Chicago hosts a different world series featuring players who will ‘make a mark on this world’

The clink of aluminum bats hitting the paved baseball diamond — immediately followed by the cheers of dozens of parents and loved ones — filled California Park Saturday morning as four teams competed in the 2025 Wheelchair Softball Junior World Series.

In a nail-biter game for the 15th national title, the hometown favorites Chicago Junior Wheelchair Cubs fell 5-2 to the reigning national champions, the Kansas City Junior Royals.

It was the Cubs’ first time back in the national championship since 2016, when they shared a championship year with the MLB Cubs over at Wrigley Field. This was the fourth time the wheelchair series was held in Chicago.

The nearly 20 Cubs players held their heads high as they left the field, sad at losing but excited at having come in second in the nation.

“We haven’t been in this position in a while, so I’m just excited to get back out there,” said Lex McGuire, the Junior Cubs’ pitcher, and at 17, a default mentor to the rest of the team.

Cooper Roberts’ mind wasn’t on winning the game either — the 11-year-old was just happy to be cheering on his teammates: “I’d rather be here than at home,” he said to a friend after the game.

Cooper was an avid soccer player before he was one of dozens injured in Highland Park parade shooting three years ago. Being shot and paralyzed from the waist down only temporarily stopped the multi-sport athlete, who now juggles basketball and hockey alongside softball.

Soccer “was the only sport I played, I loved it so much, but after my disability, I knew it would be hard to switch sports,” Cooper told the Sun-Times. “If I hadn’t played these sports, I wouldn’t have met these kids. … [So] I don’t care if we win the tournament, I’m just glad to be here.”

Lincolnway Special Recreation Association Junior Hawks from suburban New Lenox also competed against in two days of round-robin competition, which included a home run derby and field skills challenges.

To Junior Cubs coach Dan Ferreira, who is also the adaptive sports and event coordinator for the Chicago Park District, the game’s reach doesn’t end on the field.

Ferreira helped found Chicago’s adaptive sports program 15 years ago — three years after he took the job. It now operates 46 weekends a year.

Though the schedule requires dedication, it keeps the kids active and busy while also putting them in proximity to successful adults who also use wheelchairs, giving them a glimpse into what the future can hold for them.

“I found home, I found peers, I found role models. I found people like me,” Ferreira said of finding sports when he was 14. “We want them to think about what they’ll look like when they’re older. … I want them to know the chair isn’t an impediment to a full, active life.”

The team ranges in age from 6 to 18. Many of the kids are now the age McGuire was when he first found sports. They come from all over the Chicago area.

Ferreira dreams of multiple city leagues and a facility of their own one day as the sport continues growing. Partner Shirley Ryan AbilityLab provides transportation for the kids if needed.

The sport lets kids be kids, Ferreira said.

“We’re trying to get wheelchair sports nationwide,” Ferreira’s 10-year-old son Owen, a second baseman, said, expanding on his father’s aspirations. “All my life I’ve been different from everybody, but if the sports were nationwide, it would be more common.”

The acceptance turns inward, too. Cooper encouraged everyone, but especially kids, with a disability to join a sport and find the comfort in community that he did, offering this from his own experience: “It’s going to be all right.”

Ferreira tells the kids to work on their communication while on the diamond before encouraging them for when playing at California Park is far in their past.

“Is this as good as you’re ever going to be?” asked Ferreira. “No,” the team replies.

“Define what excellence means for yourself in this life,” he said. “You’re gonna be grown one day, and you’re gonna make a mark on this world.”