Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge hits home for players and alumni

As someone who played in the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge during its infancy, Rob Pasternak developed a newfound respect for the event upon witnessing how much it has grown in the last decade.

The former South Plainfield second baseman, who ranks among the best defensive middle infielders in Greater Middlesex Conference history, attended a reception for the 10th annual challenge at Edison High School on Sunday night.

Pasternak, who participated in the event seven years ago when it consisted of just eight teams, joined approximately 200 players and coaches representing 40 schools who will compete in this year’s challenge during Autism Awareness Month on the weekend of April 21-23 at North Brunswick’s Community Park.

South Plainfield mentor Anthony Guida, who coached Pasternak when he set a single-season school record for double plays, attended the reception along with current Tigers Jared Marks and Jean Sapini, who enter this season as one of the league's top batteries.

Pasternak's experience as a player and fundraiser in the event, during which he enjoyed his first significant interaction with children on the autism spectrum, laid the foundation for his current work at the Bedrock Clinic & Research Center, a clinic-based program in his hometown of South Plainfield that offers behavior analytic services to individuals with developmental disabilities and behavioral disorders.

“Back when I was in high school, I was almost afraid of kids with disabilities,” said Pasternak, noting his experience in the baseball challenge helped him to overcome those feelings of trepidation. “I didn’t really know who they were. That fear came from not understanding how to treat them. I kind of walked on eggshells because I didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing.”

Pasternak, who graduated from William Paterson University, where he was a four-year letterwinner on the diamond, now works with children ages 2 through 6 on the autism spectrum and with developmental disabilities.

Challenge founder Mike Garlatti, an Edison resident who starred at Highland Park and served as an assistant baseball coach at Rutgers University, said hearing stories from former event participants such as Pasternak makes “the whole thing worthwhile.”

“It’s rewarding to know (the challenge) made an impact,” Garlatti said. “Our main focus is to get awareness out there, so by adding more teams, I think it shows what we are doing is working.”

The challenge began as a grassroots effort a decade ago with Garlatti, who has a son on the autism spectrum, and a couple of volunteers walking up to spectators at games to deliver pamphlets containing information about the nation’s fastest growing developmental disorder.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the identified prevalence of autism spectrum disorders nationally has increased from 1 in 110 to 1 in 68 since Garlatti began the baseball challenge event a decade ago. One in 45 children in New Jersey – 62 percent of whom are boys – are on the autism spectrum.

Autism is a lifelong neurological disorder that impairs a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. It's broad spectrum of characteristics range from severe detached and isolated behavior to extreme verbal and hypersensitive behavior.

The baseball challenge has forever been designed to heighten awareness about autism, but now also serves as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Teamwork Unlimited Foundation, which Garlatti established three years ago to benefit those in need. Tax-deductible donations will be accepted at the gate for the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation. Volunteers will continue to educate spectators, setting up a table between the Community Park’s adjacent fields that will display information about autism.

Representatives from the participating teams – including 16 from the Greater Middlesex Conference and 10 from the Courier News area – gathered for Sunday night’s reception, which featured plenty of food and two enthralling keynote speakers: former Monroe High School ice hockey star Mike Nichols and current St. Joseph of Montvale baseball staff member Glenn Toepert.

Nichols, who has vowed to return to the ice after being left paralyzed from a catastrophic injury he suffered in a 2014 game, was his usual charismatic and entertaining self, inspiring those in attendance with a motivational speech that let the players and coaches know the baseball challenge was an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others less fortunate.

Toepert similarly inspired those in attendance with a story about his son, a Special Olympics athlete who is on the autism spectrum, telling the players and coaches that the baseball challenge “is more than just a game” and that by helping to raise awareness about autism “you have already won.”

A PowerPoint presentation, detailing the event’s mission, helped the players and coaches fully understand their role in the challenge and the impact their participation can make on the lives of others. The presentation includes prerecorded video messages from Kansas City Royals farmhand Brandon Downes of South Plainfield, former Home News Tribune Player of the Year Christian Campbell of Sayreville (Rutgers) and former St. Joseph of Metuchen pitchers Brandon Bielak (Notre Dame) and James Ziemba (Duke).

The inaugural challenge featured eight teams, all from Middlesex County. This year’s event includes teams from as far north as Sussex County and as far south as Atlantic County. Unlike the event’s inception, when players wore specially designed Autism Awareness T-shirts only during pregame, players for the third consecutive year will wear more elaborate Autism Awareness jerseys with numbers on the back for the entire game.

A ceremonial first pitch – thrown by a special needs child or someone who works with special needs children – will take place before the start of all 20 games which will be contested over a three-day span.

For the second consecutive year, Garlatti announced that a scholarship program through the foundation is available to current seniors participating in the challenge and Autism Awareness alumni. To be eligible, students must be pursuing a postsecondary education, maintain a minimum 2.5 grade-point average and submit an essay of 250 to 500 words describing how participating in the challenge inspired them to become involved with special needs people. The inaugural scholarship award recipients were Zach Marzano of J.P. Stevens, Justin Hernandez of Edison and Joe Ilarei of Pope John.

Participating teams have traditionally put their own spin on the fundraising component. For the second consecutive year Sayreville players collected donations at home varsity basketball games and Rahway players sold specially designed autism awareness bands. Each of the last three years, the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation has presented a special award to the top fundraising program, an honor which most recently went to Somerville after it raised nearly $1,700 last spring.

Players participating in the challenge continued the tradition on Sunday night of exchanging "autographed" colored puzzle pieces. The players asked relatives, friends, teachers and classmates to sign the puzzle pieces in exchange for a donation to The Teamwork Unlimited Foundation. Small change was as acceptable as dollar bills.

The colored puzzle pieces are symbolic of autism. Those diagnosed with the disorder – puzzling for it has no known cause – are as varied as the colors of a rainbow, reflecting the multi-colored puzzle piece symbol that has universally been adopted to promote autism awareness.

All challenge participants are encouraged to wear their "Autism Awareness" jerseys to school in the days leading up to the event to stimulate conversation among classmates.

AUTISM AWARENESS BASEBALL CHALLENGE SCHEDULE

(all games at North Brunswick’s Community Park, located at 2053 Route 130 South, a quarter mile south of the Route 130 and Adam’s Lane intersection.

Friday, April 21

East Brunswick Tech vs. Perth Amboy Tech, 4 p.m.

Jackson vs. East Brunswick, 4 p.m.

Pope John vs. St. Joseph (Metuchen), 7 p.m.

North Brunswick vs. Bernards, 7 p.m.

Saturday, April 22

Middlesex vs. South Hunterdon, 10 a.m.

Sayreville vs. Hudson Catholic, 10 a.m.

South Plainfield vs. Millburn, 1 p.m.

South River vs. Verona, 1 p.m.

Holy Spirit vs. St. Joseph (Montvale), 4 p.m.

Metuchen vs. Weehawken, 4 p.m.

Red Bank Catholic vs. Delbarton, 7 p.m.

Steinert vs. Barnegat, 7 p.m.

Sunday, April 23

Dunellen vs. Rahway, 10 a.m.

Spotswood vs. Robbinsville, 10 a.m.

Colonia vs. Governor Livingston, 1 p.m.

Edison vs. North Hunterdon, 1 p.m.

Christian Brothers Academy vs. Westfield, 4 p.m.

Somerville vs. J.P. Stevens, 4 p.m.

Old Bridge vs. St. Peter’s Prep, 7 p.m.

Hillsborough vs. Elizabeth, 7 p.m.