If you were just hanging out in Udall Park, it would look like your average pick-up softball game.
While competition in the four-team tournament is fierce, it’s the challenges off the field that the players are trying to win.
“When you get into recovery, a lot of us we don’t know how to live sober,” Lenny Simons says. “This allows a way for us to get back into the community, doing things here in Tucson.”
Everyone on the field is either in addiction recovery, they’re supporting someone in recovery, or they are pretrial or probation officers.
Adam Klepp Lenny Simons has been clean for over a decade. He decided to start Changing Lanes Recovery to help others down a path which was hard for him to start on his own.
“I did a lot of damage to Tucson. I did a lot of damage as far as my crimes were. So starting this program, this agency, is kind of like making amends for all the damage that I’ve done,” Simons said.
Jeannette Garcia is one of Simons’ clients.
“There was drugs, alcohol, relationships. Love was an addiction for me,” Garcia said. “And it’s okay to say you need help. That’s true strength.”