{"id":36228,"date":"2015-04-06T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=36228"},"modified":"2017-04-11T15:04:15","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T19:04:15","slug":"theyve-got-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2015\/04\/06\/theyve-got-game\/","title":{"rendered":"They\u2019ve got game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tim<\/a>

Tim Gebard, a 1991 Wright State M.B.A. graduate, produced \u201cThe Fall League,\u201d a documentary film on senior slow-pitch softball in Dayton.<\/p><\/div>\n

When he turned 40, Tim Gebard retired from decades of playing slow-pitch softball. But he missed it. So when he was in his late 50s, he began looking for a senior league.<\/p>\n

It took a five-year search and a chance meeting with some players at the Young\u2019s Jersey Dairy batting cages. But in 2012 \u2014 after 22 years of not playing \u2014 the Wright State University alumnus laced up his spikes for a six-week fall season in the Dayton City senior rec league.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was nervous because I didn\u2019t know if my body would be able to handle it,\u201d he recalled. \u201cYou can\u2019t just go out there; you have to get into some kind of shape. And the guys are extremely competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gebard\u2019s return to his field of dreams inspired him to produce \u201cThe Fall League<\/a>,\u201d a poignant documentary film about seniors who find purpose on the softball diamond. The title not only refers to the actual league, but is also a metaphor for the autumn of one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur generation is perhaps the first that can expect to survive for many years after retirement. But we don\u2019t have to just sit around for 20 years; we can stay active,\u201d said Gebard, 64. \u201cThe players in these leagues are survivors, and I think this movie shows a lot of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fall<\/a>The film features action video and slides as well as historic black-and-white stills of the players in their younger days. There are high-fives, fist-bumps, back slaps, attaboys and hugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re out here, we\u2019re 11 years old again,\u201d one player says in the film. There are flashes of the glory days, from sizzling line drives to backhanded stabs of sharp grounders.<\/p>\n

But there are also knee braces, limps, white hair and naps on the bench. Players have had hip and knee replacements, rotator cuff surgeries and cancer. Last season, two players suffered strokes while they were on the field. One player will turn 90 this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that attracted us to this film is that when you have 120 people who have reached this age, they\u2019ve all got stories,\u201d Gebard said.<\/p>\n

When people return to softball at age 60 or older, it can be a boost to their psyche. Off the field, they\u2019re told that they\u2019re too old to have meaningful jobs, too old to take part in risky activities and are just not cool anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you get on the field and you\u2019re succeeding at a level that people don\u2019t expect. All of a sudden, you\u2019re the youngest guy again,\u201d Gebard said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just about playing the sport; it\u2019s about having that sense of community, the camaraderie with those who have had similar experiences and are there to support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, more than 7 million people played organized slow-pitch softball in the United States, 67,000 of whom were 65 and older.<\/p>\n

Although senior slow-pitch leagues didn\u2019t exist in Dayton until about 1992, the city has a national reputation for the sport. For decades, Dayton hosted the annual national police softball championship, with the tournament attracting teams from around the nation.<\/p>\n

In the early 1960s, slow-pitch softball was a huge sport in Gebard\u2019s hometown of Springfield. As a young boy, he would help his father sell tickets at major national tournaments that would draw up to 20,000 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to watch a lot of slow-pitch games, and these were guys playing at the highest level,\u201d he recalled. \u201cA lot of the guys I was watching then now play in these senior leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gebard got his bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology from Wilmington College and his Master of Business Administration<\/a> from Wright State in 1991.<\/p>\n

Over the years, he worked in management in the restaurant, health care, financial and high-tech industries.<\/p>\n

Now a singer\/songwriter who plays guitar, Gebard released his first CD at age 60.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, he and a couple of friends he met through his music decided to make a documentary and came up with the softball idea. They wrote the narration, recruited Dean Vincent of Studio D as co-producer and used music from Gebard\u2019s CDs for the soundtrack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there was no way we could work from a script,\u201d Gebard said. \u201cWe felt like we had to let the players tell the story. And I didn\u2019t want it to be a home movie; if we were representing these players, it had to be a real movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/a>

Tim Gebard worked in the restaurant, health care, financial and high-tech industries and is now a singer\/songwriter who plays guitar. His songs make up \u201cThe Fall League\u2019s\u201d soundtrack.<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition to player and spouse interviews as well as game and practice footage, the producers interviewed experts on aging and psychology.<\/p>\n

They also filmed at Louisville Slugger to talk with an expert on sports technology. Gebard says a case can be made that technology has enabled senior players to continue to play and even enhanced their performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cShoes are better, gloves are better, balls are more high-tech. The bats especially are a lot different,\u201d he said. \u201cThey really allow senior players to still hit the ball well, even in their 70s and 80s.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Indianapolis, the producers interviewed members of the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team, many of whom are Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. And many players in the Dayton leagues are also World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans, who have all had different military experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile politically we may not all agree on a lot of things, when we\u2019re on the field there is something about the team sport that brings us all together,\u201d Gebard said.<\/p>\n

The film also features Kathy Platoni, an assistant clinical professor at Wright State\u2019s School of Professional Psychology<\/a> and acclaimed expert in post-traumatic stress disorder and war trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sees the therapeutic value of team sport in general, especially for people who are trying to reintroduce themselves into society,\u201d said Gebard.<\/p>\n

Technical challenges of the filming included dealing with the effects of the sun, wind and crowd noise on lighting and sound, players who were uncomfortable being on camera and insufficient crew and equipment to film the three games that were being played simultaneously.<\/p>\n

But by the time they finished filming in October, the crew had more than 100 hours of footage. That was edited down to a 55-minute film that was finished Nov. 7. A week later, there was a private showing of the film at The Neon in Dayton for the players and their families. It produced both laughter and tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trying to rush to get this done because we have people with real serious health issues and we wanted them to see it,\u201d Gebard said. \u201cSome of the guys you know are not going to be around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film made its public premiere at The Neon on March 8 and was shown a second time after the first showing sold out. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley issued a proclamation making it \u201cFall League Day\u201d in honor of the film.<\/p>\n

The Fall League has also been released on DVD and Blu-Ray at theFallLeague.com<\/a>. The DVD is available in public libraries in Greene County, Preble County, Oakwood and Cleveland.<\/p>\n

The film was selected to lead off the Indy Sports Film Fest Experience in Toronto, Ontario, on April 25 and also will be in Louisville\u2019s International Festival of Film in October.<\/p>\n

Four of the songs on the original soundtrack won honorable mention awards from SongDoor International Songwriting Competition. And a music video of the movie\u2019s theme song \u2014 \u201cThat\u2019s the Way (We Play the Game)<\/a>\u201d \u2014 is on YouTube.<\/p>\n

The film also features Leon Speroff, author of \u201cA Slow-pitch Summer: My Rookie Senior Softball Season,\u201d a memoir of a physician returning to his first softball season in 40 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying senior softball is a small triumph over the aging process,\u201d said Speroff, who is in his 80s and plays in three senior leagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Gebard, a 1991 Wright State graduate produces \u201cThe Fall League\u201d documentary film on senior slow-pitch softball in Dayton. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":36229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4299,2037,748,2060,725,2050,715,2407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-profile","category-arts-scene","category-business","category-graduate","category-home-news-sidebar","category-mba","category-news","category-professional-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36228"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36380,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36228\/revisions\/36380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}