Grandfather Celebrates Grandson's Moments at Barrier Islands Little League

HiCast Sports user, grandfather, and attorney by day, Joe DaPore from Charleston, South Carolina coaches for the Land Sharks 9U team for Barrier Islands Little League, one of newest ballparks to join the HiCast Sports Network this year. Joe was a pitcher and first baseman in high school, and continued his love for the game when he started coaching young ballplayers 40 years ago. When his older grandson, James Saltmarsh, begin playing T-Ball at age five, he signed on as an assistant coach for his team at Barrier Islands Little League.

Grandfather and Coach Joe DaPore with grandson James; Photo provided by Joe DaPore

Barrier Islands Little League, started in 1955, was one of just a few Little League organizations in the state of South Carolina to establish return-to-play guidelines and resume play in June due to the Covid-19, thanks in part to leadership from Todd Rieger, former president of the organization and current board member. Over the past six years Barrier Islands Little League has grown from 100 players to 450, and continues to expand as the organization added a girls’ softball league for ages 6-16 this year.

Joe’s grandson, James, was a member of the All Star team that won the 9U division. During regular season, on July 23, Joe was coaching third base and waiting on his grandson to bat. They had two runners on base and two outs, so the pressure was on.

“James was a little late getting to the plate. Our Little League rules dictate if the batter doesn’t get into the box to bat in a timely manner the pitcher can start throwing. So when James got to the plate after a delay because he couldn’t find his bat, he already had two strikes on him. When he finally stepped into the box, he promptly hit one to the fence scoring two runs. It was a fun moment in a summer filled with Covid worries.”

James Saltmarsh’s 2-run triple for Land Sharks 9U at Barrier Islands Little League

On Joe’s use of HiCast at Barrier Islands Little League, he shares, “I had never heard of it. I didn’t sign up for a while, but I’ve really enjoyed it. It captures moments that are important to grandparents, parents and players.”

Photo provided by Barrier Islands Little League

Todd Rieger, former President and current Umpire-in-Chief for Barrier Islands Little League spearheaded the effort to bring in the HiCast Sports Network to Johns Island in South Carolina this past spring. Todd’s been involved with the organization for the past six years and has served all roles “except team mom, the hardest role of all!” Todd laughs. This 2020-2021 year, he’ll focus on recruiting and training umpires and creating a youth umpire program.

Coach Todd shares, “HiCast has been a huge success at Barrier Islands Little League. We only have 2 fields but our parents and grandparents love watching their kids. Not only for games, but for practices. It allows you to check in on your players when you can’t be there, plus with Covid it offers families the opportunity to still be involved with the games without the risk of getting sick.  We have also used it for our umpiring training and we can't wait to ramp things back up this Spring once we are done with Fall Ball.”

HiCast Sports Network is proud to welcome Barrier Islands Little League, their young athletes, families and fans to our HiCast community.

Photo provided by Barrier Islands Little League

Photo provided by Barrier Islands Little League

Delmarva Aces Family Scores Valuable Life Lessons

We caught up with David Whigham, owner, president and pitching coordinator for the Delmarva Aces and Baltimore Orioles associate scout, to learn more about his 42 Aces teams and find out how they’re staying motivated in spite of the COVID-19 virus pause on play. Here’s what he had to share:

What life experience has helped prepare you to stay motivated in challenging times?

David Whigham played college baseball at Guilford and Virginia Wesleyan, then went on to play professionally and in Australia, Austria, and Germany before returning home to Ocean City, Maryland in 2014. He’s no stranger to overcoming obstacles and maintaining a positive attitude. In 2009 at age 23 while playing for the El Paso Diablos in the American Association, an independent professional baseball league, David suffered a significant head injury on the field. 

“I was hit directly in the temple by a line drive while pitching in the fourth inning and woke up two weeks later. I had to have two emergency brain surgeries. It was a pretty turbulent point in my life and it really shook me up. I think that’s why I’ve been able to run the Aces the way that I have because having to experience something like that, nothing seems as troublesome as when I was lying in a hospital bed fighting for my life. ” 

What’s the story behind the Delmarva Aces?

David formed the Aces organization in 2014, basing it off the Melbourne Aces, an Australian baseball league where he had played. He started with 14 teams and has grown the organization to 42 teams in three states (Maryland, Delaware and Virginia) including nearly 500 players. Ages span 5-6 year-old-teams though high school showcase teams, college summer teams, men’s softball teams, and even a woman’s baseball team soon to come. You’ll find them playing at Sports at the Beach, Diamond Nation and Baseball Heaven.

“Our youngest player is five years old and our oldest player is 78. I played baseball in Australia for two years, and tried to bring that culture back of how they run it over here. Basically you start playing baseball from the time you’re in diapers until you can’t walk any more.”

“I really wanted to change the culture of travel ball. I’m an old school guy and I believe in a lot of old school techniques. I like keeping my hands in recruiting and we do a lot of stuff with our community. We give scholarships out to kids. We did an equipment drop where we uniformed and equipped players in Uganda. We’re actively involved in getting the kids different types of opportunities in the community. We’re trying to build a person instead of just a player.” 

Tell us about scouting and recruiting.

David began scouting amateur baseball players for the Baltimore Orioles in 2018. Several Aces players have been scouted by Major League organizations including the Orioles, and he’s helped secure 99 college commits from his Aces program since 2016. 

“I’m all about trying to find the perfect fit for a player’s skills across all levels of college and junior college ball. I start the process early and spend a lot of time talking about recruiting. Travel ball has been so geared around the D1 or bust mentality, but a lot of kids find themselves in bad scenarios when they get to college or it just wasn’t the right fit for them and they learn too late that the school wasn’t the best spot.”

How have you used our HiCast Sports Network?

“Because of my communications background, we do a lot with social media and video. We’re very familiar with HiCast. For our kids, having social media followers watching their home run videos mean so much to them. We have our players submitting videos showing us how they’re staying active at home. One kid submitted a HiCast video of himself hitting a home run last year and tripping over third base and falling in the mud. It was pretty cool and the kids loved it. Then after he sent it, another kid sends in his HiCast video of him tripping over third base in the same spot at the same venue. You’d be surprised how many kids save those videos and will keep them forever to relive moments like that.”

TJ Morris of Delmarva Aces 14U East Blooper Rounding 3rd

“The way everything is going, venues are going to rely on HiCast Sports even more than ever to try to capture the moments. People can re-watch their games, and scout other teams. It’s really freaking awesome. For a large organization like ours, there are so many active and moving parts during the season. One thing people tend to not do very well is to capture these important moments so we can share them with each other.”

How are you and your team working through this challenging time?

“Our winter academy, which begins in November and ends in March, had just ended when Maryland issued a state of emergency. We got really lucky to complete it, even though training came to a screeching halt. Some of our teams are actually running online practices now through Zoom. We offered a complimentary two-week academy once this thing clears to get the kids back in shape. I’ve formed connections with local tournament venues to do weekly contests (like a scavenger hunt crossword puzzle about Aces history) where the winning team that is first to submit wins free tournament entry. 

The hardest thing right now is to keep people engaged. Everybody’s feeling frustrated but we really have a resilient family. We have a slogan without our program called “One Family.” We’re doing things to try to keep everybody together. I’m on 32 telephone chats and I like being a part of all of the conversations.”

What encouragement can you share with ballplayers everywhere?

“We’re learning a lot about ourselves during this time. I think that everybody is going to be so much more thankful… just for everything in their life after all of this is gone. It’s a learning experience. Just think when you get back on the field, how good that’s going to feel. Would it have felt that good if we didn’t have to go through this hard time? After my head injury and the stuff I went through, it changed my perspective. 

I think players are going to be so much more appreciative of the opportunity their parents give them, stuff like HiCast Sports technology gives them, opportunities that they were given that has now been taken away from them. I think you’re going to see a much more appreciative culture out of this. Hopefully that lesson is something they can take with them throughout their baseball career and life.”