Having Fun Getting "LTS" Hours Through the Gene Sutera Baseball Tournament

Every year for nine years, Waterford North Little League has hosted a baseball tournament in honor of Gene Sutera. When Gene Sutera passed away in 2003, several Waterford North volunteers started the Gene Sutera Baseball Tournament in his honor.   Since then it has been a big hit for volunteer work. WNLL parents and volunteers work in the concession stand taking orders and cooking food, while high schoolers help out with the candy stand and take charge of the games by running the scoreboard, keeping pitch count, announcing the names of players, and being the tournament director. This tournament occurs after all-stars every year.

Waterford High School requires 80 community service hours in order to graduate, a recommended 20 hours a year. The high school calls this program “Learning Through Service.” When you think of community service, usually you think of soup kitchens, homeless shelters, church help, and helping out at summer school. Well, WNLL offers a whole other option in the Gene Sutera Baseball Tournament. There are a lot of different opportunities to help out every day in this 2 week tournament. High schoolers can get a whole bunch of hours done before school even starts! 

At this tournament, the kids take responsibility to make sure all games play out great, and everyone has a good time. They are expected to make sure the field is prepped before and after the game, keep the fans, players, coaches, and umpires happy during the game, and continue to raise the tremendous reputation of WNLL and the GSBT. 

Kids volunteering their time in the tournament get more than just LTS hours. They get time to hang out with friends and watch a sport that they enjoy. The adults there at the tournament make the students feel responsible and have high praise for their work. So instead of the adult staff at Waterford North having to take care of all the tournament games, they get to help out the parents and spend more time on making sure the tournament community (including families of all teams) is content with the program. Also, the families of the players can sit on the sidelines watching their home team play, instead of going up to work in the score booth to keep the game running.

This year was the first time I was able to volunteer at the tournament for LTS hours, and it was a great experience. The adults really helped me a lot and after I learned the ropes, they let me take full responsibility of the games I was in charge of. Of course, if I still needed help I could find it. I also enjoyed watching the exciting tournament games and hanging out with my friends from school in the booth. I will definitely be a volunteer for this tournament for years to come.

This baseball tournament has a positive outcome for everyone involved. It’s a great source of LTS hours for high schoolers, it raises money for Waterford North Little League, it raises money for scholarships to be given to graduating WHS seniors that played baseball/softball in the league, and most importantly it lets kids play an extra tournament in the game they love. I personally had a great time this year at the tournament... See you next year!