Little League baseball starts the 2012 campaign with another instalment of its popular White Sox camp.
The Field of Dreams facility in George Town will host a three-day clinic beginning this holiday weekend. Slated for Saturday-Monday, 21-23 January, the sessions will serve to reinforce fundamentals.
The upcoming camp starts the sixth year of the partnership between the Cayman Islands Little League and the BullSox Training Academy in Chicago. Among those looking forward to the camp is local Little League public relations coordinator Sara Mackay.
“We keep calling it the White Sox as that is the baseball part of the BullSox academy,” Mackay said. “The same guy (Jerry Reinsdorf) owns the Chicago Bulls basketball and Chicago White Sox baseball teams. The BullSox Academy is a company that runs over 450 camps annually for boys and girls in basketball, fast pitch softball and baseball.
“This should be another great occasion for the kids. It is free for all players in Little League’s youth programme though we do ask that families support our fund-raising efforts. The adults also get something out of the visit as the instructors will help coaches with areas like how to run a practice and how to teach fundamentals.”
The tentative schedule for the clinic sees a skills refresher course on Saturday and team training basics on Sunday and Monday with exhibition contests slated for Heroes Day.
Most of the visiting coaches have been here before. Instructor James Nash (a former Major League Baseball player with the Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies), pitching coach and scout Larry Owens and hitting/fielding instructor Sam Zagorac (who visited last November with pitching guru Marty Kobernus) are both no strangers to these shores.
A new visitor to Cayman will be former pro and three-time World Series winner Devon ‘Devo’ White.
The current White Sox minor league instructor rose to the top of professional baseball in 1995 with the Toronto Blue Jays, 1997 with the Florida Marlins and 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Interestingly Devo has a Caribbean connection as he was originally born in Kingston, Jamaica.
Mackay states Devo will be heading here from an equally hot locale in the US.
“Devo, I can just picture him in the blue and white (Blue Jays uniform). Too bad kids don’t do baseball cards anymore, they are missing a lot. He will be coming from Arizona while the others are coming down from Chicago.
“Please remember that discount cards are coming soon and there will be a raffle at the end of the season. To reiterate, the White Sox clinic is completely free for all Little League registered players. Registration for the 2012 Spring season is still open on-line with one last evaluation session slated for this Monday, 16 January, 5:30-6:30pm.”
Local Little League is going into its 23rd season of operation. The Spring season is designed for youngsters aged 5-18 and will feature numerous division from T-Ball right up to senior (aimed at kids 16-years-old and over).
This month sees a number of Little League initiatives. The annual co-ed softball league is slated to begin this Wednesday, 18 January and an umpires clinic, led by Jason Clayards and Jim Parham, is expected to take place this Thursday, 19 January. From there comes the season kickoff social with multiple exhibition games on Saturday, 28 January.
One of the current board members who figures to be busy is 2012 commissioner Rob Harris.
“I’m basically in charge of the ‘sport’ of baseball, helping to make the programme grow,” Harris said. “I’m less likely to be the chairman for “disagreements/conflict resolutions” that occur on the field, as is the primary role of baseball commissioners in other Little League jurisdictions. For me, it’s about happy kids playing in the dirt, running, sliding and cheering.
“With sign-up, this season (as in the past two seasons) we’ve given the opportunity to have the kids evaluated over six days, so as not to have kids waiting for two to three hours. We typically evaluate groups of 15 children at a time as well as separate them according to age groups. We also pre-evaluated those children whom participated in the inaugural fall-ball programme.
“Fun is the name of the game and Little League was formed for the main reason of giving kids something healthy to do in a structured environment. Baseball is a sport that everyone can play. Baseball isn’t the point, it could be basket weaving really, but the impetus is to give the kids something to do. Keep in mind that Little League is entering its 23rd season, before the wave of video games, internet, etc.
“Also, it had to be a completely free programme and I personally believe that we are in this to make a difference, not make a dollar. Our corporate sponsors are amazing, our silent sponsors are amazing and as a result, we’ve grown into an amazing kids programme with truly amazing kids.”
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