Although I haven’t lived there in more than two decades, I still call Petaluma, California “home.”  So imagine my excitement when the Petaluma National Little League team won the Western Regional finals and started playing in the Little League World Series tournament.\n

\nWatching these kids play trumps even the Olympics.   They have played with so much heart and soul – it’s pure joy to watch. They’ve made great plays and they’ve made errors. They’ve had great hits and they’ve had batters strike out.   Through it all they are smiling and having fun which is really the whole point.\n

\nOne of my favorite parts of the games are when the coaches make a trip out to the pitching mound and you can hear what they are saying to the kids.  Their leadership shines brightly as they encourage the kids with positive messages to help motivate and inspire them to keep doing their best even when they are behind or in a tough situation.\n\nIts a big undertaking to lead a group of 12-13 year old boys, but Eric Smith and Trevor Tomei are up to the task and from what I can see on TV, read on social media and know of them, we couldn’t ask for better role models for these kids.\n\nMy son knows Petaluma well as we visit our family there often.  He is one of their biggest fans now, asking me if someday he could play for the Petaluma team. While it might be tough to make practices living 50o miles away, a kid can dream.\n\nThere is more baseball still to come, but win or lose they have brought a community together and  given us all something to cheer about.  Go Petaluma!