Interview #25: The Miracle League of AZ
Cassandra Switalski, executive director and Michigan native
Intro
Cassandra Switalski is the executive director with the Miracle League of Arizona, which began in 2011 with the opening of Dan Haren Jr. Field in Scottsdale. She has been there since the program’s inception and her and her team have helped develop a large community of volunteers, donors, players and parents that provide individuals with special needs a place to play baseball, socialize and be active at a facility specially designed with those needs in mind. I’ll relate my experience volunteering at the end of this post, the quick summary: it was very fun. I recommend everyone check out the league’s website and consider volunteering, donating or just becoming aware of what the Miracle League does: Miracle League of AZ.
Personal story and getting involved
Were you into baseball growing up at all?
“I did play softball in high school, so I was familiar with the sport, enjoyed the sport, but I wouldn't say I was the biggest fan necessarily. I wouldn't organize my schedule around watching baseball games, so. And I also was living in another country, so that made it even more difficult to watch US games.”
You were born outside the states?
“No, but I spent my teenage years in Germany. My dad used to work for General Motors and so he got a job over there. So my softball team was very small, and slow pitch, but it was still a lot of fun.”
Are you an Arizona native?
“No, I was born in Michigan, but my dad's job moved us around a lot, so I don't really have like a hometown, but I've been in Arizona so long that I consider it home.”
And then you moved back to the US for college?
“Yep. Moved back for college and then actually after college, I lived in South Korea teaching English for a couple of years. But then I came back because I have a brother who has special needs. And his health was on the decline and I wanted to be close by. So I came back to the states to be close to him in Arizona. And then this job, basically opportunity, was put in my lap, so that's kind of how it came to be.”
Was he involved in the Miracle League?
“Yeah. So it opened in 2011. I actually have two brothers that were participants on opening day. So they've been playing since day one. So that's how I knew about it and it was at the point where it was growing enough where it couldn't be volunteer-run anymore. They needed staffing to run it around the time that I got there. So it worked out.”
So you've been there now for, what, 10 years or so?
“Yeah, 10-plus. In college, I studied fitness and wellness. I've just always believed that being active is such an important part of being healthy and happy. And so working here combines my experience with special needs with my love for helping people get out there and get active.”
So how did you go from, so you were volunteering to help your family? And then you got into working with the league and ultimately where you are now?
“So at the time, my uncle was the board president. And so he approached me and said, hey, we need someone to fill this position. Given your experience, I think you'd be a good fit. So basically, I came in on day one, never having witnessed a game yet, but just kind of went full on into it.”
So was there a big learning curve for this whole thing? Did anybody help you out?
“Yeah. So I started as an assistant. So I was doing a lot of learning how to run the organization, run the program, run volunteers, learn a lot about different special needs. So I definitely was learning a lot my first couple of years, and then I became the program director. And then I became the executive director. So I've kind of just moved up.”
The Work that Goes On Behind the Scenes
So how have your responsibilities changed? So from starting, to program director, is that more focused on the actual event? And then to executive director.
“Game day kind of stuff. And then executive would be more high level stuff. Doing the fundraising, the financials, the grant writing, paying the bills, all the stuff behind the scenes that you don't necessarily think about. But yeah, basically getting us funding so that we can continue to do what we do.”
It feels like it's well funded. Is the league doing well?
“We're very, very fortunate that we get great community support, and then we get a lot of individual donors as well. And we like to say that all it takes is for someone to come out and watch a game and usually they're hooked and they say, how can we help. So we're very, very fortunate.”
So what are some day-to-day things that you have to do to keep this a success?
“It's grant writing, making sure we get the funding, and fundraising, because the more money we have, the more people we can serve. And so it's kind of simultaneously growing the program and growing our revenue. I just finished up a grant with the Scottsdale Charros. They do a couple big fundraisers a year, and they grant money to local charities that support children. So it’s little things like paying the bills and doing the financials. You know, kind of the boring stuff that you don't want to have to do, but you got to do it.”
What’s your favorite part about the job and working with the league?
“I think it's just that it's all about fun and play. And play brings people together. I think having lived abroad too, it's one of those things where it's like a universal language. You don't have to know everything in order to have a good time playing together and that's what I really like about it. You know, all walks of life, all different disabilities, all different volunteers. Everybody just comes here and has a good time for an hour or whatever time they're out there.”
How was it getting through COVID?
“It was difficult. We shut down completely for a little while just because we were so concerned. So many of our families have special health issues. And so we didn't want to take any chances for people to get sick, and a lot of people were still uncertain about what was going on, scared. So we definitely shut down for a little while. And then what we started offering was just family sessions at the ballpark. So a family could rent out the ballpark for an hour and just come and run around and play ball. So it wasn't as much fun, but it was something that they could do to get out. And we did like a Christmas drive for them where they drove up and we had baseball equipment that they could use to play at home with.
At one point we did transition back, but vaccines were required and that was a big deal. We weren't trying to make a political statement. We were just trying to keep people safe. And we lost some families doing that, I would say. Then it turned into just family members being buddies. And then it transitioned back into the volunteer buddies.”
Did you have to rebuild that volunteer network after that, or do more outreach?
“You know, we were worried that that would happen, that we would lose momentum. We have this group called National Charity League and Boys Team Charity where it's parents and kids that volunteer together. They're a huge source of volunteers for us. A lot of schools that require volunteer hours hear about us and know that it's a fun volunteer experience, so we got very fortunate that we just had a group of volunteers coming back the minute we were coming back, so it was great.”
So now that you've kind of recovered after COVID, do you have any plans for growing or expanding in the future? I'm sure there's still people who don't know about this.
“Yeah, we joke that there's even people in the neighborhood that drive past it every day and don't know what we do. We're actually kind of at capacity with all of our teams right now for this upcoming season. Any more players and that gets to be a little bit too much chaos. If those get any more full, then we'll have to transition to another day, Sunday. And then we have other days of the week where we're not playing that we could add on as well. And then we like to outreach to other organizations that serve those with special needs, because if they can come out to our ballpark and do like a family BBQ day, play a game, and then maybe we get a new athlete from that visit, you know, someone who really loved it wants to join.
But it's a lot of word of mouth. Our program director does a lot of outreach in the local school systems and other resource days, resource fairs and whatnot. For example, this Saturday I'm going to be at this event called Special Day for Special Kids and it's at the McCormick Ranch Railroad Park. I’m just manning the table to let people know what we do and where we're at. And then my program director is going to be at a big event for the Down Syndrome Network, where again they're having a table to share what we do. So we try to get out in the community and let people know that we're there and we're free too. We like people to come out and try it out, even if they have no interest in baseball whatsoever.”
Does the baseball part of your program give you a unique draw versus other programs?
“Yeah, that's a good question. A lot of our players also participate in Special Olympics, so they're doing other activities and they're doing other sports. But I think the main difference is Special Olympics, there's a lot of different sports. And they have some restrictions on who can participate. All we do is baseball. So that's all our focus is on. And then we make it so we don't have to turn anyone away. So I think that's what makes it appealing to some is you know, everyone gets to become a little baseball player. Everyone is welcome. They love their jerseys too. They get walk-up songs. We've got some players that won't come up to the batters box until their song’s played.
And it's funny because my brother has played in the soccer league before, and that wasn't as much fun for him because he can't kick the ball. There isn't, like, a tee set up for soccer. And so he just had to have it on his lap and it just wasn't quite the same versus baseball. Whether you take a live pitch, whether you hit off the tee or we have this contraption, where all you need to do is a little push and it knocks the ball off the tee. I think baseball provides the opportunity that everyone can do it at some capacity.”
So what’s your plan to handle more growth since you’re nearing capacity?
“It's been inching ever closer every season because we keep growing. There's been a lot of discussion about how do we do this next, because we're going to have to put a limit at some point to how many players that can play on Saturday, for example, and then anyone that gets put on a wait list, we'll offer them Sunday, or maybe we'll just offer Saturday and Sunday right from the get go and let people sign up for the one that works better for them. It's not going to be easy, but I think people really enjoy coming and they are willing to flex their schedules a little bit, and understand that we can't have 400 players playing at once. It just won't work.”
Have you had any amazing experiences or opportunities in this role?
“That's a good question. I've gotten to go to a lot of baseball fields and be actually on the field, because a lot of our kids have gotten to throw out the first pitch, or say Play Ball or sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game. I've gone to the locker room of the umpires before games, I’ve watched batting practice. I think really what I like is the exposure to all different disabilities and to watch them progress.”
Do you think you would be working with people with disabilities if you didn't have this job?
“I don't know, actually. I think I would be doing something in service. I really like to help others. But you know, there's a part of me that, because I live it every day too, it gets monotonous. But at the same time, all I have to do is go out and watch a game and get reminded why I do what I do.
I really love it though, that my brother used to watch me play sports in high school and now it's all about him. So you know, that's another part of the the job that I really like, that if I was working somewhere else, I might not have.”
So he supported you at your softball games and now you get to do that for him. Did he have any previous experience playing or anything like that before?
“Nope. So it was great for him because he felt like it was all about him, you know, he got spoiled, he got his own buddy, he got someone to help him do all the things that other people were doing, like throwing and batting. He loves the attention.”
The Games and the Community
What do you think it is about the Miracle League, and the mission with baseball specifically, that resonates?
“I think the fact that there's structure to the game. For kids with autism, they like a lot of repetition and structure. And so, it's always hit the ball, go to 1st, then 1st go to 2nd. It's something that they can learn how to do and do it independently. And then I think it's just kind of the whole concept of being part of something bigger than yourself, being part of the team. And then there's the socialization aspect of it. When you get paired up with a buddy, then there's someone there to help you learn how to socialize and interact with other people as well. It's a nice enclosed space where families can feel safe. Even if someone's a runner, they're not going to run out the front gate.
It's a nice place for parents, like you said, to sit back and kind of relax for a little bit, and then also to be resources for each other, to talk about things that they might be going through, or getting help from someone who has a similar child or whatever it may be, it's just kind of nice that they can sit back, relax and interact with each other too.”
So you've been here since it started. Have you noticed kind of a community growing around that? Are there people that have been there for many years as players and also just returnees throughout the years?
“Yeah, for sure. There's definitely a group that's been here for forever. We like to get together a couple times a year to thank our volunteers and our community because, you know, sometimes it's a thankless job and it's a lot of work, so there's definitely a sense of community. It feels like one big family. That's how I perceive it as, you know, we're just kind of like a big family.”
So when you were younger and you had your brothers, did you have anything like that to take them to or to have them enjoy? Was there anything like that for them before this started?
“Not like Miracle League. There was a summer camp that they went to, and I would volunteer there, but it was a lot more intensive and you had to have a lot more experience. It was a full day with individuals with special needs. So even as someone who has a sibling with special needs, it was exhausting. I would have loved it if we would have had, just, let's go bowling together. Let's go play baseball together, just for an hour or two. The summer camps were great, but they were just different.”
Do you think that would have been beneficial to your family growing up to have this little break once a week or every couple times a month to look forward to?
“Oh, for sure. So my one brother passed away, but my one brother who's still here, he loves it. And it is the highlight of his week. His favorite thing is the buddies. He loves getting different buddies every week because, for a while there, after COVID, we were just kind of keeping families together, limiting the exposure. So my brother got pretty sick of me being his buddy. So he loves having different buddies every week and just meeting new people. That's his favorite part because he doesn't have a school that he goes to, or a day program. So he's with my parents all the time. And so the fact that he gets to get out, be social, be around new people, he just he loves it.”
So is this beneficial to them, for their mental and physical health?
“Yeah, absolutely. A lot of times we describe those with special needs as kind of an isolated community, because they don't have as many opportunities, especially once they age out of a lot of school-age programs. So a lot of adults with special needs, they just are isolated. They stay at home, they don't have as many activities that they can participate in that are catered to them. The fact that they get to get out and interact with others, be a little bit active, socialize, I think it does wonders for their mental health, for sure.”
What are some of your favorite memories from your time with the Miracle League?
“I think just watching this one athlete progress, his name is Yakov. He started out in our recreational games, which you volunteered for. So that's when everyone hits and everyone scores. And he would use the walker and to get from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd. And then on his way from 3rd to home, he would toss the walker aside and he would go and he'd do his somersault across home plate.
So he was just loving it. But we were like, OK, this kid is not being challenged enough. So then he moved into the competitive league and he started out still in his walker, using that for support. But then eventually he ended up going completely without his walker. He was making diving catches. And then felt confident enough in his baseball skills that then he went and played with a typical team. And that's just something that's really cool to witness and experience as someone starting at the lower, less competitive level and then working their way up to typical ball. I think that was just really cool. Now he's in college, comes back to visit sometimes, but that was just a really cool thing to witness. Sometimes parents say that their kids will do more on the baseball field than they do in physical therapy just because they're having fun. So if they're working on walking, they walk from bases to bases. If they're working on, you know, shoulder strength they're throwing.
So I think that was definitely one of my favorite things that I've witnessed. And then I think just, personally, becoming an executive director at a young age, you know, I was in my early 30s, late 20s, and I had a really good mentor who showed me the way and helped me to progress and then he stayed on as an advisor for a year just to kind of support me, so I just feel very fortunate and very lucky that I have this opportunity here that I get to help others, have fun and have a good time and get out, get active, all that good stuff.”
I hadn’t even thought of the unique benefits of baseball for certain individuals versus other sports. For someone with far less experience being around these individuals, I just notice the surface level things like everyone having fun, running around, rooting each other on. But after hearing Cassandra’s answer about how baseball specifically helps, it makes sense. You notice for sure that the hitting team is usually more organized, there’s a goal to hit the ball, run the bases and score. Then there’s the fielding team, which is mostly chaos in the outfield, especially since there are no “outs” on the night that I volunteer at. But that’s where they’re running, throwing, hanging with their buddy. So there’s the cerebral side of the game that helps them, and the physical side that also benefits them.
A Rookie Volunteer’s story (me)
I only volunteered, I was really nervous.
“Did you have any prior experience?”
I volunteered for something similar in high school like 20 years ago, but we went bowling. So there was like 5 students and five or six group members. So all we had to do is help them put the ball on the ramp and they had the bumpers up. So it was very, very easy. And then I got there, I didn't know what I was doing. I knew what it was. I researched and everything, and it's like, I have Tuesday nights free. I'll just go there and help volunteer. My first day I showed up and I kept trying to make excuses not to go, because I was so nervous. I didn't know anybody, and I walked up, and so we started with the 10-and-under game. So my kid basically went to sleep in the outfield.
“Yeah, that happens.”
So I kind of watched him, and I stood in front of him so nothing hit him. But he didn't want to get up. And then he went to bat and he all of a sudden, like, woke up and ran around the bases so fast I couldn't keep up with him. And then the next game, you know, for the older ones, my buddy had non-speaking autism, and seizures. And the dad requested me and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. He was giving me more instructions, like, you know, if she starts to have a seizure, you've got to really hold her tight and all this stuff and I was like, I'm going to get her hurt. Luckily, it went without incident. But the whole time I was like, man, I thought I was just going to help push a wheelchair around or, you know, pick up trash.
“You got thrown right into it.”
Yeah. But once I got there, as soon as I got paired up with a player, everything washed away. You're so focused on helping and being part of their enjoyment, seeing how happy they got and seeing the parents enjoy that and then the second time I went, it was even more of the same. Like I recognized more people and I was more comfortable.
Are your volunteers usually people who have prior experience?
“You know, I would say a lot of them, the first time they come out here, they don't have any experience and then it's just, a lot of the ones that stick around and become coaches or permanent buddies, you know, those are the ones that do have a little more experience just because they've been participating with Miracle League. But yeah, I'd say there is a pretty high percentage of people that have never been exposed to special needs before and we try to kind of say that, you know, it's just about them. Like you said, their enjoyment. So you don't need to know all the details about different special needs and diagnoses and all of that. It's just, you're there to help them have fun. Every player is a little bit different and you kind of figure it out as you go.
Usually when a new group comes in and they've never been there before, I just let them know that their main task is encouragement and enthusiasm because everybody could do that. It's high fives, fist bumps, cheering, communicating. Even if you're not getting a response back, just being happy to be there and then your athlete kind of falls in line and appreciates that you want to be there, that you're interested in them, and then they can have a good time.
I've had a buddy come up to me that was just so nervous about doing it. And I said, hey, look, just sit in the stands for a game and watch it and see what the other buddies are doing. Just observe it for once too. You can see that it's not the same for every athlete. It kind of just depends, and our coaches try to not buddy up someone who has a little bit more challenging tasks with someone who's new, but that doesn't always work out depending on what volunteers we have.”
What would you say to somebody like me who was nervous the first time?
“I think I would just try to be welcoming and and make it clear that, you know, we're all here for the same reason, which is to help these kids have fun. And, you know, we all got to start somewhere. So day one is always a little bit strange, a little bit unknown, a little bit hesitant. I think the parents are really gracious, too, where they can see if you're really struggling with an athlete, they can jump in. I think it's just kind of expected that it's going to weird at first.”
So January was not a great time for me. I was looking for work, depressed, barely leaving the house and something else was going on that really threw me in a tailspin. So towards the middle of the month, like after two weeks straight of sleeping 18 hours a day, I was scrolling through Instagram (which is so beneficial for your mental health…), and I came across a post about the Miracle League and saw the caption about looking for volunteers.
So I signed up in January to be a buddy (you partner with a special needs player for the game and help them as needed basically). I figured, I’m not doing anything Tuesday nights, I should go get some fresh air and do something for others. We had a lot of rain, so I didn’t get my first game in until February, the same week I had started a new job. It was my second day of that job and I already knew it wasn’t a good fit, so I was stressed, tired and overall in a terrible mood. So I left work at 5, got home to put change out of work clothes and feed Bauer, and hopped back into the car to get to the field before 6. On the way I had gotten into an argument with my mom about something stupid, so I was even more stressed out.
I parked, and I was doing everything I could to just leave all those problems in the parking lot. But I was nervous as well. I didn’t know anyone here, I had no experience with special needs, I was cold. It was crowded that day, too. A high school baseball team was volunteering, there were full rosters in both dugouts, stands full of parents and family. 90% of me was ready to go back home, they seemed to have enough volunteers. I ended up going in, getting a volunteer t-shirt and assigned to the White Sox dugout. The coach paired me up with a littler kid, James.
James was very quiet, and I didn’t know what I was really supposed to do. But we were in the field first, we were the “shortstop”. He had his glove and I tossed him a ball that missed is glove and dribbled off into foul territory. Then he sat down and finished the inning sitting cross legged in the hole (still has more range than Derek Jeter though 🙃). So we get up to bat in the bottom of the inning, he’s third up. I’m expecting to have to almost drag him around the bases so he doesn’t sit down. Well, he sees the first pitch, smacks a ground ball to left field and takes off. I mean like the Roadrunner, it totally surprised me, luckily I only said “Oh, shit” in my head and not aloud. So I take off after him, I wasn’t wearing a belt I didn’t think I’d be running sprints, so I’m holding my pants up with my left hand, reaching out to hold his hand with my right and we score a home run.
Then the next inning, which is the last inning as in this version, it’s 2 innings, everyone bats and everyone scores, he went to sleep in short left field (sort of like Barry Bonds in his later years).
So I go back two weeks later and get paired up with James again. It was night and day difference. He recognized me, we talked more. We were first in the field again. This time, his dad was out for a couple minutes with us and I was tossing James a ball. The dad said he usually just kicks it away and not to worry about it. So when he left us alone in the field, I said, let’s see if you can catch 10 “throws” in a row. I was standing 5 feet away, he held his glove out and he would “catch” it only if I perfectly tossed it in. We got to 9 and he started counting and throwing the ball back with each catch. We got to 20, then 30 and he was counting along and smiling the whole time. We got all the way to 50 before I finally missed the glove again, but he was so excited and then I got excited for him.
My favorite part with James was when we went to bat the next inning. He told me he was going to take a few pitches, draw a walk and get on base. I told him he’s our clean-up hitter and needs to hit some dingers. He was insistent on being patient at the plate. I guess they’re reading Moneyball in school now? We eventually agreed that “Chicks dig the long ball” and he hit one.
You can tell just by how long and detailed I just told that story what it meant to me. All I am is a buddy, I show up, help them a bit and then go home. But the second I got on that field and saw everything going on, everything else just evaporated from my mind. I wasn’t upset, or angry or miserable for those two hours helping them out. I was legitimately excited and enjoying the players and the whole experience. I am really glad I went through with it in the end, and I hope anyone reading Cassandra’s or my story about this league will become interested in learning more about it.