ROCKINGHAM – The youth baseball team sponsored by Rockingham Fire Department wrapped up a successful season with a team party at their sponsor’s home, the Lawrence Street Firehouse.
On Tuesday, July17th, the fire department hosted the 11 players from the Rockingham Parks and Recreation nine and 10 year-old division and their families to celebrate the team taking the title for the regular season. The boys finished with a nine and two record but were eliminated from the tournament in the first round.
Coach Mike Crume became a coach when his kids, Michael and Matthew, both 10, began playing. He appreciates the support of the fire department.
“I called chief [Isler] and told him what I was wanting to do, and he told me he’d accommodate me in any way he could – what was theirs was ours also,” Crume said.
Michael Crume, a rising fifth grader at Washington Street School, had toured the department before and was looking forward to his second visit.
“They showed us around the entire fire department in third grade,” Michael Crume said, adding that he was looking forward to “seeing if stuff changed.”
Isler took a few moments to welcome the team and their parents and told the boys that he was “honored” when they asked to have their party at the firehouse and that he was proud of their hard work.
Several crew members who were on hand took few minutes to introduce themselves and tell the kids what their jobs were.
After pizza and cupcakes, the children and their families were taken on a tour of the firehouse and shown the equipment that fire crews use to do their jobs. They were allowed to go inside the cabin of the trucks, examine hoses and nozzles used to suppress fires and got to see the firemen in their full turnout gear – the suits worn to fight fires.
Kris Smith was thankful the department hosted her son Lincoln’s team to reward their work.
“This is so cool. The kids always love seeing the fire trucks and all that stuff. So just the fact that the company that sponsored us threw this together and let us come over here, I think that’s really cool,” she said.
The fire department has been sponsoring youth baseball for over 40 years, according to Coach Crume.
Isler believes that events like this are an important form of public outreach. It informs the kids as to the job firefighters do and lets them know about possible careers they might want to consider.
“Anytime we can do anything to help out children . . .get them to come by and visit enlighten them a little bit about the fire department because these are our future leaders,” he said. “I’ve got about roughly eight years until I retire and some of these guy will probably be coming in eventually after I’m out of this business. So if we can get them in here show them what we do, maybe they’ll take a liking to it. They’ll take the torch and run with it from there.”
Editor’s note: This article was contributed by Beth Lawrence, a new addition to our growing family of talented writers at the Richmond Observer.
