Baseball

Imagine if you will, some 100 or so twelve and under boys, all thrown together in a big room after having spent the entire day traveling from around the country, with little food and no place to blow off steam. I can only imagine what you would be thinking, but I bet it’s nothing like what really happened.

This was the story this past Wednesday night as the City of Marina and Marina Pony Baseball hosted the teams in town for the Bronco World Series. These teams came from New York, Puerto Rico, Texas, Illinois, Mexico and others from California. The team from Taipei would not arrive until 3 or 4 in the morning. This was their chance to meet each other and they did just that. Getting up to welcome a new team as they arrived, shaking hands and trading pins. There were no politics, no arguments, no judging - just a feeling of excitement and friendship.

Did you know that Marina has hosted this welcome banquet for the Bronco teams for the past five years? Did you also know that these teams all stay in Marina while they compete in Monterey? It’s just another case of our Marina citizens and City Recreation staff working to benefit others, and boy do they work. Putting on this event and housing the teams here requires hours of logistical planning, cooking, practice field prep, transportation coordination, and most importantly- volunteers.

I had the opportunity to help a bit this year and what an experience it was. To see the wonder and excitement in the eyes of all these kids, the coaches and parents grateful for a break after a long day and the work of our Marina volunteers making it as flawless as possible for all involved. This is the Marina that I know, the community that comes together for the good of others.

Perhaps it’s our diversity, perhaps it’s our military heritage or perhaps it’s a bit of everything that makes our community just a little more special than most. We have a history of helping ourselves as a community, from building a new community funded Library to volunteering for events like this one. We have a tendency to give of ourselves. The hours of public service put in by volunteers for our youth sports, our schools, our churches, our service and community organizations are all what makes Marina such a special place.

More later