A Little League of Their Own

When Adam Wickley's 11-year-old son Jackson wanted to enroll in a baseball league he quickly realized that his son had nowhere to play.

"Inserting him into mainstream competitive baseball would've been a nightmare," Wickley said. "But the Challenger League was way below the level he could play."

Jackson has auditory processing disorder (APD) and ADHD. When he couldn't find a league for his son, Wickley created one out of the Murphy Candler Baseball Little League Organization where he was already coaching.

He formed the Frontier League for children who, like his son, have mild disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia, speech delays and APD which make it difficult for them to compete in traditional little league.

"Frontier is very low-stress, fun baseball that is still focused on team play and the fundamentals of baseball," Wickley said.

Wickley and the other Frontier coaches, who are all dads of kids with mild disabilities, adapted the rules of baseball so that their kids could have the opportunity to play. They use baseball pitching machines or tees instead of pitching by hand.

"We adapt the rules so that they can succeed but still have the opportunity to fail," Wickley said.

Frontier League was founded in 2012 and Wickley has had little trouble getting parents to sign their kids up to play.

"Most parents are very apprehensive about the idea, until the first practice," Wickley said.

Gail Hudson, whose husband Kevin is a Frontier coach, has seen a transformation in her son Branin and his teammates since she signed him up for the league last year.

"We saw families cheering on their children for the first time," Hudson said. "Kids who did not know which hand the baseball glove goes on were making plays and getting outs."

For Hudson, the league was there for her son when he had nowhere else to go.

"The Frontier experience removes the complications and gives the kids and their families an afternoon of America's pastime," Hudson said.

Registration for Frontier League is currently open for the fall for children ages 7 to 12 who have been diagnosed with mild disabilities.

Visit https://www.murpheycandler.org/source/mcll_registration.php to register.