House of Pitching seeks GREAT cause help!

[Hillhouse]

Writing this from Copenhagen Denmark, here for my son's confirmation to the church this weekend:

I have found myself on this board and, pretty much, one other board and more lately, chiming in on various topics and primarily answering oodles of direct messages about pitching. And as many of you know I have a son (who's now 15) and I have posted pictures of him pitching in the past, which shocked some who actually saw a youth MALE pitching fastpitch! And some of you who've known me the longest know my son was born in the USA but moved to Copenhagen Denmark with his mother at 5 years old when we divorced. Right up until taking the college job last fall, I was literally going to Denmark every other month WITHOUT FAIL to see him, stay active in his live, support him, and be the best dad I could be under the circumstances. Alex is still on the fence about pursing his pitching despite having offers from both Denmark and USA to pitch on their Junior Boy's National teams. His real passion is swimming. He's quite good, swimming in a club (similar to how your DD plays for a travel ball club!) and is very close to making the Jr. National team for the Danish swim team also.

What many do NOT know is Alex is Autistic. He is highly functional and very active (obviously), attends a special school here, gets additional help and but has a fantastic opportunity to swim for the Danish national team for the SPECIAL OLYMPICS!!!! So, a massive fundraising project has begun for his qualifier training next weekend, with the Nordic championships around the corner, then the European championships, then, ????? Tokyo 2020????? Sadly, like all minor sports in every country funding is problematic. Special Olympic funding is 3 steps below even that, unfortunately.

So, on my flight here overnight (I will get to see his training competition NEXT weekend of June 1st in preparation for the Nordic's) I got the idea to seek support from some whom I've offered my help to here with no charge!!! While I didn't get this bright idea until I was on my way here, it's too late for you to get this nifty laminated sponsorship certificate.... although it's in Danish and unlikely you can read it anyway. LOL. I am hoping that many of you have a soft spot in your hearts for the Special Olympics, would maybe wanna do a great gesture for my son and support the program in general) and would consider a donation to this cause. I do understand that there are a million worthy causes for charitable donations but, I hope I paid it forward with some of you that you may consider this for this great young man. Obviously there is no obligation to anyone reading this but I am hoping to help make his training, travel and necessary gear covered, with whatever left over (hopefully plenty) being donated directly to the Special Olympics Swim program in Denmark. If you're at all interested, you can donate straight to my PayPal and I will handle the currency exchange and make sure donations made to the program come from the USA softball community that Alex's dad tries to be a part of. <houseofpitching....at...yahoo> is my PayPal ID. I hope my name and reputation will insure the authenticity of this message.


Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this!

Bill

 

[Powerof9]

Seems like a great cause, I will donate

 

[Hillhouse]

Thank you Wtedalgo.... it's an amazing thing. I'm going to post some video of us pitching softball, he still loves doing it in the backyard but won't do it in leagues because it'll "interfere" with swimming. lol.

Get this, I was in awe... Imagine your DD plays travel ball and you have your organizational fees. Then you have to buy equipment. Then you have to pay for travel to tournaments (food, hotels, gas/flights), you have added costs with private coaching, then you buy your uniforms. All of that is true in Denmark swimming but, not imagine that every time you have a practice you have to pay an additional $20 to use the field. Per kid. Per practice.... on top of the other similar expenses to playing your sport. I always knew Denmark was expensive: $125 for Levis, $200 for Nike shoes, impossible to get softball gear without paying huge import taxes (Unless you know some idiot who comes to see his son every few months and will bring it over for you for free), $29 for 2 McNugget meals at McDonalds (that's not a misprint), $5 for a 12oz bottle of Coke at the store, etc. etc. But, the upcharges for these athletes to use the pool blew my mind away, as jaded as it is. And, sadly the many I'm talking about being special Olympians, they cannot get jobs to help themselves. All of this while Denmark taxes every person at 66%, whether you're a doctor or you work at Burger King. Granted, there is socialized medicine. College is free for those who want it. Gov't programs for any and everything you can imagine (except athletics) but think about 66% next time you think about your tax bracket!!!!!!!! LOL!! And yet, Denmark is considered to be the happiest country in the world.

Sorry to vent. Thank you again, and thank you to everyone who's sent messages wishing him well.

Bill

 

[Crystal Brown]

Thank you Wtedalgo.... it's an amazing thing. I'm going to post some video of us pitching softball, he still loves doing it in the backyard but won't do it in leagues because it'll "interfere" with swimming. lol.

Get this, I was in awe... Imagine your DD plays travel ball and you have your organizational fees. Then you have to buy equipment. Then you have to pay for travel to tournaments (food, hotels, gas/flights), you have added costs with private coaching, then you buy your uniforms. All of that is true in Denmark swimming but, not imagine that every time you have a practice you have to pay an additional $20 to use the field. Per kid. Per practice.... on top of the other similar expenses to playing your sport. I always knew Denmark was expensive: $125 for Levis, $200 for Nike shoes, impossible to get softball gear without paying huge import taxes (Unless you know some idiot who comes to see his son every few months and will bring it over for you for free), $29 for 2 McNugget meals at McDonalds (that's not a misprint), $5 for a 12oz bottle of Coke at the store, etc. etc. But, the upcharges for these athletes to use the pool blew my mind away, as jaded as it is. And, sadly the many I'm talking about being special Olympians, they cannot get jobs to help themselves. All of this while Denmark taxes every person at 66%, whether you're a doctor or you work at Burger King. Granted, there is socialized medicine. College is free for those who want it. Gov't programs for any and everything you can imagine (except athletics) but think about 66% next time you think about your tax bracket!!!!!!!! LOL!! And yet, Denmark is considered to be the happiest country in the world.

Sorry to vent. Thank you again, and thank you to everyone who's sent messages wishing him well.

Bill

I though Italy taxes were a lot.

Please keep us updated on how Alex’s training is going. Of course some of his pitching videos as well.


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