Jamul Little League is a true “little” league located in the southeastern rural part of San Diego County adjacent to El Cajon to the North and Eastlake to West. Jamul is a beautiful part of San Diego marked by some of the region’s best hiking trails, wildlife preserves, farms, cattle ranches and people.
With substantial commitments already made, we are raising the balance of funds required to repair and expand fields in our little league complex.
View Pictures and Renderings for JLL
Our mission is to be a little league that allows our kids to dream big because we can give them a sense of place while also teaching them as much about themselves as about the wonderful game of baseball. There are things about Jamul that make us special in our own way. Rural, small, and scrappy is our identity.
Perhaps a coach said it best last year on his Team Snap message board:
There is a plan in place to improve the fields and field capacity.
JLL made the right decision a few years ago not to merge and to stay a little league. I think we should inter-league less because the complex is such a special place and with such much inter-league families aren’t around as much.
Having lived much of my adult life abroad, for me at least there’s days where I walk around the little league complex we have and feel like there’s no better place we could be to spend time with our kids. Physical space matters for all of us – there’s something simple and calming about our complex. So the field capacity needs to keep up with the league and we need to keep that going.
I have a lot of friends who’ve come by to help out (like coach Jonn) or teach a game and they all say the same thing: how cool and throwback our little league is.
Where else do horses come dancing by the outfield during practice?
Roosters bark and Navy helicopters fly over head of the same fields where there are so many veterans volunteering to coach?
How many places can you feel comfortable letting your kids run unsupervised?
It’s a cool place…
We need to improve but also preserve our little space in Jamul. I never want to have to debate again the idea that Jamul LL would merge with a bigger league.
Being little should not mean having subpar facilities, which in some cases are in such disrepair they have created safety concerns. And it should not mean lacking field capacity. As our league has grown organically, we lack enough field space to support all our teams. This plan not only repairs our field it dramatically increases the field capacity.
We have welcomed so many new families into JLL over the past few years from other parts of San Diego and from out of State as cost of living increases elsewhere have brought more people to our small community. It’s the kind of natural community centered growth that supports our mission. Many of these new members have commented on how beautiful our little league complex is but how poorly the condition of some of our fields are relative to where they come from.
Our many volunteers every year put in a tremendous effort to patch up the fields. But after many decades the fields simply require a major maintenance overhaul and that is the purpose of this drive.
Jamul is an incredibly diverse community. We have volunteers of every type in JLL including many active-duty military and veterans, first responders, and other dedicated moms and dads (see messages from these volunteers on the webpage). We acknowledge our mission may be different than other leagues today but that’s OK.
Our mission is simply to provide a place where every kid can have an opportunity to be a part of a team where winning matters but where we have not lost sight of the purpose of little league: to connect our kids to each other and to our community. And, we trust, for each of them to create a bank of good memories along the way.
Our little league complex is the heart and soul of our small community. Decades ago, it was built by good men and women. Some of those same men and women – like Tim Hollis (see Tim’s schematics for the new fields on the website and his message on the webpage) are grandparents who still volunteer and coach their grandkids in JLL.
Generations have now come together to bring these fields forward to support multiple new generations of families in Jamul, including our new families.
These volunteers are already out there working (see photos on the webpage) and countless contractors have come forward to donate time and materials. Our budget to complete these significant upgrades reflects an incredible dedication and donation of time from our volunteers and friends. Please help us raise the balance of funds needed so that we can complete this overhaul before the start of our season and without cutting corners.
Thank you.
Sabrina Powell, League President and JLL Alumnus
Mikey Garcia, League Vice President and JLL Alumnus