Northwest Indiana Business Magazine

Northwest Indiana’s Leading Regional Business Magazine Since 1991

  • Home
  • Industries
    • Banking
    • Education
    • Health & Wellness
    • Manufacturing & Technology
    • Professional Services
    • Real Estate & Building
    • Small Business & Entrepreneurship
    • Tourism & Recreation
    • Transportation & Logistics
  • Community
    • Around the Region
    • Business News Bits
    • Economic Development
    • Events
    • Leadership
    • Making a Difference
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Viewpoint
    • Publisher’s Note
  • Jobs
  • Webinars
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues Archive
    • Advertise With Us
    • Business News eNewsletter
    • Subscriptions and Renewals
    • Contributing Writers
    • Editorial and Business Advisory Board
    • Magazine Team
  • About
    • Contact
    • Advertise With Us
    • Subscriptions and Renewals
    • Our History
    • Privacy
    • Terms
  • Log In
You are here: Home / Articles / Ball Game Struggle

Ball Game Struggle

April 9, 2018 – By Ben Smith Leave a Comment

Interest fades in America’s former favorite pastime

Gary Metro Little League

“Last year we had roughly 10 to 11 teams (in tee-ball, minor league and major league), and that was about 200 kids. We’ve had up to 500 kids. So it’s dwindling down little by little,” says Kevin Bradley, president of Gary Metro Little League.

Springtime again, and there’s no doubting what Kevin Bradley’s fancy turns to. Baseball is his thing and has been for four decades.

The president of the Gary Metro Little League first put a bat to a ball when he was just four years old, and the ball sat on a tee. From tee-ball he progressed to little league, then high school ball at Lew Wallace High, and then college ball at Lincoln Trail Junior College in Robinson, Ill. Now 45, Bradley still marks his springs and summers by the porch-swing rhythms of America’s great pastime.

“My parents took me to play, I had uncles that played. Needless to say, baseball is my passion,” he says.

It’s why the Gary firefighter is the varsity baseball coach at Thea Bowman Leadership Academy Junior/Senior High in Gary.  It’s also why he’s been the president of the Gary Metro League, which was the Gary Midtown League when Bradley played in the league growing up. For three years, he’s tried to keep participation numbers up, just as youth baseball coaches and league officers struggle to do the same nationwide.

It’s hardly breaking news that baseball, as an American staple, has been losing steam. The decline in youth baseball participation stretches back at least a quarter century. By its own numbers, little league participation crested in the 1990s, when about three million children played youth baseball and softball. That number sits at 2.4 million today. According to a 2014 Wall Street Journal study, participation by young people between the ages of 6 and 18 sagged by 7.2 percent between 2008 and 2012 alone.

There are any number of reasons for the decline in little league. Among those reasons, are the options now available to kids which didn’t exist when men like Bradley were growing up. One of those options is reflected in the rise of both youth soccer and AAU basketball.

So what are youth baseball executives doing to combat this trend? Bradley, for one, does what he can.“Yeah, it’s dwindling down every year,” he admits. “Last year we had roughly 10 to 11 teams (in tee-ball, minor league and major league), and that was about 200 kids. We’ve had up to 500 kids. So it’s dwindling down little by little,” he says. “But we’re trying to do what we can to keep baseball going in this area.”

That’s important, he feels and not just because he and his fellow Metro League coaches and officials grew up playing baseball.

Clark Troupe, for instance, played as a kid and in high school at Gary Westside. Two decades ago, he was an assistant baseball coach at both West and Thea Bowman. Now he’s been coaching in the Gary Metro League for a decade, finding in it an opportunity that goes beyond just teaching the game.

“For me, outside of the sport itself, it’s being a good role model for the kids,” he says. “Helping them overcome obstacles. I try to be available for them. I try to be there.”

To that end, they sell baseball as hard as they can, going into the schools, advertising in the newspapers and social media.

“Most of the kids, they want to play,” Bradley says. “But then the parents are not interested in it. So we try to keep the parents informed about baseball as well.”

You can ask Clark Troupe about that. “Each year, you know, I watch the kids grow,” he says. “The kids I have right now, when I started with those kids they were 6 and 7 years old playing tee-ball. So I’ve watched them grow. They’re becoming young men now, and I enjoy seeing them be productive. Good athletes of course, but good students, just overall good kids.”

Click to read more from the Apr-May 2018 issue of Northwest Indiana Business Magazine.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ben Smith
Ben Smith
In 36 years as a sports journalist in Indiana, Ben Smith has been yelled at by Larry Bowa, lectured by Bob Knight and never let anything sway his unwavering conviction that sometime, perhaps within the current millennium, his beloved Pittsburgh Pirates would win again. Along the way he’s interviewed people as diverse as John Wooden and Chuck Yeager, chronicled both the glory and final days of the iconic single-class Indiana high school basketball tournament, and covered the Indianapolis 500 since 1977.
Ben Smith
Latest posts by Ben Smith (see all)
  • Ball Game Struggle - April 9, 2018
  • Lessons in the Game of Life - February 9, 2018
  • Youth Football - October 26, 2017

Filed Under: 2018-Apr-May, Sports Tagged With: Clark Troupe, Gary Metro Little League, Kevin Bradley

About Ben Smith

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Print Issue

April-May 2018

2018 NWIBM Apr-May Cover

Magazine Articles

Honoring Excellence

Around the Region

Best of Business Awards – 2018

Manufacturing a Future

Back to School

Economy in Motion

Commercial Real Estate Boom Riding Rails of Hope, Hard Work

Financially Fit

Getting to Know the Farmer Behind Your Food

Things to do and See in Northwest Indiana

Things to Do and See in South Bend

Amazing Opportunities

Ball Game Struggle

VW Settlement Plan

Categories

Archives

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Business News Bits
  • Archive
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscriptions and Renewals
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Contact

© Copyright 1991-2022 Linker Media Group, Inc · All Rights Reserved

Posting....