Grant Community Softball Baseball

Lets start of with a bit of History provided from Larry Lutz, past GTAAA President.  Back in the early 60’s Veterens Park was actually known as Deer Haven Park.  There was a petting Zoo where our fields now stand.  Eventually the business was unable to survive, and the lot sat. It sat empty for the later part of the sixties.    Around 1970, Grant Township Little League, now GCBS, got together with the township/ village and GTLL organized volunteers to create a new park.  The Pinto/Farm Field was actually 9 feet lower than it is today and had several feet of water in it.  Dump truck after dump truck of dirt was put into the place day and night, working on the field.  Eventually they were able to turn it into a ball field.  That is the beginning of what is now Veterans Park.   Field #2 Larry Lutz(Bronco) Field was added on soon after.  Then in the mid seventies, Field #3 Bronken Field(Mustang) and #2 Vonderhaar Field (Softball)  were added.  Finally in the late 90’s #1 Butts Field (Tball) was put into place.   The Village of Fox provided the asphalt and concrete for the drive and base of the concessions, however 99% of the work that has ever been done on what is now  Veterens Park. was on the back of volunteers known as GTAAA.   In 1972, the Village of Fox Lake could not afford to do the work and upkeep at the park and would not have been able to, presenting a sit down between the President of GTAAA and the Mayor.  At this time, although nothing was ever signed, a handshake agreement was put  into place that GTLL/GTAAA would have primary access to the fields as long as the field were maintained.  That handshake agreement remained intact throughout many Mayor and Presidents.  This agreement has been in place for over 40 years.

“I've been watchin and coaching kid sports for generations in my family and the favoritism here ain't exactly subtle. The head coach fella is hard on just about every girl on that team except 2. If you stood by that dugout for ten minutes, you'd see it. I was standin there with my college girl and neither of us knew them kids. Didn't matter. We picked out which one was the coach's daughter almost immediately just from the way he talked to her compared to all them other players. Meanwhile, the other girls are gettin barked at while one player seems to get a free pass. That's not coachin That's favoritism, and kids notice it. The bright spot is the other coach Nate . He's the one encouraging the girls, keeps their heads up and teaches them here about the game in the first place. Some of the parents are doing more to build team spirit than the head coach when them girls walk to the same 2 moms and m a dad when I watch these games on the road The girls deserve consistency and fair play with a coach who treats the players like they important to the team. These poor girls My wife bought all the fundraisers and even she said she didn’t realize how much money was spent and our little grandbaby has a better tball team than this here softball team. ”

“Super organized and transparent. Board is receptive to feedback, all coaches and hands-on members go through background checks. Concessions is awesome. Needs a little sprucing but there are great coaches at every level of play, rec league, all star, N60, travel Fastpitch. ”

“Very family oriented organization. A true organization, not just a bunch of teams (or a few teams under 1 name). The older girls have "little sisters" on the younger teams that they mentor. They put together awesome team building events that really should be considered organization building events. They are very creative and successful with the little fundraising they do. You don't have to beg for money every other week. Love the Dawgs! ”