Education Minister Rohit Thakur today said the role of sports was important in keeping the youth away from falling prey to drug menace.

He presided over the closing ceremony of the 3rd Raj Kumar Memorial Kabaddi Premier League Tournament at Salna village under Kudu gram panchayat in Jubbal, Shimla district.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said games like kabaddi, volleyball and kho-kho were the traditional games of the hilly region. In the present times when the youth is getting trapped in the drug abuse, organising such games becomes an important and necessary step to keep them away from the menace.

“Besides helping improve the health of the youth, sports create a healthy competition, channelising the energy of the youth in a positive direction,” he said.

Thakur said Kudu was a border panchayat adjoining Uttarakhand and he had a special interest in the area from the development point of view. He said during his present tenure as Education Minister in the last about two-and-a-half, 124 roads had been approved in the Assembly constituency. Of these, four roads are in Kudu panchayat and the road of Salna village is also included in it, he added.

With only 10 days left in the legislative session, officials in Brooklyn Park are pushing for funding to expand the Community Activity Center.

The city has been considering an expansion of the CAC in recent years.

Bills in the Minnesota House and Senate would give $9.5 million to Brooklyn Park to expand the facility.

Much of those funds would be used to construct three indoor multi-sport courts. It would also be updated to meet American Disability Act requirements. 

Mayor Hollies Winston said the expansion would mean more than just a place to practice sports for the city’s youth.

 “That keeps kids active,” he said. “Keeps them in a stream that, rather than a school to prison pipeline, it’s very much a school to activities to trades to jobs to college pipeline.”

With only 10 days left in the legislative session, officials in Brooklyn Park are pushing for funding to expand the Community Activity Center.

Previously, city officials had considered removing one of the ice sheets at the facility and replacing it with courts. However, that plan has now been scrapped.

Local sports officials said they need the extra space.

“We continue to see growth in our [Brooklyn Park Athletic Association] program, but we also see constraints in the schools and the space that we use for our practices and our games,” said Courtney Cassem, basketball president with the Brooklyn Park Athletic Association.

Rep. Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley (DFL-Brooklyn Park) introduced the bill in the House. Meanwhile, Senators John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and Susan Pha (DFL-Brooklyn Park) are carrying the bill in the Senate. 

Brooklyn Park

Kenneth Alan Hemming, 74, of Alpena passed away Monday, May 5, 2025, at his home after an extended illness.

Kenneth was born to the late Gunnar and Florence (Chiconsky) Hemming on August 29, 1950, in Dearborn. He was married to Dianne (LeFave) Hemming for 18 years. She survives him as well as his three children, Ryan Hemming, Mary-Ellen Hemming, Heather Hemming and their families; two stepsons, Devin (Summer) Hartman, Cole (Sara McLeskey) Hartman; special lifelong friendships with Timothy Cole, Jeff Still and Jeff Holt.

Ken was deeply devoted to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and prayed the rosary daily for many years. He was a member of All Saints Catholic Church of Alpena where he found many good friends in Christ. He deeply appreciated their prayers and loving thoughts which helped to carry him through his illness.

Ken loved sports, especially Detroit Tiger baseball. He collected sports memorabilia and was an umpire for local baseball and softball leagues in Sault Ste. Marie, MI where he lived for 30 plus years.

Ken graduated from Walled Lake High School in 1968 as the Salutatorian. He went on to graduate from Michigan State University and attended law school at the University of Michigan.

He spent much of his career specializing in grants and contracts with Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Lake Superior State University from where he retired in 2017. He also served as the Board Director, Vice President and President of Sault Area Public Schools during his tenure on the Board.

Ken was preceded in death by his brother, Donald Hemming and sister, Linda Hemming.

Visitation will take place at St. Anne Church of All Saints Parish on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the time of the Mass of Christian Burial at 12 p.m. with Rev. Emmanuel Finbar officiating. Arrangements are being handled by the Bannan Funeral Home.

Interment: Holy Cross Cemetery

Memorials: Hospice of Michigan or any local youth sports program.

PITTSBURGH — Andrew McCutchen hasn’t had the conversation with 7-year-old son Steel yet, but the Pittsburgh Pirates star knows it’s probably coming at some point.

Steel, already playing in a youth baseball league, will probably come home at one point and ask his five-time All-Star father if he can have whatever hot item his teammates might be wearing during a given spring.

McCutchen plans to accommodate Steel up to a point. The oldest of McCutchen’s four children is already rocking an arm sleeve, just the way dad does.

Yet if Steel is hoping his father will spring for a sliding mitt — a padded glove a player can slip over one of their hands to protect it should the hand get stepped on while diving headfirst for a base — he probably shouldn’t get his hopes up.

McCutchen, who has stolen 220 bases at the major league level, has never worn one. And he’s quick to point out the next time the cleat of a fielder mashes his hand will also be the first.

Still, the 38-year-old understands. Once upon a time, he was a 20-something who epitomized baseball cool, from his dreadlocks (long since shorn) to his goatee to his rope chain to the occasional skull cap he wore underneath his batting helmet, all of it designed to accentuate McCutchen’s innate blend of talent and charisma.

“It’s all about the drip,” McCutchen said with a smile.

Even if the “drip” (Gen Z slang for stylish clothes and their accessories) emphasizes fashion over function, particularly when it comes to the gloves — which look a bit like oven mitts — that are becoming just as ubiquitous in the Little Leagues as they are in the major leagues.

Safety and self-expression

Former major leaguer Scott Podsednik (career stolen base total: 309) is credited with “inventing” the sliding mitt during the late stages of his 11-year career.

Tired of having his hand stepped on, Podsednik worked with a hand therapist for a solution. The initial mitts were relatively simple. A 2009 picture of Podsednik sliding into second base shows his left hand covered in what looks like a padded modified batting glove, all wrapped in black to match the trim on his Chicago White Sox uniform.

Things have gotten considerably more intricate over the years. Google “sliding mitt designs” and you’ll find themes ranging from the American flag to an ice cream cone to aliens to a poop emoji (yes, really).

Scott McMillen, a lawyer in the Chicago area, had no plans to get into the baseball accessory business. He first took notice of sliding mitts when his son Braydon, then 10, pointed out one of his teammates had one and said basically, “Oh hey dad, wouldn’t it be nice if I had one, too.”

They headed to a local sporting goods store, where McMillen was surprised at the variety available.

That was around 2021. By early 2024, McMillen had launched “Goat’d,” a specialty baseball accessory company with everything from sliding mitts to batting gloves to arm sleeves to headbands and more, many of them religiously inspired.

Sales during their first full year? Over 1 million units.

“We were surprised at how large the marketplace is,” McMillen said.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been.

Youth sports have bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aspen Institute’s 2024 State of Play report noted that the participation levels in sports among children ages 6-17 were the highest they’ve been since 2015. Baseball’s numbers have steadied following a decline. Little League International told The Associated Press last fall that more than 2 million kids played baseball or softball under its umbrella across the world, an uptick over 2019.

Many of those kids are also fans of the game, some of whom may have noticed their favorite major leaguer sporting a mitt when they’re on the bases. Yes, that was San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. sliding across home plate (feetfirst, by the way) with a bright yellow mitt on his left hand in the ninth inning of a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh last weekend.

It’s one of the many ways in which the game has evolved over the years. When McMillen grew up, there wasn’t much swag to go around.

“We had our baseball uniform and our glove (and) everyone looked the same, everyone was the same,” he said. “Now, everyone wants to express themselves individually. The best way to do that without acting like a clown is to wear something that shows people who you are.”

Self-expression, however, doesn’t exactly come cheap, particularly in an era when top-of-the-line bats are $400 or more. What amounts to an entry-level sliding mitt can go for $40, but Goat’d and others have versions that can fetch double that.

That hasn’t stopped sales from being brisk, and McMillen points out it’s not merely a luxury item.

“We don’t play football with 1940s safety equipment,” he said. “You feel better in the (batter’s) box when you have something that protects you, right? With a sliding mitt, it’s also like, ‘Hey this is fun. It’s cool. I want to be like my fave high school player, like my favorite college player.'”

It’s becoming increasingly common for McMillen and other members of the company’s staff to spot Goat’d gear at the field. In recent months, they’ve popped up in youth tournaments from Georgia to Las Vegas, sometimes in the back pockets of players as young as 6 or 7. McMillen can’t help but shake his head to see his product become part of the time-honored tradition of kids imitating their heroes.

Which is good for business and, oh by the way, probably unnecessary.

The pressure to keep up

Here’s the thing: In most — if not all — youth baseball leagues, headfirst slides that would require a player to stretch out their hand to secure the bag are illegal.

In Little League, for example, stealing bases for players 12 and under is rare because the player can take off only after the ball has reached the batter. And even if they do bolt for the next base, they have to slide feetfirst. The only times in Little League that a baserunner can dive headfirst toward a base is when they are returning to it while in a rundown or during a pickoff attempt, both of which are also rare.

That doesn’t stop the players from wanting a sliding mitt. It also doesn’t stop their parents from buying them, all part of the pressure to “keep up with the Jones” that has practically been a part of youth sports culture since the first time somebody came to practice with a batting glove or wristbands.

It’s a phenomenon Chelsea Cahill and her family has known for years. The longtime educator who lives just east of Columbus, Ohio, has spent much of the last decade shuttling her three boys from practice to games to tournaments.

What she and her husband have learned over the years is that some trends come and go, but the pressure to have the right stuff remains.

“There’s always that feeling of ‘This is the next new thing’ or ‘This is what you’ve got to get,'” Cahill said.

They appeased their sons up to a point, but only up to a point.

Last summer their youngest son Braxton, then 11, and the rest of the kids on his travel team kept pestering their parents to buy sliding mitts. Entering the final tournament, the team moms decided to give in.

Sort of.

Rather than plop down that kind of money for something they didn’t actually need, the moms headed to a local dollar store and bought them actual oven mitts — the kind used to pull tonight’s dinner from out of the oven. Average retail price? Less than a cup of coffee at the gas station.

Oh, and the kids loved them, and wore them during the game. Cahill posted video of them playing with the mitts stuck in their back pocket to her TikTok account. The video is now at 12 million views and counting.

“They thought it was hilarious, but we didn’t really think they would wear them for the rest of the tournament,” Cahill said. “We were wrong. They really embraced it!”

Among viewers of that TikTok, by the way, were the people at Goat’d, who sent Braxton a couple of mitts as a result.

The good news is, Cahill now won’t have to buy one for Braxton this spring. Yet there’s also something else she has learned through the years: This time in her boys’ lives is fleeting.

For proof, just look at her calendar. Her two older sons — the ones who played travel baseball just like Braxton, and asked for all the cool stuff their teammates had, just like Braxton has — gave up baseball by the time they got to high school.

Her advice to parents who might be feeling the financial pinch of what it takes to play these days: Relax.

“We’ve learned as parents is to stop taking it so seriously,” she said. “They’re kids. Let them have fun.”

The reality

A day after hundreds of members of the Monroeville Baseball and Softball Association marched through the Pittsburgh suburb’s well-appointed community park, the regular season is in full swing.

All four fields are alive with the chatter of coaches, parents and boys and girls aged anywhere from 5-12.

Over on Field 1, the Rays are in the middle of their season opener. Playing first base, Josiah Jones has his glove at the ready, with a black sliding mitt noticeably sticking out of his left back pocket.

Per the league rules, the Rays and the other players at the “Bronco” level (ages 11-12), play actual full-on baseball. They can take leads and steal bases whenever they like, though headfirst slides are only allowed when returning to a base, just like in Little League.

Longtime MBSA executive commissioner Josh Plassmeyer is milling about, trying to keep tabs on everything. Plassmeyer outlawed sliding mitts on his son Grant’s 10-and-under tournament team, calling them a “distraction” because players would spend so much time fiddling with them once they got to first base, they would miss signs from the third-base coach.

About 50 feet away, Jones settles into the box and rips a ball to left-center field. His long legs carry him past first base, and he cruises into second with an easy double.

As his teammates erupted in the dugout, Jones beamed for a brief moment. Then, as the opposing pitcher stepped onto the rubber, he took an aggressive lead off second and eyed third.

His back pocket, the one where his sliding mitt had been 30 minutes before, was empty.

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FORT TOTTEN, N.D. — A young nonprofit organization focused on youth sports in a tribal community is doing more than just supporting athletics.

A consultant for the organization said it’s acting much like a parks and recreation department, which larger communities may take for granted.

Dean Duphinais Jr., who also is a founder of Spirit Lake Youth Sports, said the group is not a tribal entity, but is partnering with the tribe on a number of future projects.

“Typical municipalities and cities, you’ve got your parks and rec department, they do everything,” he said. “They do the baseball diamonds, they do whatever recreational facilities a community might have. We’re stepping in to act as that development arm of the tribe, developing the community with some of these amenities.”

Spirit Lake Youth Sports (SLYS) is seeing the fruition of a project that will create a base of operations. Work has broken ground on a fieldhouse at the Four Winds High School baseball fields in Fort Totten. The tribe has leased 7.1 acres of land for SLYS to use.

The fieldhouse’s first floor will have a concession stand, bathrooms and storage space, while the second floor is an open concept where the board will have meetings, conduct training and be a spot for staff and a full-time executive director to work. SLYS has also launched a “Build the Spirit” fundraising campaign to outfit the fieldhouse with needed materials, such as computers and furnishings. Duphinais said the goal is about $40,000 to $50,000.

The organization started when Duphinais returned to Fort Totten from California. He had two children around tee-ball age and asked a friend, Justin Yankton, if there was a youth baseball program. It was around the time COVID quarantine restrictions were being lifted, and Yankton said there wasn’t anything being prepared or planned for. The two teamed up to put on a summer baseball program, attracting more than 100 kids.

It was an eye opener, Duphinais said, and with his background in nonprofits, he thought it would be a good idea to create one, build a board of directors and make the group sustainable. Following SLYS filing as a nonprofit, it added the Sunka Wakan Program, which teaches kids how to approach, groom and be comfortable around horses before teaching them how to ride. Sunka Wakan means “Sacred Dog,” which is what the Dakota people called horses when the Spanish brought them over, Duphinais said. The Sunka Wakan Program is run by Duphinais’ father, who also is on the board of directors.

“We’re making some really great strides,” Duphinais said. “We have big plans for the future.”

SLYS has been working with the tribe on other ideas, such as an indoor pool, skate park, splash pad, indoor bubble-style facility, RV park for the tribe’s powwow facility and an indoor riding arena for the horse program. Getting the fieldhouse done on time and on target is the main goal at the moment, Duphinais said.

“The name of the game in the nonprofit world is make good on the things that on our plate. Then, you’re in the good graces and you’re eligible to apply for other things,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking to do.”

Duphinais said he hopes people see SLYS as a development arm of the tribe, more than a sports program. It can do construction and development and get land leases. It is in the process of getting another parcel of 27 acres adjacent to the current 7.1 acres, which is close to the powwow grounds. It could be a recreation corridor, he said, and the 27 acres are planned to be used for a park with walking trails and a possible amphitheater.

Duphinais expressed his thanks to the tribe, community and board members, the majority of the latter being veterans, for supporting SLYS.

“We’ve got solid people, and that’s how we’re able to make things like this happen — by having really good people that care about this community as much as each other does, and are willing to roll up their sleeves and make things happen for the community,” he said.