ARLETA : Baseball League for Youths Seeks Coaches

A baseball league that mixes hearing and hearing-impaired youngsters in Arleta is seeking volunteers to help coach the team, as well as players to fill the roster.

The Mainstream Sports League, which offers Tee-Ball games, is also offering free sign-language lessons for parents whose children register for the league.

Registration will be held daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Saturday at Branford Recreation Center, 13306 Branford Ave., Arleta. The league is open to boys and girls between 5 and 12 years old.

“There’s a lot of people who don’t know about the league,” said Sylvia Rodriguez, 37, of San Fernando, who helped start the organization last year for players such as her 6-year-old son, David, who is deaf.

The league helps build self-esteem in youths who are hearing-impaired by mainstreaming them with players who can hear. Rodriguez said the league also teaches hearing children how to become comfortable with the hearing-impaired. Practice will be at 11 a.m. Saturdays.

For further information about the league, contact Rodriguez at (818) 361-0035. The number also receives calls from Telephone Devices for the Deaf, or TDDs. Spanish-speaking families should call (818) 764-9291.