Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Project Celebrates Freedoms
LINCOLN — Athletes equipped with a means to train at home through investments of parents and sometimes grandparents into their careers find empowerment to come shining through the covid19 crisis.
With quarantines implemented having such a luxury creates an advantage many of their counterparts and opponents can’t access amid social distancing.
About eight years ago Dax and Christina Moreton built onto a shed at their Summers farm, intentionally creating athletic infrastructure by putting a bullpen and batting cage within the building to enable their daughter, Brinkley, to train for softball at home. Brinkley is a rising eighth-grader at Lincoln Junior High, who recently was named the No. 8 ranked pitcher for her age group in America by Extra-Innings Softball.
“It started out just to be an addition to the farm shed,” Dax said. “We’re fortunate to be able to have something like that.”
Other kids have made use of the facility as well and when Brinkley was on a league team at Lincoln practices were occasionally conducted at the farm.
During social distancing which led to closure of school and city athletic facilities as governments on all levels sought to limit a possible spread of the coronavirus, Brinkley continued practicing through three months without any competitive games and 2.5 months of social isolation and no team practices.
“We never dreamed she would be able to use it like she did,” Christina said. “I’m thankful that she had that. Otherwise she would have been left out in the cold.”
When she was able to play again over Memorial Day weekend with her travel ball softball team, the Tulsa Elite NWA 06, they only got two practices before the tournament began, yet the girls won a championship playing seven straight games on Sunday, May 24, into the wee hours of the holiday.
Working out at home helped her stay sharp.
Being a banker, Dax admits he always looks for a means to produce cash flow through an endeavor and the installation of athletic training facilities on the family farm is no exception.
“It gives Brinkley an outlet for an income to give lessons and pass along her passion on to younger kids,” Dax said. “It’s super nice for her right now, but as she gets older it will be a great purpose for storing tractors on the farm in the future.”
The indoor training facility serves as a strong attraction when Brinkley’s friends come over to visit.
“They want to go out and throw in the bullpen or get live in the (batting) cage,” Dax said. “That’s something that her life revolves around. It’s something you just do when you come to the Moreton house.”
Utilizing the bullpen and batting cage, Brinkley improved without constant direct supervision and her dad took notice.
“She’s developed skills on her own,” Dax said.
He likes the fact that equipping the storage shed gives girls in Brinkley’s age group another incentive to choose participation in athletics as opposed to gluing themselves to video games or allowing social media to occupy their time — especially so with the covid-19 crisis which resulted in Arkansas public school closures to on-site instruction for the last three months of the 2019-2020 school year.
The girls use peer reinforcement to affirm their individual and collective dedication to maintaining athletic workouts in pursuit of excellence.
Dax notes, “Her friends are all real focused on athletics.”
The Moretons were keenly aware of what Memorial Day stands for as the nation paused to remember the sacrifices of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, who laid down their lives to preserve freedoms.
The Moretons don’t take those freedoms for granted. This spring Christina implemented an Americana project by hanging U.S. flags to cover the interior wall near the batting cage and bullpen.
“I couldn’t think of anything better to display,” Christina said while admitting she borrowed the idea from the Graduate Hotel in downtown Fayetteville.
Christina quickly found out the project could be more expensive than she thought, but she was tired of looking at the same old uninspiring wall and a couple of flags have been donated. She will accept more flags from local donors.
“Those flags are hung with the utmost respect,” Dax said. “We want everybody to know that the flags are hung there for us to remember the country we live in and the freedoms we have to play baseball and softball and people that served.”
The project helps to instill a deeper sense of patriotism for Brinkley and her friends.
The American sports world hinges on Constitutional freedoms such as the Right to Peaceably Assemble involving association with other people in forming teams and leagues and for fans attending games who exercise Freedom of Speech while cheering on their favorite athletes. The Right to Petition government for a redress of grievances frequently plays out in softball when coaches and managers appeal rulings on the field. Freedom of Press also comes to bear because government censorship of how games are reported is banned.
At the Moreton farm, one glance at the wall inside what Christina refers to as “Brink’s Batting Cage,” and it’s evident Freedom of Speech rings loud and clear.
“There’s nothing more American than baseball and softball,” Dax said. “We hang them (flags) with a lot of pride.”