Real Estate Disruptors

Beyond the Diamond: Clearwater Little League's Impact Building Community Through Baseball

• Charles Rutenberg Realty • Season 1 • Episode 5

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When a baseball connects perfectly with the bat and sails over the fence, there's a special feeling that stays with you forever. That magical moment—one that Clearwater Little League board member Amanda Cole hopes every child experiences—sits at the heart of our latest conversation about youth sports, community building, and creating future leaders.

Fresh off our successful fundraiser that raised $3,500 for the league, Amanda reveals what makes Clearwater Little League special beyond the typical base hits and strikeouts. With over 360 players each season, their programs extend far beyond traditional baseball, including six Challengers teams that provide children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to experience America's pastime. Every fall, they host the statewide Challenger jamboree, welcoming teams from across Florida for a weekend celebration of inclusive baseball.

Behind the pristine fields and impressive facilities lies a volunteer-driven organization tackling significant challenges. Hurricane damage last season forced the closure of five fields, while annual expenses—including a surprising $10,000 just for baseballs—require continuous fundraising efforts. Yet through careful stewardship, registration fees remain remarkably affordable ($35 for T-Ball), ensuring financial barriers don't prevent participation. The league provides equipment for newcomers and creates a supportive environment where players can develop confidence while building relationships with caring adults.

Amanda's vision for the future includes doubling their softball program and increasing female representation in coaching and umpiring roles. However, with seven fields already booked from afternoon until night throughout the season, community support through sponsorships (ranging from $600 to $25,000) and volunteering has never been more crucial to their continued growth.

Whether you're looking to register a player, volunteer your time, or support youth development through sponsorship, visit clearwaterlittleleague.com today to discover how you can help build brave, honest leaders who care about their community both on and off the diamond.

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, welcome back to this week's Real Estate Disruptors podcast. I am your host, amir Habibzadeh, and I am lucky enough to be sitting down with Amanda Cole. She is one of the board members over at Clearwater Little League and, as you know, we really enjoy working with Clearwater Little League because they are such a wonderful organization helping out the kids and community right here in the city of Clearwater. So, amanda, welcome. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having us. It's great to see you again.

Speaker 1:

Likewise, likewise. Yeah, we just had Amanda here. About a week ago, a little less than a week ago now, we did a wonderful fundraiser to help out with Clearwater Little League. Do you know how much we raised in total?

Speaker 2:

We raised $3,500 between the raffle and all of the wonderful fundraising that was done here on site the day of Wonderful.

Speaker 1:

I hope that was helpful for you guys.

Speaker 2:

Definitely Thank you very much. That was helpful for you guys. Definitely Thank you very much. It was quite a blessing to have a little inflection of fundraising dollars in the middle of the season. We get so routines scheduled. It's game day. It's game day what? Are we doing with concessions. It's nice to have kind of a mid-spring, hey, let's raise some money.

Speaker 1:

So I loved it. Well good, we're glad we could help and I'm sure Clearwater Little League will will definitely use that money for some good things down the line. Oh yeah, so obviously you sit on the board over at Clearwater Little League. What does? What does Clearwater Little League mean to you?

Speaker 2:

Clearwater Little League means community to me. My kids enjoy it. They have built lifelong friendships. Our family has become closer to others in our community and it gives me an opportunity to give back as a board member to our community. So while some say, oh, I love the game and teaches valuable life lessons, yeah, all those things. But it's also community.

Speaker 1:

Well, they definitely do teach all those things Because I remember, as you know, I'm an alumni Back. You know I showed you my picture when I was like six years old in my Clearwater Little League uniform and you know I grew up right, two blocks away from the park. So you know, being able to have that part of my upbringing, it was wonderful. It gave me the love for baseball, taught me all the basics, taught me about teamwork and you know working together and you know that winning is not everything, but it's definitely important.

Speaker 2:

It's fun but, it's not always reality.

Speaker 1:

It is fun to win Good stuff. So what is the, what's the mission of Clearwater Little League?

Speaker 2:

Clearwater Little League exists to provide the young people of Clearwater and Pinellas area with fun, safe, productive and healthy environment for them to become brave, honest leaders who care about their community and care about others. Gotcha.

Speaker 1:

Very good. What's something that most people don't realize that the league does for the community and its members.

Speaker 2:

So what most people don't know is that Clearwater Little League also has a Challengers baseball program. Okay, so typically you think of t-ball or softball or baseball. The Challengers is a program that allows both young people and adults who have disabilities to come out and enjoy the game of baseball and have those lifelong memories created on the field, just like, you know, any other kid.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Well, that is cool. I did not know that you had the Challengers Six teams, wow. Yeah, that's a know that you had the challengers.

Speaker 2:

Six teams.

Speaker 1:

Wow yeah, that's a pretty big league there. It is, it is. That is insane.

Speaker 2:

We actually host the statewide challenger jamboree every fall, where teams from all over Florida come to have that a full weekend tournament style banquet, the whole kit and caboodle.

Speaker 1:

Well, I can only imagine why you guys hold that because you have such beautiful facility over there. It has changed dramatically since I used to play there. I mean, those fields are like state-of-the-art, they are.

Speaker 2:

We're very blessed and we have to thank the City of Clearwater and the sponsorship partnership that we have with them. We're blessed that they keep the fields in such a pristine shape and that we can put our money that that we fundraise, you know to use of equipment and uniforms and balls and all of the things that it takes to fund 360-plus players each season.

Speaker 1:

Oh wow, that's a lot you all have to do. Did the fields experience any issues from the hurricanes last year?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I kept the first storm last year. I kept the sponsor banners up until like 24 hours before the winds started. I was like, oh, let's just wait and see. I was in emergency management 20 years ago.

Speaker 2:

And I was like well, we just want to. It's a lot of work to take those banners down if the storm skirts around. Okay, it was quiet, there weren't any raindrops, no wind. The second I pulled up to the fields three hours later. Water was just pouring from the sky. So we pulled them down in the pouring rain. But I'm grateful that we did, because five of seven fields had damage either to the foul poles or to the fencing damage either to the foul poles or to the fencing. So it took the community that came together on a daily basis and spread us apart, you know, for some time without any baseball, which was hard for the kids, right, you know, for us it just seems like, oh, another day, like let's take the kids to practice, but for them, that connectedness and those relationships with caring adults and their teammates really was a big shock for them.

Speaker 2:

And when we did get back to playing, we only had two fields open, so a lot of our practices were redistributed or schedules were trimmed so that everybody could still get some play time in, but we're grateful to be back in our beautiful complex at Sid Lichten this spring and the community back together.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's wonderful, you know, I know that was a huge challenge for you. Are there other challenges throughout this season that Clearwater Little League sees?

Speaker 2:

You know, I think we see a lot of great things like when we look at kind of surface level, but people don't realize how much the operation of a league takes. So our entire board of directors, we're all volunteers, right, we're just kind of doing what we can in our spare time. And we've had new background check laws that have been mandated at the state level. Of course, little league already has background checks, but the state has kind of kicked those up another notch and then those laws change again next year. So those are really difficult to keep up with right, stay compliant with all of those and pay for all of that.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Even things, as you would say, like buying balls. Right, simple, right. You just go to Dick's Sporting Goods. You buy a bunch of balls. It takes over $10,000 a year just to buy baseballs and softballs.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow. For a league of our size, I would have never have guessed that that is a lot of baseballs. It's a lot of baseballs, or baseballs are just expensive.

Speaker 2:

I don't know they're both.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm glad they have you and the rest of the board and all the community that comes together to help put the program together. You know, because I know it helps a lot of kids. You know how does the league support kids who are new to the game and you know, cause I know it helps a lot of kids. You know how does the league support kids who are new to the game and you know, maybe they're a little hesitant to to come out and join a team or something along those lines.

Speaker 2:

You know, I love that you asked about that because most kids have that traditional start in T-ball and continue on my kids were not in.

Speaker 2:

That started at the young age. Mine started in double a, okay um, and so I can you know, speak from experience there, that when a kid comes in, whether they're coming in at the juniors majors level, where things are pretty competitive in the little world arena, sure, um, or back in in single or double a, coaches really meet kids where they're at um. There's no expectation that they're going to come in with all the equipment they need. You know, we provide whether it's a helmet or a glove or a bat or more than one of those things, right, we provide that help for a kid who isn't sure that they really like this Gotcha, we provide catching equipment.

Speaker 2:

I like to think back when my kids first started AA and I thought they would never play catcher because, one, they'd not never played before and two, I wasn't sure that the league would have catching equipment for these kids who were twice the size of their peers on the double A teams Gotcha Right, they were at the top of the age group.

Speaker 2:

Their peers on the double A teams Gotcha, right, they were at the top of the age group and the coach pulled open the the team bag and had, you know, three different sizes of catching gear and had allowed my kids to try it. One of them decided they love it and now is a catcher on every team that he's on, just because you know it's a position that he gets a lot of fulfillment out of. So meeting kids, what they're at, you know, we ensure, from a safety perspective right, that they're going to meet the milestones needed to be safe on the field. But as long as they're safe on the field, you know the coaches get out there and work with them until they build up that, that skill that's wonderful, that's really great.

Speaker 1:

You know the, because baseball is expensive, you'd think. You know, hey, I just need a glove. But you know that glove is not cheap and you know baseball bats. And then you're telling me ten thousand dollar baseballs and that's something well, you know, it's it is.

Speaker 2:

It's the bats, it's the cleats, it's the.

Speaker 1:

It's everything, it's everything, and I'll put it all together right, you look at these kids, uh, we last year when we did the program and, um, you know, I hadn't been on a legal little league field in probably 25, 30, maybe 35 years at this point, and walking out there and seeing the young guys, they are decked out. I mean they look like little, uh little all-star players, you know little professionals. I was blown away.

Speaker 2:

There's a term for it, it's drip. Oh, they got the drip. That's great, that's great. Baseball drip, that's great, that's great.

Speaker 1:

So what do you hope each player walks away with at the end of the season? For a new player that comes out and never did it before, what do you hope that they?

Speaker 2:

walk away in remembrance Two things. I want every kid to walk away with confidence. Okay, I can do hard things. I want every kid to walk away with confidence, right, um, I can do hard things, I can work through adversity. I can learn a new skill. I can when I can lose, right. But I can do it with confidence, um. And I want every kid to walk away from a season knowing that there are adults who care.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Now that's two great, great things to learn, especially, you know, from a community and team growth. So obviously we've touched on you know how the league has changed over the years. What, what kind of involvement do you do the parents need need to dedicate in order for their child to be successful in the league?

Speaker 2:

To be successful in the league. We need parents that have a willingness to just fill in the gaps when it comes to support of the league. We need concession volunteers, we need team parents, we need assistant coaches, we need team managers. None of what we can do as a board works unless there are multiple levels of parent involvement, and not every parent may have time to jump in and be on the board or devote their evenings and weekends to being a team manager, but there's definitely. If you have a willingness, we have a job right that can be done something small, something big, something that fits your talents. And then in terms of the kid being successful in baseball or softball, it's that encouragingness right of their child. It is helping their child understand, whether it's baseball or piano or dance or soccer, it's about the time that you put into it yourself, right, and getting to know yourself and pushing your own individual skills to a point where you don't always rely on what the coach tells you to do.

Speaker 2:

You know you've got to learn it yourself also thinking for yourself out there so as little as 15 minutes a day, right um outside of your regular practice, um as a as a player, can help you get better and, um you know, be on that all-star team gotcha understood.

Speaker 1:

So do you have a favorite little league moment out there?

Speaker 2:

My favorite little league moments are when, when kids hit home runs, Um, their teammates run out to the plate, lift them up, cheer for them, get excited. Parents of both sides of the teams right all cheer and are kind of joining that celebration. And I've become the home run churro mom, so regardless of my team or not, I see one of those moments happen and you know I go to the concession stand and fork over my card and buy churros for the kids.

Speaker 1:

I mean, hey, if anything else, I'm hitting a home run just so I can get a churro.

Speaker 2:

A home run churro. Exactly. That's wonderful.

Speaker 1:

So where do you see the league in the next five years?

Speaker 2:

We are busting at the seams. Frankly, you know even our majors games they start almost 7 o'clock on Monday nights right because we have a double-A or a single-A or a T-ball practice right before them.

Speaker 2:

But I see that Clearwater Little League we take, I see that our softball side of our league increases even more. We have a single-A, double A, a triple A and two majors and one juniors softball team. Okay, and those are combined of girls that come from many different league districts in this area, because there's not as much interest in softball as there is baseball, gotcha, and I'd love to see that double in size. I'd love to see more females in coaching and umpiring roles and I think that you know taking some dedicated efforts to go out and promote softball, especially at the T-ball level. Okay, because I think there's a lot of girls that will start in T-ball and then, because there's not something close by, they tend to go off to other activities, gotcha, but to really let folks know more about our softball programs and the amazing teams that those young people have put together and are being successful with Gotcha.

Speaker 1:

So when you say you guys are busting at the seams, does that mean that you just don't have the field available?

Speaker 2:

Space-wise, the seven fields that we have are are packed right from four, 30 and the after four, 35 o'clock in the afternoon till nine o'clock at night.

Speaker 1:

So are you guys able to partner with other fields, or are they packed too?

Speaker 2:

Um, I think the city of Clearwater. Um, there's a lot of demand from travel teams and other organizations that use fields travel teams and other organizations that use fields. So, you know, I'd love at some point if, if our fields could expand even right, we've got a beautiful home and there's no place like it, but, you know, trying to come up with how do we get creative in terms of space so that we can bring more softball, so that we can bring more uh, t-ball and uh have all of those programs going on um you know together so so how can people best help the league move forward?

Speaker 2:

Um, so, in general, uh, we have, uh, what we call giving champions. Those are community businesses like Charles Ruttenberg Realty that help to sponsor teams. We've also introduced league sponsorships that will help us to move forward things like our softball programs and our t-ball programs. And then your traditional buy a banner. Right, we have a program where you can help us fill our fences by buying a banner and advertising your business. Those are the ways that just, it takes money to run right, it's bring your kids bring your kids to come out and play right.

Speaker 2:

The registration fees that we charge are a third or less of what it takes to actually operate the program for a player. What are those?

Speaker 1:

fees.

Speaker 2:

For Challenger Ball and for T-Ball we charge $35. Oh, wow, yeah, yeah, very affordable to get in and play and enjoy. All the other ones kind of just range from like $125 up to $200. Okay, you know your expenses get higher as you get older, based on all the other extra equipment and the umpires and the travel components and all of that. So, but yeah, I mean, bring your young people out four years old all the way through 16. Okay, we have programs for baseball, softball and then donate time and money. We need concessions volunteers, we need special event day volunteers. So if you've got an hour or if you've got a month of Sundays, there's something that we can do with your time and your, your talents, in order to help further the league.

Speaker 1:

And going back to you know, sponsorships and whatnot what, what are your levels as far as sponsorships? What's, what can somebody get in and what's the max and things like that.

Speaker 2:

We've got single sponsorships for as low as $600 per season, right Per season, right, Uh-huh per season, or we have league sponsorships as high as $25,000. Okay, so kind of everything in between.

Speaker 1:

Understood. Well, good stuff, all right. So I just wanted to maybe do a little fun wrap-up here. Okay, all right. So what is your favorite ballpark snack? Maybe it's a churro, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so churro would have been what I said first, but since I already talked about that one, I would say the corndog People underrate corndogs.

Speaker 1:

I agree with you. You know there's a new food truck that opened up. That's. All they do is corndogs. No way yeah it's down in seminole, he's, he does a good job. What is your favorite baseball team? My favorite baseball team are the the braves, are the good old atlanta braves, okay, and uh, most iconic baseball movie oh sandlot oh yeah, yeah, you're killing me Smalls. Well, good stuff. Is there anything that you wanted to end with here and let everybody know I want to hear your favorite baseball moment. My favorite baseball moment.

Speaker 1:

Well, of course it involves a home run. It was, I want to say, I was 12 years old, still playing Clearwater Little League. Well, yeah, clearwater Little League. I remember the jersey I had was yellow and it wasn't like one of those game-winning home runs, but it was just the first time that you ever felt the bat and the ball really connect and you were like you knew once, when the ball and bat connected, that it this was like the best hit you ever had. And I and I remember that feeling and just from that connection and then seeing the ball, and at that point in time, if it went over the fence it wasn't considered a home run, it was out of bounds, so you couldn't really do that, but it made it to the area inside the fence where it was still considered a home run and whatnot. So that was my best memory from Little League Nice. It was that good old home run stuff.

Speaker 2:

I bet there was a pop kind of sound that happened after that ball and bat connect.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

And there's nothing like it.

Speaker 1:

Nope, there isn't. And you know, I remember the feeling like you don't even really feel it hit the bat. Really, it was just that you heard the pop and you knew you connected and it was gone and you're like, yes, I just did something.

Speaker 2:

And that is the feeling in life of yes, I did it, yes, exactly.

Speaker 1:

And I hope every kid that goes through Little League has that feeling at some point in time, because that's really what made my love for the game even stronger.

Speaker 2:

All right, Thanks for having me, Amir.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. We'll see everybody next time. Thank you, amanda Cole, for joining us. We really appreciate it and anybody want to help Clearwater Little League. She is available. Feel free to reach out to us and we will get you in touch.

Speaker 2:

Yes, clearwaterlittleleaguecom.

Speaker 1:

All right, sounds good.

Speaker 2:

Have a great day.