Barone Drexel and Harris - My Mentors, Teachers and Coaches

My life was always about playing ball, mostly baseball as I grew up. Therefore, I was always at playground on Chancellor Avenue. This was a hotbed for sports activity in Weequahic section of Newark. From Monday through Saturday there were countless games taking place. Baseball on dirt field and softball on blacktop. Basketball games, and volley ball games were always being played. Mr Barone, Mr Drexel and Mr Harris oversaw games that were played. Sometimes they played in those games. They ran show. Organizing teams for a given game or creating teams for a new league they took charge and got things done. I did not realize some of things they did that impacted my life until I left playground scene many years later.

I looked up to all three of them, for being fair, for listening when I had a problem and for being funny. Each one of them was unique. Each one of them was taught me in their own style.

Mr Barone or Mr B as most of us called him was about five feet. The only thing that was small about him was his height. Playing ball with teenagers was one of his favorite things to do. He often was director that played in games when we needed another guy. I would also see Mr B talking to some kids in batting cage teaching them some fundamentals about batting. He always made himself available either on playing field or by helping some kids with their homework. I appreciated that he gave of himself. So did many of other kids. A great guy.

The Sport Of Goalball

How would you like to have a three-pound ball size of a basketball fired at you at 50, 60 miles an hour, and you have to hurl your body in a diving attempt to stop it while blindfolded? This isn't some fraternity initiation prank. It's a real sport played by blind and visually impaired athletes all over world. The game is called Goalball, and it's not for fainthearted. In a recent article from Herald Palladium (Michigan) newspaper, Nikki Buck of U.S. National Goalball Team described sport as "kind of like dodge ball but in reverse." In 1946, Hanz Lorenzen of Austria and Sepp Reindle of Germany invented Goalball as a way to help rehabilitate veterans blinded during World War II. The game was first introduced to worlde at 1976 Paralympics in Toronto, and has been a Paralympic sport ever since. The game is played with three players a side facing each other across a court nine meters wide and 18 meters long. A heavy string taped to each end of court marks area, or zone, players can use to orient themselves to court. They do this by feeling string with their hands or feet. Each zone has three orientation lines that each player can use to make sure they are lined up properly. A basketball-size ball with bells inside is used so players can hear it when it's thrown. The object of game is to throw ball in such a way that it rolls over opposing team's goal line. Don't let word "roll" fool you; players can put amazing speeds of 50 miles an hour or more on their throws. The defensive players listen for ball, and attempt to block it with their bodies by diving on floor. Once ball is stopped, that team takes control of ball and may attempt a throw of their own.