By Stacy Case
North Springs Little League was so excited to celebrate its 25th birthday last year, but only one week into the season the pandemic called a time-out and ultimately shut down the rest of the program’s 2020 games.
As Dean Sullivan takes the seat as the league’s new president, his optimism for the 2021 season hopes to be more contagious than that of the virus that has changed the way we live.
“Our goal as parents and as a league is to work tirelessly to present this ageless game to our kids in an environment that is family-friendly,” says Dean, who is accompanied by 14 other Board Members. “We celebrated 25 years on opening night in 2020 with great fanfare and nostalgia, only to shut the season down seven days later as the world came to a halt and lives completely turned upside down with the onset of COVID-19.”
And to try to ease that, North Springs once again plans to offer play to both boys and girls within its specific boundaries that include residence or school enrollment on the northern portion of Wiles Road to the Sawgrass Expressway, east to the city limits of Coral Springs. Additionally, it offers its recreational play to those as young as 4-years-old at the T-ball level to those as old as age 16 who play in the league’s Seniors division.
Over the years, North Springs has consistently had hundreds of players participate during its regular season of play, which typically spans from early March until just before Memorial Day.
Then, in the heat of the summer is when North Springs has earned its esteemed reputation around the All-Star circuit.
The league has amassed numerous accolades at the District, Section, State and Regional levels. Additionally, it was the Senior team from North Springs that made back-to-back World Series appearances in both 2017 and 2018, having been crowned National Champions in their first visit.
Perhaps it is the league’s impressive number of players each year who choose to don the North Springs Little League uniform every Spring at North Community Park in Coral Springs, but it may also be due to the caliber of its athletes who hail from its small sector from one year to the next.
The organization has been known to be impactful to some of its former players.
“Little League, especially North Springs, is a big part of who I am today because of the great community and teammates I built myself around,” says former North Springs player Coby Mayo, who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB draft by the Baltimore Orioles. “Going to the field almost everyday during the season and competing versus the best kids in my area, helped my development in such a positive way,” adds Coby, who was an integral part of some of North Springs’ All Star titles, including both Seniors titles.
And while many players’ baseball schedules went on hiatus over the past several months, once play resumes, Coby reminds the Little League players of all ages and abilities something he will forever remember…”I was always told as a young player (growing up in Little League) to keep putting in the hard work everyday and you will eventually come closer and closer to your dream.”
North Springs has already opened its registration for the 2021 season online and will host its final on-site registration on Dec. 5th from 9am-12pm at North Community Park.
“As a society, we are resilient and, thankfully, our kids have very short memories,” adds Dean. “When I look ahead, I see long evenings at the ballpark; kids with purple Slushie mustaches, coaches who love this game and their ballplayers, and smiles from those who suddenly realize she/he has found their passion.”
For more info, visit NorthSpringsll.com
