San Francisco – Last Sunday, before the San Francisco Giants
took on the Milwaukee Brewers, thousands of Junior Giants players,
coaches and community volunteers participated in a pre-game parade
in front of admiring Giants fans at AT
&
amp;T Park.
San Francisco – Last Sunday, before the San Francisco Giants took on the Milwaukee Brewers, thousands of Junior Giants players, coaches and community volunteers participated in a pre-game parade in front of admiring Giants fans at AT&T Park.
The Morgan Hill Junior Giants marched around the field waving their flag during the parade presented by the Giants Community Fund and Bank of America.
There was also a home plate ceremony honoring the Junior Giants Willie Mac Award winners, who are players with demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship and attitude.
A select group of Junior Giants sang the National Anthem and later lead the crowd in the seventh inning stretch tradition of singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
The day was an unforgettable tribute to all those who donate their time and efforts to the free, non-competitive, summer baseball league.
More than 13,000 youth participate in the Junior Giants program and more than 1,700 volunteer coaches donate their time to mentor their players and teach them the Junior Giants way.
The Giants Community Fund provides a select number of tickets to each of the leagues, giving many of the little sluggers the chance to not only attend a Major League Baseball game for the first time, but to also enjoy the experience with fellow players from around California, Oregon and Nevada.
In a smaller ceremony on Aug. 11, Morgan Hill Junior Giants’ Cristina Avina, 13, was one of 10 Junior Giants Scholars to be recognized at Education Day at AT&T Park.
The scholars, who make up the 2007 class of honorees, took to the field for a pre-game ceremony during which they posed for photos with Giants second baseman Ray Durham.
Avina is an eighth grader at Martin Murphy Middle School, and has been involved with the Junior Giants for four years.
Junior Giants Scholars are chosen each year based on their outstanding contributions to the Junior Giants program.
Selected during their eighth-grade year, the scholars must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.0 and volunteer with a local Junior Giants team or other community program throughout high school to receive their education grant. They must also earn acceptance to a college or vocational school.
The Junior Giants program was created to provide under-served children living in inner cities and rural communities the opportunity to run the bases, rather than the streets, each summer.
Volunteer coaches, consisting of police officers from the Police Activities Leagues (PAL), parks and recreation departments and caring community members help teach baseball and behavioral skills that stay with children long after the last ball is thrown.
For more information, visit www.jrgiants.org or call 877-JR-GIANT.
