Four weeks ago our Petaluma National All Stars were playing for a spot in the Little League World Series and sharing headlines with Olympic News. Most of us were swept up in Olympic Fever– gymnastics, water polo, diving, track and field, on and on. Front page news indeed. And then, as in most Olympic years, after 16 days of competition, we were about to experience the Olympic Hangover — lack of Olympics on a daily basis.
Enter the Petaluma National All Stars– not only did they cure the Olympic hangover for me, they extended the winning high for weeks more. On and on they played. They gave us hope and a great local cause to rally around. They smiled, worked hard and played even harder. And they advanced to the Little League World Series. Our friends and families got into the spirit. Texts and emails and facebook posts were exchanged from Coast to Coast.

Major sports teams– the A’s and the Giants got into the spirit, even while some of their disgraced players shared the front pages with our Petaluma National Little League. With the help of our MLB Teams, the Petaluma Community raised more than $80K so the player’s families could travel with their kids and that the travel wouldn’t pose a financial burden.

Meanwhile back on the front page with our Little Leaguers were fallen baseball heroes and Lance Armstrong giving up on his fight to keep his titles. And the kids still stuck to the job and advanced again.

They showed commitment, dedication to the sport and to each other. They demonstrated the spirit of true champions and kept hope alive while they continued to win. The day Neil Armstrong died, they came back in the bottom of the sixth with 10 runs to tie the game. The Petaluma National shared the front page with stories of Neil Armstrong on the day they were knocked out of the World Series. He was a hero and so are those Petaluma kids. True champions who deserve to be front page news.

Visit my Facebook Business page, Martha O’Hayer – Petaluma Realtor, which is packed with activities that invite visitors to share in our community spirit and fun whether it is celebrating Petaluma’s agricultural heritage, love of the arts, riverfront location or our diverse culture. You will also find a wealth of community information about Sonoma County, North Bay and the San Francisco Bay Area.