Missouri Western Baseball hosts youth summer camp
By Calvin Silvers
Despite the college baseball season ending in April, you could hear the crack of a bat and some yelling from the field at Missouri Western, as the Griffons held their youth baseball camp this week.
The camp began on Monday, with two age groups having their own slotted time to work on drills and fundamentals. Missouri Western head coach Damian Stambersky, he’s glad he can give back to the community he grew up in.
“I’m a local guy myself, grew up in this area. I grew up playing at Phil Welch before this field was born, I just want the kids around us,” Stambersky said. “Baseball is meant to be played. We don’t work baseball, we play baseball, so having these kids out here playing, that’s just fantastic.”
The Missouri Western baseball camp will run through Wednesday for kids aged 8-14, with 50-plus athletes attending the two split sessions. The first group was ages 8-11, before the age group 12-14 took place after.
The camp was a good way to have fun while learning the game of baseball. The younger age group had basic instruction for beginners, while there was more advanced instruction for older players.
“Well, I think the main thing is the coaches have to model that behavior, so we can’t like sit on our butts and be slow and methodical and expect them to go fast,” Stambersky said. “I think you see you know, we kind of bounce around and we move with them and have fun with them and we’re sweating our tails just like they are.”
The sessions allowed individual and group instruction in all phases of baseball, which included hitting, pitching, catching, infield play, outfield play, baserunning and team defensive concepts.
Another aspect taught was playing and presenting yourself in the “Griff way,” meaning you have a good attitude and effort in whatever you do.
“The biggest thing that we measure here is attitude and effort, so you’re going to make mistakes, It’s not going to go the way you want it to,” Stambersky said. “It’s going to be a little hard, but we’re going to ask you to go fast for a long period of time. Just relax, take a deep breath, and have fun, because if baseball isn’t fun, why are we doing it? It’s just great attitudes, great efforts, and they’ve done a really good job.”
The kids all partook in drills that the Griffons do during their practices, and even a ‘camper of the day’ was selected for their good work and effort.
