Volunteers are heart, soul of sports leagues
John Baranchak doesn't mind coaching his son Matt's youth baseball teams.
Unfortunately, that doesn't give him much time to volunteer to do the same for his youngest son Luke's teams.
Baranchak helped to guide the Butler Township 12-year-old to the 2006 Pennsylvania Little League championship and earn a berth to the Little League World Series mid-Atlantic Regional in Bristol, Conn.
Baranchak has managed Matt's team the past seven to eight years, dating back to T-ball. He's been involved with Luke's teams for the past few seasons, but Baranchak helps coach only two out of every three games.
Luke was a member of last year's 9- and 10-year-old District 25 championships.
"The one thing I know is it's a great opportunity to get involved with your kids," said Baranchak, a sales manager for the Baltimore Life Insurance Co.
"It all starts with being involved. That's the primary reason I started. I've always had an interest in working with children. You get a lot out of coaching kids. It's more than just winning. It's sportsmanship and teaching life lessons.
"You like to see them develop. I've seen them since they started at age 5. A lot of these kids have played on All-Star teams," he added.
Baranchak played baseball at Butler High School, where he graduated in 1983, and played AmericanLegion and Eagle County baseball as well.
Applying what he's learned and getting to help children learn the game has been rewarding for Baranchak, who got to see his team doing something no Butler County Little League team — at any level — has done before.
"It's very rewarding what they've accomplished with hard work," said Baranchak. "I can't think of a greater group of kids."
The 12-year-old team of last season will now branch out to Pony League or Federation squads next year, so Baranchak will now shift more attention to Luke's team, who may move up to the 11- to 12-year-old team.
"I'm looking forward to coaching (Luke)," said Baranchak. "He's been somewhat in the background."
Ask George "Red" Slater about volunteering and there's seems to be very little he hasn't done — or isn't doing.Slater, 79, of Renfrew has kept himself pretty busy since graduating from Butler High School in 1945.After coming out of the Navy in 1946, Slater began coaching Meridian basketball at the age of 19, then baseball and midget football."I'm still doing everything today," said Slater, still a coach and president of the Butler Area Midget Football league. We had 507 players this year, the most in our 58-year history."Slater has coached Lyndora and Meridian teams, the latter from 1964 to 1990, and he served as offensive coordinator for the Moniteau High School varsity football team from 1991 to 1995.He's also been involved with Mid County baseball since 1952 and has been the president for all but one year.Slater has his hands in other activities and organizations, including being the president at the ARC of Butler, but somehow makes it all happen."I spend a lot of time but I do it because I enjoy working with kids," said Slater. "I raised six kids. I enjoy it, even with the generation gap."I'm retired now from West Penn Power so this is all I do. I had done all of that while I was working. This was my recreation. I don't golf and I don't hunt or fish now. It keeps me thinking young," Slater added.Slater, who was inducted into the Butler County Hall of Fame in 1980 and is the hall's president, doesn't see himself slowing down any time soon."Basically, it's mental. I enjoy what I'm doing," said Slater. "There are some things in your job you like to do and other things you just put up with."Today, if kids don't like you, they won't play for you. I don't give it a lot of thought. Why do I do it? It's just something I enjoy doing."
Volunteerism can be one person trying to help and make a difference, but pooling a group together can make a difference tenfold.Patty Daniels, the outreach/volunteer coordinator for Special Olympics of Butler County, has been the coordinator for two years and in outreach for six years."All Special Olympics is volunteer," said Daniels. "We have 14 different sports. I don't attend all the sports, but I coach basketball, volleyball and track and field."We're asking some people to do something over and over again. We really try and do outreach."We send letters to churches, school districts and coaches. The National Honor Society students usually have to do so many hours and we've tried Tanglewood and St. Barnabas. We send fliers to post,"Daniels added.Volunteers are always needed in some capacity, whether coaching or helping at district qualifiers. Depending on the sport, state finals occur in the summer, fall and winter.The organization has several fundraisers throughout the year, including the Bowl-a-Thon in February and the Community Auction Day on June 3 at the Butler Township Community Park on Duffy Road."It's our big fundraiser," said Daniels. "Everything is donated. There are activities, games to play, clowns and we serve food. ... There are some smaller fund raisers too. It's a community activity, all volunteers."
