Miracle League of Monticello

Video features the inclusive playground and Miracle League Field in Monticello Arkansas.

[video: scene fades into a ground pan up to The Miracle League Field sign at the sports complex of the City of Monticello. The sign reads: This field is built for children and adults with disabilities only, trespassers will be prosecuted, everyone deserves a chance to play baseball.]

[video: the camera comes into focus on the digital outfield screen of the Miracle League field. Scene switches quickly view of the inclusive playground next to the Miracle League field. The camera pans across the belly of the Miracle League mascot “Homer” statue. Homer wears a Miracle League jersey. Scene switches to a close-up of a playground climber as children take turns climbing through. A woman begins to talk in the background about the park.]

Woman: People are coming out here for birthday parties. Schools are bringing their kids out here for field day. Which is amazing because everybody can play together.

[video: three children play together at a Tic-Tac-Toe panel. Scene switches to a view of Homer’s face, shaped and designed as a baseball with a smiling face as families play on the playground in the background. Children of all abilities sit together on a Sway Fun Glider and play. A woman wearing scrubs stands in front of the playground and speaks to the camera. White text with a transparent blue background in the bottom left corner reads: Karen Connelley, president of The Miracle league SE Arkansas and Pediatric Physical Therapist.]

Karen: Every piece of equipment that was put in this playground was thought about in many different avenues. For many different reasons, so it wasn’t just a hodgepodge playground put together. We have a lot of children with autism that play in our league and sometimes they just need a timeout from the world.

Karen voiceover: A timeout from people and the Cozy Dome is awesome. They’ll get in there, they have their moment, I feel better I’m going to come back and joined like everybody else. I would say that the playground equipment used by majority of everybody would be the We-Go-Round and the Cozy Dome and the ZipKrooz.

[video: a young girl tosses a softball to her friend on the Miracle League field. The camera pans around a boy as he mimics the stands of the Homer statue. A group of children wearing varied colors of their Miracle League teams walk, run, and wheel towards the camera. Scene switches to a girl as she lays on her back swinging on an Oodle Swing. Karen reaches her hand out to high five a young boy. The camera pans down and piers inside the Cozy Dome where a girl crawls in through the other opening. A boy climbs up a playground climber onto the structure deck. Two girls play together at a Sensory Play Center Wall. Scene switches to parents and children spinning together in in the We-Go-Round carousel. A girl crawls out from the inside of the Cozy Dome. Scene switches to a view down the track of a ZipKrooz zipline. A girl sits on the disc swing of the ZipKrooz and rides down the track.]

Karen voiceover: For many reasons but it’s very applicable for an able-bodied person are someone that is in a wheelchair and also it doesn’t matter size and it doesn’t matter age.

[video: with a side view a of the ZipKrooz zipline a child rides down in opposite directions in an assisted bucket seat swing and the disc swing. The camera angle switches as more children take turns riding down the ZipKrooz zipline. A boy smiles as he rides towards to camera in the assisted bucket seat swing on the ZipKrooz track. The camera pans with a young girl as she smiles while riding backwards on the ZipKrooz track in the assisted bucket seat swing. The camera briefly switches back to Karen as she speaks to the camera.]

Karen: I would say the We-Go-Round or as we call it the Southern Spin down here.

[video: scene switches to children spinning together on the We-Go-Round carousel.]

Karen voiceover: Everybody likes to twirl and it is so easy that people in electric wheelchairs or manual chairs don’t it doesn’t matter what your weight or size is you can get in there and spin with an able-bodied person you know peer or family members.

[video: children spin together on the We-Go-Round. The camera focuses closer in on the riders of the carousel as they spin. Scene switches to a man as he stands in front of the Miracle League field as he speaks about the park. White text on top a blue transparent background slide into the bottom left of the screen reading: AJ Hood, Miracle League Park Volunteer.]

AJ: I think one of the biggest things is you know I passed by I come by any time you, anytime you’re in the area there’s a family on this playground they’re having birthday parties they’re you know letting their kids play.

AJ voiceover: And this is a big deal for South East Arkansas because we don’t have these facilities readily accessible to family it’s such a poverty-stricken area that we don’t have the accessibility.

[video: the camera switches to a view down a swing set fill with children. A boy climbs through the rings of a O-Zone 3-Ring Climber. Scene switches to a young boy as he spins the Color Splash Panel. Scene switches to a boy walking the disc swing up to a young boy waiting at the landing zone of the ZipKrooz zipline. The boy jumps up and sits on the swing and begins riding down the bay. Camera switches to a boy as he runs down a playground ramp. A woman holds a young girls hand seating in her wheelchair as she assists her to ring the bells on a Reach Ring-a-Bell panel. Camera switches to the We-Go-Round carousel as it spins with two riders.]

[video: the camera pans down the back of the Homer statues back showing his name on the shoulders of his jersey and number one. A man speaks in the background.]

Man voiceover: You know in the community what we see during the process of all this was the way that community just came together.]

[video: the view pans the shaded bleachers that look onto the Miracle League field. As a crowd of children and parents walk off the field the camera pans out to the outfield. The camera focuses the children’s feet and of their wheelchair wheels rolling and walk past the camera. A man stands in front of the playground and speaks to the camera. White text on a blue transparent background slides into the bottom left corner of the screen reading: Ronny Williams, Vice President of The Miracle League of SE Arkansas.]

Ronny: It was just never a question in our minds what this was going to be. It was just, it was a life-changing experience I think not just for the children but for the people that were involved and just in the community to see everybody pull together the way that they did.]

Ronny voiceover: You can sit here and watch what happens out here and it will truly change your perspective on everything in life.

[video: a young girl jumps up to high five the Homer statue. Scene switches as the camera pans across a Sway Fun glider as children smiles and play together of all abilities. A woman and boy play at the Tic-Tack-Toe panel together. Scene switches to a woman as she pushes a girl in a Full Bucket Seat swing with harness. The girl smiles as her feet swings close to the camera. The scene switches for the last time as the camera pans up to a group of children wearing their jerseys on the Miracle League field. They smile and wave to the camera.]

[video: Screen fades to white. The Miracle League logo appears in the middle of the screen. The logo blinks out as the Landscape Structures logo blinks in. Red text below reads: For a better tomorrow we play today.]