STAFF Q&A

One-on-one with NVLL staff members:

Tony Hodges
President

How would you describe the way NVLL has been running?
The talent is still there. Not a bit multitude of kids anymore. Small crop of very talented kids. Dedicated kids. Comes from the parents and the community. Still a lot of people out there who want to help and see these kids play baseball. Still challenging, but very very gratifying.

What is your vision on what you'd like to see come from North Vallejo Little League?
The vision is to get more kids involved in playing baseball. The kickback from that is making a better community. A safe place for kids to play, yell, scream, holler in a constructive and organized sport. That's the real positive part of Little League baseball. In a small suburban town, it's a great place to play. It hooks you in and you wind up staying.

What drives you to continue working with these kids?
What continues my drive is the quality people I have met. When a lot of these kids started playing, they were in some really bad situations at home. At the end of the 12-year-old season, they completely change. They evolve from someone we coach to someone we really watched over. We ask them how school is and if they're going through anything. Some of our kids weren't getting that at home. When you see that transformation, it gets in your blood and it makes you want to continue helping out. That's the biggest thrill for me.

Do you have any other immediate plans for NVLL?
Right now, we're working on another project called the North Vallejo Bashers . It's similar to a traveling AAU-type team. It's a very exciting thing coming from NVLL because these are people in the community who don't have the money to play in an AAU-type situation. So we're bringing same type quality baseball to our area so every kid can play at a quality level. It's just baseball.

Where do you see NVLL in the very near future?
We want to work on not only teaching these kids the fundamentals of the game - but teach them the fundamentals of life in general. We want to get involved with their schooling and education. So one thing we've been talking about is building a study hall so these kids can go somewhere to do homework and other things. You see that it really makes a difference when you are involved with what's going on with these kids outside of baseball. It gives me hope that we're doing something to help the kids change their lives. in, living in or from the Bay Area.