Meeting Neighbors by Playing Catch



David Burton (left) and Haden Hradek after a game of catch.

On August 5, 2024, Owen Park in Republic was the site for a community game of catch.  The event was organized by David Burton, a community development specialist with MU Extension and a resident of Republic. 

Officers with the Republic Police Department attended this early National Night Out event. 

You can learn a lot about neighbors while playing catch. I heard about Haden's college plans (Brown University), I discovered that Officer Rogers was born in North Pole, Alaska, and the 10 children who joined in the event got to have some quality time with adults.

Our special guest was be Ethan D. Bryan of Springfield, author of “A Year of Playing Catch: What a Simple Daily Experiment Taught Me About Life,” published in 2020. 

The book focuses on his effort to play catch with a different person for 365 days in one year. (See David Burton's interview with Ethan Bryan on YouTube here).

Ethan D. Bryan is a prolific author and avid baseball fan. His books – including Dreamfield, Striking Out ALS: A Hero's Tale, Catch and Release: Faith, Freedom, and Knuckleballs – can be found on Amazon.

His most popular book, “A Year of Playing Catch: What a Simple Daily Experiment Taught Me about Life” which was published in 2020. Ethan’s daughters challenged him to set out on a yearlong experiment: to play catch with someone every day. This experience led him across 10 states and 12,000 miles on a quest both quixotic and inspiring.

This challenge took him to South Dakota and Florida and many places in between. He played ball and swapped stories with public school teachers, veterans, journalists, nurses, musicians, entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes from every level - amateur to pro - and members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Plus, he visited famous destinations such as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Miracle League fields, and the original "Field of Dreams" in Iowa.

The book focuses on the lessons he learned through playing catch with different people in his community for 356 days. Some of those lessons include: learning about sacredness of play, finding connections in his community, and being fully present to the human experience, finding joy in simple things, and how one life can impact a whole community.

This book has inspired others to do the same thing to meet their neighbors and community members. 

For this August event we were also joined by Travis Edwards, a resident of Republic, Missouri, who was inspired by the book to do the same thing. Travis is a Senior Pastor at North Nixa Baptist Church, and serves on the Republic School Board. 




Police officers and residents get started playing catch and talking.


Travis Edwards, Ethan Bryan and David Burton


Ethan Bryan (author) and Republic Police officer Rogers


Ethan Bryan and Haden Hradek


MORE INFORMATION

Does this article make you interested in taking the Engaged Neighbor pledge? Five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge online at http://engagedneighbor.com.

Contact the blog author, David L. Burton at dburton541@yahoo.com.

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