RP tot clouters brace for ‘03 Pan Pacific tiff

The 2002 Philippine Tot Baseball (PTBF) season has just ended, but PTBF officers and staff have started preparations for next season with hopes of winning the Pan Pacific Junior Baseball Championship which the country is hosting on August 2003.

Newly appointed PTBF director Jon Dehler, tasked to look after the plight of underprivileged children playing under the PTBF program, wants to start the program with a search for talented high school players, then pooling these kids for the necessary training and exposure to compete with the best of the world.

"If we’re to be the best, let us get the best and give them the best possible support to get them to their goal," Dehler said.

He thought the planned search for the best high school players would also bring out many talented underprivileged children who cannot afford an education. He said he would see to it that these deserving children be given scholarships grants, starting his own fund-raising campaign in his home town of Billings, Montana.

"These children and their families have the right to a better life, and if it is within my power to help them, then I shall do my utmost best get them what they deserve," said Dehler.

Dehler, owner of Fleetwood Gaming Corporation, makers of state-of-the-art gaming equipment, is now in the final stages of setting up his manufacturing plant in the Philippines. He said his family, particularly his two sons, have fallen in love with the country and its people. Justine 17, a graduating high schooler who pitches around 90 miles per hour and hits a baseball over 400 feet, looks forward to enrolling La Salle-Taft in college. Meanwhile, Kirk, 13, acclaimed best pitcher and homerun king at the recently concluded 20th World Boys Baseball Championships, intends to complete his high school at La Salle-Zobel.

For his part, TOT baseball president Boy Tingzon said he is very much elated by Dehler’s concern and efforts for the youth of our country and the baseball program.

He urges generous individuals and corporations to pitch in, saying: "For this program to be a real success, we should have a lot of team work, we cannot do it alone we need all the help we can get from other concerned parties." For more details of the program, interested parties my contact Tingzon a0t tel. nos. 850-9576 or 542-6624.