Moncton opens first accessible baseball park

Moncton has a brand new ball field, and this one has a few special features.

The city's first accessible baseball field opened Monday.

Charline Godin, part of the "Field of Dreams" committee that spearheaded the project, said there's a few key differences between an accessible ball field and others.

"We have an infield that's all turf, so there's no hills," Godin said. "It's basically flat. The bases, everything is at one level."

"The openings to get into the dugouts are wider. The dugouts themselvesare a lot larger so wheelchairs can go in and out easily."

Thefield at the CN Sportsplexalso includes wheelchair-accessible bleachers.

Godin said the group has been helping children with physical and cognitive disabilities play ball for eight years. That hands-on experience, plus input from parents, gave the group guidelines on what the park should be like.

"I'm hoping that we kind of made it fully accessible when it comes to these kids," said Godin.

Nadine Melanson-LeBlanc of the City of Moncton's Leisure Department said the funding was a partnership between the city, Field of Dreams and the province.

"It came in and around the ballpark of $500,000 to renovate an existing field to all of the elements," said Melanson-LeBlanc.

"We decided to divide that amount in three."

For the Field of Dream's share, the commmittee reached its funding goal with donations from the President's Choice Children's Charity and the Blue Jays' Jays Care.

"We are truly thankful that those two organizations stepped up," said Godin.

"We were speechless."