minnesota Twins standout Tony Olivia. Nate Johnson says his father, who died in early 2005, would have been proud of every athlete on the field, each one with a physical or mental handicap.<\/p>\n

\"MiracleHe also would have been proud \u2013 and humbled \u2013 by the special field being named in his honor. Traditional fields prevent some people with disabilities from playing because the dirt and grass surfaces are hard to navigate, the bases are above ground and are spaced too far apart. The adaptive field is made of a soft, rubbery material similar to a tennis court, observes Nate.<\/p>\n

Paul, who was a charter member of the Rochester Covenant Church, coached junior high baseball and taught English for more than 30 years, neither of which is an easy task nor attracts much attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe middle school coach coaches everybody,\u201d Nate says. \u201cPeople don\u2019t get cut. They don\u2019t get the praise. The media doesn\u2019t come and do stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the coaches do, if they are like Paul Johnson, is love baseball and their students. Some in the crowd Saturday had played for Paul decades ago. \u201cThe kids remembered him,\u201d says wife Mary Ann. \u201cKids would come up to him and say you were my favorite teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul tried to use his influence as a baseball coach in the classroom. \u201cBecause he taught baseball, he thought he might have a little \u2018in\u2019 with the boys that didn\u2019t like English,\u201d Mary Ann says.<\/p>\n

The field is only the second of its kind in Minnesota, but one of an increasing number around the country. Miracle Leagues for people with handicaps began forming in the late 1990s, and the first of the special fields was built in 2000 in Georgia. According to the Miracle League<\/a> website, the player who threw out the first ball had been in a coma only a week before.<\/p>\n

Every player bats and scores during an inning. Community children and volunteers act as \u201cbuddies\u201d and assist each of the players. The accompanying photo shows some of the players in the opening game. To see additional photos or the field and Paul Johnson, please see Miracle Field<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome to watch them play a sport that we take for granted,\u201d Nate says of Saturday\u2019s event. Two players hit home runs over the fence. \u201cThe first one was just ecstatic. At the end when we were cleaning up, he was just walking around the park so proud, still holding on to the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Youth Baseball Association already has around 60 youth signed up to play and a pool of nearly 2,000 individuals involved in the local Department of Parks and Recreation activities from which to draw.<\/p>\n

The local Chamber of Commerce\u2019s leadership class of 2006 decided to make construction of the field its project and they raised the needed $240,000. The first fundraising event featured old-fashioned concessions that served hot dogs and peanuts.<\/p>\n

Now in Rochester, when anyone sings \u201cTake me out to the ball game,\u201d they not only can go to the park, but everyone can join in the game.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROCHESTER, MN (August 25, 2006) – The young man in the wheelchair rounded first base and would later score as part of the first baseball game ever to be played on the Paul D. Johnson Miracle Field last Saturday. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSpecial Field Designed for Challenged Athletes - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/08\/25\/5108\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special Field Designed for Challenged Athletes - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROCHESTER, MN (August 25, 2006) – The young man in the wheelchair rounded first base and would later score as part of the first baseball game ever to be played on the Paul D. 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