By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Voorhees Sun
To the 12-year-old boys Alex Schwartz plays alongside on the GVAA baseball team, the Astros, he is a teammate. To the 8-year-olds he coaches, he is a role model.
Alex, who has played Voorhees baseball since he was about 5 years old, is coming upon his Bar Mitzvah, which requires him to dedicate time to a meaningful project that is community serviced-based.
Whereas many kids who are interested in sports opt to collect sporting equipment and donate it to a league in need, Alex, with a little guidance from his dad, Rich, went a different route and decided to volunteer his time coaching younger kids.
“I suggested that if he wanted to do something that was meaningful that he should do something he loves and teach somebody to do something,” Rich said. “He said ‘how about baseball?’”
Alex approached a friend’s father who coaches a team of 8 year olds and asked if he could lend a hand on the field. The coach said yes, and Alex became the youngest coach on the 8-year-old GVAA baseball team — the Cubs.
“I always liked when I was 8 and the older kids came to help, so I thought that they would like it, too,” Alex said. “You get to teach them mechanics and help them with stuff they don’t know.”
Alex now spends about four hours, sometimes more, a week helping the 8-year-old team at practice.
See this week’s print edition of The Sun for the full story.
