The hard work is what Mr. Bandura focuses on year-round with the 280 children who belong to his Anderson programs. He coaches baseball, basketball, and soccer. He also emphasizes education, making sure his players get tutoring if they need it and are ready for high school and then college. His belief in giving inner-city children an opportunity to play sports has motivated Mr. Bandura to build his program. He also sees it as an opportunity to teach children about the rich history of African Americans in baseball. “Baseball used to be king,” he says. He has even taken teams on summer journeys to Chicago’s Wrigley Field and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. His players learn about important baseball figures, including Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American to play on a major league team. His teams are called the Monarchs after Mr. Robinson’s Negro League team, the Kansas City Monarchs. Keeping his players healthy is a top priority for Mr. Bandura. His Monarch players work with a personal trainer who leads them in 30 minutes of exercise several times a week. They do push- ups, sit-ups, and a lot of core work “to keep their bodies in peak performance,” Mr. Bandura says. They practice year-round and are encouraged to eat nutritious food and to avoid soda and sweets such as cake. Steve Bandura Coaching kids to reach small goals and dream big Steve Bandura didn’t set out to coach world-class Little League baseball players—or even to be a coach. “I used to be in business,” Mr. Bandura says. But he was miser- able. It wasn’t the right career for him. A friend suggested that he volunteer at the Marian Anderson Recreation Center in South Philadelphia. There he discovered his passion was coaching and mentoring children. He soon left the business world to become a teacher and then joined the staff of the Marian Anderson Center. Now a recreation leader, he has been developing youth sports programs in Philadelphia for more than 25 years. It’s the “greatest job in the world,” he says. He found himself in the national spotlight in 2014 when a number of baseball players whom he had coached for years helped the Taney Dragons finish second for the U.S. title in the Little League World Series. “It is a long shot,” Mr. Bandura says about advancing so far in the World Series. “Luck is involved and hard work.” 8