Detroit PAL helping kids learn lessons outside the classroom

Back to school also means back to sports. Detroit's Police Athletic League is helping kids stay active and connected outside of the classroom.

Detroit PAL offers sports programs for kids of all ages throughout Metro Detroit.

"I just love whenever we get to bat because for some reason in my brain, like it all slows down and I could swing as fast as I can, so I can get a good hit," said 10U baseball player Solomon Turner from Detroit. "The adrenaline once I hit the ball, I just get so excited. I just start running as fast as I can."

Detroit PAL wants to help young people develop important life skills through sports.

"Detroit PAL is youth development, so sports help develop children for their future," said Fred Hunter, CEO of Detroit PAL. "You think about goal setting, you think about resilience, accountability, teamwork, discipline, leadership, all those things you learn from sports."

The kids are taking the field at the historic site of old Tiger Stadium. 

"I like cheering them on, I like playing catch with them," said 10U baseball player Aiden Collins.

The diamond has the exact same dimensions as Tiger Stadium. Sports history is converging with the present and future as the next generation makes its own lifelong memories.

"Here in baseball, baseball is a game of failure, so kids learn from making a mistake," said 10U baseball coach Drew Covington. 

"Everybody comes together with a focus on our children and helping children find their greatness," said Hunter, who is also a big part of Michigan sports history. He was a walk-on basketball player at the University of Michigan, a senior on the 1992 team with the Fab Five.

"When you think about 130 years of baseball and sports being here, going back to 1896, Tigers history, Lions history being here now, kids are making their own history on this field," said Hunter.