International Slow Pitch Softball: March 2015

Back in the game

DOCUMENTARY REVEALS DAYTON’S LATEST REINVENTION TALE

Every city has a unique story to tell. Dayton’s story so happens to be one that begins with invention and, through decades of social and economic changes, has been transformed into a compelling story of reinvention. That story of reinvention is revealed time and time again in Dayton’s history as a city, especially through its people who have proven to be reinventors of their own lives in times of hardship, challenge and defeat. Not only is Dayton a city with a unique story, however; it is also a city that tells its stories. And it tells them well.

That’s where “The Fall League” begins. It’s a story about a particular group of local seniors who are reinventing the usual way of life for the area’s aging population – by continuing the tradition of a slow-pitch softball league.

The idea to tell the stories of these seniors began in the spring of 2013 at a local music show where a few of the city’s most inspired storytellers from various channels were doing what they do best: sharing stories. Through conversation, the group, which included pilot members Tim Gebard and Jennifer Taylor, decided to collaborate on a film-based storytelling project in order to share the predominately untold accounts of these seniors participating in a local slow-pitch softball league. Eventually, it became the subject of a successful community-supported documentary. That film was recently premiered and accepted into two regional film festivals.

“The Fall League” documents a group of men, 63 years and older, who are reinventing what once was the Dayton Cuny-Zink senior softball league. But it also tells the stories of the players’ personal lives as they commit to reinventing their senior days by playing the game – regardless of age, physical illness or societal pressure. It’s participation in this league that has helped many senior men in the area stay actively involved in life, health, sports and relationships.

Through live game footage, personal interviews with the senior players and exclusive interviews with leading researchers on the subject of aging and team sports, the film provides a well-rounded multi-perspective view of senior life, the trials experienced with aging and how both physical activity and team camaraderie positively shape one’s outlook in their later days.

“At our age, the process of aging is a struggle everyday,” says Leon Speroff, M.D., professor emeritus of Oregon Health and Science University. “I am going to be 80 this summer and getting old is tough. But when you’re out there on the ball field, it’s esteem. It’s another triumph over aging.”

Speroff served as one of the leading experts in “The Fall League” film, contributing his published research on the subject of aging and team sports, as well as some of his own personal experience with battling lymphoma and the supportive role his softball team played through that time. He chronicles his experiences in the two books he published on seniors and slow-pitch softball, writing about the overwhelmingly positive physical, mental and emotional effects that come with playing team sports late in life.

“You don’t think about it when thinking about the health aspect of playing softball, but it requires a lot of mental involvement,” Speroff explains. “It also involves a tremendous sense of team … it’s about the joy of being able to play a game you played when you were younger and at our age being able to do it again.”

Another expert in the film, Col. Katherine Platoni, PSY.D., also discusses the positive effects playing senior team sports has on veterans. Many of the players in “The Fall League” served in the Vietnam and Gulf wars. In the film, Speroff and Platoni explain how the strong presence of team camaraderie in senior sports like Dayton’s league helps veterans with ongoing stress, even “freeing them from some bad dreams or whatever may be going on in their lives,” Speroff says. “I think it’s a tremendous help for them.”

One senior softball team member and veteran, Billy Johnson, can attest to how much the team concept and sense of camaraderie within the league has helped in his individual aging process, especially as a veteran.

“It is very fulfilling,” Johnson says. “I know as a veteran that being on a team and playing a sport with people your age is a natural thing. It’s a way for a lot of older people to get back in the game and be active with people you share demographics or interests with … the film shows what it looks like for us seniors to play together in friendship and how much we enjoy one another.”

Other players continue playing senior softball in spite of illness and disease. Speroff played through his battle with cancer, relying on the support of teammates and the mental ease the physical game provides during the stressful time.

“It’s about release,” Speroff says. “When you have an illness, you tend to withdraw into yourself. My softball teammates wouldn’t let me do that. There’s a lot of wisecracking going on and it lifts your spirits. It gets your mind off the problem. When you’re on the softball field you have a release from stress and tension in your life and all that matters is the game.”

“The Fall League” shares many personal stories of men who are survivors of all kinds of different experiences in their lives – from war, to chronic illness, to a life lived through the hardships that arise in 65 years of life. Woven into the personal stories, however, is the common thread of shared passion for a game that has remained an integral part of American culture.

Dennis Turner, Louisville Slugger business manager, and world champion/All-World slow-pitch softball player provides expert film commentary and opinion on the evolution of senior softball, its increasing popularity and how it has begun to shape the future of team sports for aging generations to come.

“The vast majority of senior softball players played baseball when they were kids, started playing slow pitch softball as they got older, and their love of playing the game has never stopped,” Turner says. “While this is a local story, it’s also an example of a shared story in cities across America. The guys in ‘The Fall League’ represent many other communities where senior softball is played two, three and four times a week … these are great shared stories of passion for a game.”

The documentary touches on many typical human experiences, life themes and shared emotions that people of all ages and walks of life can identify with, says director Jennifer Taylor.

Taylor envisioned this film project, which was pinned to a very specific subculture of society, as one that would bridge age and gender gaps with its breadth of varying perspectives, its touching and light-hearted undertones and because “let’s face it… [everybody] inevitably ages.”

“If you think this film isn’t applicable to you right now, it will be at some point, or at least applicable to someone you care about,” Taylor says. “I think a lot of the things we talked about in the film, while we’re talking about seniors and things specific to seniors, reveal that taking care of yourself is universal and everyone should be active and finding something they like to do that they can keep doing in later years.”

Even more broadly represented in the film is the idea of reinventing oneself and one’s community by staying individually active while actively participating in the continuation of a local project. The idea is a vibrant theme woven into the fabric of the film project, not only on screen, but behind the scenes also.

Taylor noticed the transformation within herself and reinvention of her own personal journey as she participated in the creation of the documentary, learning from the stories of those she spent hours interviewing, reconnecting with her past ties to the game of softball and gaining the opportunity to pursue her love of photography and film.

She didn’t always have the dream of being a filmmaker and although she dabbled in photography in college, she didn’t foresee her future career as one that would allow her to pursue her own independent photography business, much less become a well-known music photographer in the Dayton area where she would eventually come to direct this documentary film.

“I certainly have reinvented myself through this project,” Taylor says. “I never in a million years thought I would be doing something this cool. I never thought I was a filmmaker and never dared to dream this big.”

Taylor discovered her artistic niche when she began shooting photos for some local bands. Her involvement in the local music scene was what catapulted her career in the arts, her strong ties to the Dayton community and her renown as a passionate and highly involved music photographer.

Her connection to the community’s music and arts scene is what eventually brought her into contact with Tim Gebard, local singer/songwriter and producer of the film, who learned of Taylor’s interest in making a documentary film and shared with her his inspired idea of telling the stories of the players in “The Fall League” at one of his music shows.

Gebard confidently believes Dayton has the right assets to create something like this because of the open-mindedness to possibility, receptivity to differences and passion for creative storytelling that exists in the people who are connecting with the local community by sharing their and others’ experiences.

“Personally, I would have never been involved in this if some of the younger people in the music community, where I met everyone on this project, hadn’t accepted me despite my age difference,” Gebard says. “That tells me that we have a pretty accepting younger generation that is open to a lot of different experiences and relationships.”

Gebard, a senior softball player himself, started this film project with the intent to accurately and honestly tell this group of seniors’ stories in a legacy project that provides a documented record of the league and how it got started, as well as honoring the individual players by giving them something they can show their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“I think everyone in the league has a story to tell,” Gebard says. “They’re all survivors of something and many of them are quite accomplished. A lot of them are hall of fame players locally, statewide and even nationally… there’s a legacy to their stories that someone needed to tell.”

Also key in the creation of the film was co-producer Dean Vincent, who produced all of the music featured in the film at his own personal production studio, Studio D. A photographer and musician, Vincent also naturally gravitated to this project when asked to participate, but much like the others involved, had no sense of the depth and level intensity of the film he was about to produce when signing on to the project.

“I had no idea what I was getting into,” Vincent says. “In the beginning, I thought of it as another photography gig. But then when I got to the fields, I was just taken aback by the emotion that was on that field and the friendship that existed between the players … I had never considered that angle and I thought it was really neat. I was so excited to be a part of it.”

After the initial private showing with players and their families, “The Fall League” was released to the general public at a movie premiere in early March at The Neon. Tickets sold out for its first showing.

Recently, the film was accepted into two film festivals: Louisville’s International Festival of Film and the Indy Sportz Film Fest Experience. In honor of the success of the film as well as the players who were featured, Dayton mayor Nan Whaley also declared March 8 “The Fall League” Day.

Ultimately, “The Fall League” tells the story of many things: survival of life, hardships of aging, team solidarity, staying active in old age and reinventing a better life amidst struggles, as well as many other encouraging concepts. Most importantly, however, is the fact that it was a story that needed to be shared, and that a group of people decided to share it in the most truthful way they knew how to.

For more information about “The Fall League,” please visit TheFallLeague.com.

Reach DCP freelance writer Tara Pettit at TaraPettit@DaytonCityPaper.com.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Back in the game DOCUMENTARY REVEALS DAYTON’S LATEST REINVENTION TALE

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