The SportSunShelter™ Story
In the summer of 2005, Melanoma Foundation of New England Chairman Mel Rubin wrote a letter to Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, proposing an idea for a program of sun shelters for Little League teams in Massachusetts. Mel had the support of the Foundation's Board of Directors, and the letter to Selig explained how important it is to teach kids to protect themselves in the sun.
As it turns out, Bud Selig had been diagnosed with melanoma, and he understood all too clearly the importance of a sun-protection program for kids and that this would be a meaningful project for Major League Baseball (MLB). In the fall of 2005, the Foundation (then the Massachusetts Melanoma Foundation) received a seed grant of $30,000 from MLB with the specific goal of developing six dugouts on three fields in Massachusetts.
When the grant arrived from Major League Baseball in the fall of 2005, our immediate concern was to develop an attractive design. We approached the Boston Society of Architects and ended up meeting with the partners of one of Boston's best known architectural firms: CBT Architects. This firm has designed buildings for many schools and colleges in New England and has over 100 employees. It turned out that several months was actually not much time to generate a good design, so the decision was made for CBT to hold an in-house contest for our shelters, and 21 entries were submitted by February of 2006.
In order to judge the contest, we assembled a panel of judges comprised of:
- Janet Marie Smith, Architect for the Boston Red Sox and designer of Camden Yards, Baltimore
- John Beraradi, Director, Massachusetts Little League
- George Berardi, Director, Massachusetts Little League
- Mel Rubin, Chair, Melanoma Foundation of New England (MFNE)
- Martin Padley, Marketing Director and Board Member, MFNE
- Steve Feldman, Board Member, MFNE and Little League coach
- Deb Girard, Executive Director, MFNE
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These two designs won honorable mention in the sun shelter design contest. The design on the left incorporated recycled soda bottles into its construction system, and the design on the right was the most arresting. |
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The designs ranged from pragmatic to futuristic and many were thought to be very original. The winning design was created by Richard Seltenrich then a 29-old architect who had been with CBT for several years. When he was growing up in Ipswich, MA, Seltenrich loved to play baseball and was an avid Little Leaguer. His concept was to design a shelter that would have the feel of a big league ballpark. The panel of judges agreed with him, and this was the primary reason that his design was selected. As the winner of the contest, Seltenrich received a check from the Foundation for $1,500. The two runners up each received checks of $500.
The winning design for our sun shelter was the creation of architect Rich Seltenrich.
The next step was to build the first two shelters, and this was done in the spring of 2006 in Allston, a neighborhood of Boston, at Smith Field, which is near Harvard University's Soldier's Field athletic complex. Over the next twelve months additional shelters were built; and, in the process, a system of prefabrication was developed that has brought the cost of these attractive structures down to a reasonable level. The Foundation also contributed significantly to the development costs for these sun shelters and, as a consequence, has developed a program that has had all of the bugs worked out, the construction process streamlined, and the production costs pared down.
By the spring of 2007, shelters had been built in Belchertown in the Springfield, MA area, in Hanson on the South Shore, and plans are in the works for shelters in Acton to the west of Boston.
In our discussions with coaches and parents in sports programs around the state, our cost of $15,000 for two SportSunShelters™ is considered to be very reasonable. Not only are the groups who are actively considering these structures aware that they are a great value for the money, but they also realize that they will provide an attractive addition to their playing fields while keeping kids out of the sun for at least 50% of the time they are playing in, or practicing for, their games.
As we speak with more and more people about the need for shelter from the sun, it has become clear that our SportSunShelters™ can be used for many team sports including soccer, lacrosse, football, field hockey and, of course, baseball and softball.
To initiate a conversation about SportSunShelters, contact us.