Colfax community embraces Sierra Foothills Little League

Little League baseball is where kids learn to love the sport. Most kids couldn't tell you what a balk is or how the infield fly rule works, but what they can tell you is how much they love building bonds with their friends and representing their community as they play. That is no exception at Sierra Foothills Little League in Colfax. "The best part of this is just giving kids a moment to have a life and letting them have the joy to be a part of a team," Sierra Foothills President Andy Shirk said. "We don't know these kids' home lives, we don't know their friend situation at school, we don't know a lot about them. For some, this is their moment of joy. This is their opportunity to be a part of something that maybe they don't have at home." Shirk also recognized the importance of the community of Colfax and how it has embraced baseball from the lower levels all the way up through the high school. "We just had the high school kids out here on opening day and they were doing a clinic, kind of giving back to the community where a lot of them came from," Shirk said. "It's kind of a cool community because people definitely do give back to their roots where they came from. There are a lot of dads who are working on the field going, 'Man, I played here 30 years ago.' It's kind of a cool situation." While Little League is about the kids enjoying themselves and learning to love the sport, Shirk also said he has learned a lot from coaching and being involved in the sport. He recalled one instance in particular this year where he found his players interacting and coaching one another. "I stopped coaching for a second the other day and I just watched," Shirk said. "My two first basemen were giving each other tips, my shortstop and second baseman were talking to each other. It was just a really cool moment to see kids not be on a phone, not on social media, not being negative or nasty to each other like you see and hear about so much. They're literally working together and building each other up. "It's not about winning or losing games, but those moments where the kids give back to each other and make each other better," Shirk said. Sierra Foothills has seen a steady increase in registration, with 310 kids playing ball in Colfax, more than 100 more than two years ago.