Colorado Rockies giving low-income kids chance to play baseball and softball

DENVER, Colo. (KKTV) – Sports can open so many doors for kids, but not everyone gets the chance to play them.

Between the equipment, uniforms and other expenses, it can be hard for low-income families to get their kids involved in baseball and softball.

The Colorado Rockies are working to change this by funding baseball and softball leagues so kids from these families can experience what it’s like to play these sports.

“We do over 19 camps and clinics all around the state just trying to get youth involved in baseball and softball,” said Jim Kellogg, vice president of community and retail operations for the Colorado Rockies.

Kellogg continues saying, “Baseball can teach so many life lessons.

“Really a lot of the life lessons about being a good teammate, a good person, lifting someone up that’s down, all the messages that we all learn in life we use that and make that towards baseball and our players because of their platform the kids will listen and respond to them.”

Explaining how the Rockies raise money for underprivileged youth, Kellogg tells 11 News, “The two camps that we use as fundraisers for our foundation they’re here at Coors Field.

“The funds that are raised from that go to our foundation which supports our RBI program, which is through Denver public schools, Aurora public schools.

“So we fund a baseball and softball league for kids over the course of the summertime.”

As far as the lesson they try to get across to kids who take part in these camps and leagues, Kellogg tells 11 News, “The kids learn that baseball is a fun sport, it’s a hard sport, life can be hard at times, so we try to send them messages that just incorporate this into your everyday life.

“We all have teammates, so we teach them about taking care of their teammates, being a good teammate and we just try to instill the lessons of life through baseball to these kids.

“And they like to respond to it and it’s fun. They just have a blast out here playing.

“We understand we have a philanthropic responsibility as a professional sports organization to give back to the community as do the other ones and they do a great job of it too.

“Baseball in particular we want to grow young fans and we want them to have the experience.

“We know that if you play baseball or softball as a child, or in elementary school, or in high school, or in college if you can, you’re most likely going to become a baseball fan and you’re going to come out here and love the environment that we have here to watch the best of the best play the game and if you’ve played it yourself as a child, you remember what it feels like to be part of that.

“And you know what we’re proud to be Colorado Rockies, we’re proud to represent the state and we want to serve the community.”

Catcher for the Colorado Rockies Jacob Stallings also tells 11 News how important it is for kids to have the opportunity to play this sport.

“It really can change a kid’s life forever, (it) changed mine forever when I was a kid,” said Stallings.

Stallings also mentions he loves giving back to kids in the community saying, “I think that’s one of the most fun parts of the job for me is just anytime I see a kid in the stands, or you know out and about, giving (them) an autograph or just throwing them a ball or something, I know how much that meant to me when I was a kid when I got to experience that.

“You know we’re lucky, we’re extremely fortunate to be in the position that we’re in to have gotten to play baseball and make enough money to where we can you know help those in need and I think it’s really important.

“You know the team means so much to the community, all the Denver teams do and so anything that us as players, we can do to give back.

“They come out and give us so much support at the ball games, (so) anything we can do to give back to them, we’d love to do it.

“It’s a responsibility to act the right way and play the right way and try to be good examples for those kids.”

Furthermore, Stallings’ advice for kids as he tells 11 News is, “Have fun doing whatever you’re doing, chase your dreams because you know I certainly never thought I’d be a Major League Baseball player so you really never know what could happen if you work hard.

“Just chase what you love and treat others the right way, don’t put limits on yourself. Don’t let other people put limits on you because you really never know what could happen.”

If you would like to register for the Rockies’ baseball/softball camps and clinics, or if you want to make a donation to the team’s foundation click here.

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