COARSEGOLD – The votes are in and Logan Sesto is the First Place winner of the 2014 Little League Photo Contest, based on a pic his mom Lisa sent in showing Logan with his dedicated coach, Jonas Garner.
The photo made it to the final-10 as voting was conducted over several days ending Friday, Dec. 12. Little League Facebook friends were asked to choose the top three photos from 10 finalists, and they voted the touching image of Logan and Jonas number one with 673 “likes” and counting.
Logan lives with residual health issues of Transverse Myelitis (TM), an autoimmune disease he acquired as a baby before he came to live with Lisa. Logan uses a walker at school and a wheelchair for distance, Lisa explains, and attends Special Day Class at Coarsegold Elementary School. Big brother Gabriel also goes to Coarsegold. Logan plays Little League in the Challenger Division.
Jonas Garner coaches Logan in the Challenger Division, established in 1989 as a separate division of Little League to enable boys and girls with physical and mental challenges to enjoy the game of baseball along with the millions of other children who participate in the sport worldwide.
Coach Jonas is the father to four children, and a 1993 graduate of Yosemite High School. He played baseball at YHS and has since coached at both the high school and Little League levels. Jonas, with support from his wife and all of his kids, coached the first ever SMLL Challenger Baseball team last year, saying it’s the most rewarding coaching experience he’s ever had.
Lisa was hoping the photograph she sent to Little League would help call attention to kids with special needs, and it has. The image will now be displayed at the World of Little League Museum in the World Series Gallery Presented by Easton Foundations.
The Richard “Hank” Bauer, Jr. Little League Photography Exhibit displays the top three photographs from the last 13 years of the Little League Photo Contest, and now the photograph of Logan and Jonas will be preserved in time. Founded in 1939, Little League is the largest youth sports organization in the world, with 2.4 million children playing in more than 80 countries. Today, more than 30,000 children participate in more than 900 Challe
nger Divisions worldwide.
