MLB Youth Ambassador Coach Ballgame Heads To Alpena To Lead Youth Baseball Camp
MLB Youth Ambassador, Coach Ballgame is coming to Alpena on Saturday, April 13th to lead a sandlot to share his love of baseball with the Alpena community
“It’s a youth skills camp built as a youth skills camp, but it encompasses more than just the physical skills of baseball. A lot of its sportsmanship, a lot of it’s at a kid level, they maybe learn the importance and value of, teamwork. That you know, sometimes failure is a situation that we have to deal with, how to cope with that” said Coach Ballgame.
The camp is open to children between the ages of 5 and 12 of all skill levels.
“With today’s day and age, where we just put a lot of pressure on youth athletics, sometimes it’s okay to just be a kid and just go and have some fun and play the things that you enjoy” said Scott Bays, an Alpena coach.
James Lowe, also known as coach ballgame, has worked with Major League Baseball and has sixty sandlots throughout the country.
“James, he played for Brown University and he holds the record there for being hit by pitch over his career and he loves the game and wanted to figure out how he could give back to the game and how he could affect you know, another generation of kids in a positive way, not just be solely emphasized on the skill sets involved” said Bays.
Local businesses such as Team bays, JJ’s Steak and Pizza, Alpena Dairy Queen, Alpena Boosters Club, Devere industrial and Jeff Wallace Memorial Fund all pitched in to help discount the original cost of the camp from $75 to now only $25 dollars per child.
“I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a god thing for kids, I think it’s a good thing for parents, I think it’s a good thing for community building, building adults, and building children into adults” said Bays.
There are approximately 20 spots left for this program. The camp starts at 1pm and ends at 3pm. Following the session, there will be a coach’s clinic where parents and coaches can learn additional tips on running effective baseball practices. If you’d like to attend you can go online at https://www.hisawyer.com/coach-ballgame/schedules?Sched_ids%5B%5D=190118&schedule_id=camps to register and apply the codeword SANCTUARY for the discounted price.
