- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,380
- 113
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
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