The Toronto Blue Jays have teamed up with KidSport again and to hold its yearly baseball academy once again in Regina.
Regina baseball and softball players are beginning to dust off their gloves and get prepared for the upcoming season. Baseball, like any other sport, needs a group of youth athletes to ensure that the game continues to grow and get better.
Players under 18 years old are eligible to sign up.
“Kids, when they get the proper mentorship whatever sport it is, are going to do a lot better in their lives,” said Ben Fines, manager of RBI training in Regina.
The Jays Academy has been running camps with Blue Jays alumni since 2012. Saskatchewan camps have been held in Regina, Saskatoon and Lloydminister.
Rob Jack, social marketing manager for the Toronto Blue Jays, said he believes the academy is a great event for the ball club to offer.
“It’s a way that the ball club can give back to the community and help develop players at the grassroots level,” Jack explained. “We use our alumni as our instructors and Baseball Regina provides local coaches to help out.”
The Academy also gives coaches and volunteers a chance to learn how to be better skill-builders for the young players.
Nolan Bracken, who is the grassroots development coordinator for Saskatchewan Baseball, said the Toronto Blue Jays do an amazing job when it comes to putting this event on every year.
“The Jays alumni have been awesome, they’ve been great. They organize everything and set it up and as far as Sask Baseball, we just come and assist them with the camps during the day,” he said.
The Blue Jays use this as an opportunity to bring ex-MLB players to places where people normally never get to meet them, much less be taught how to play by them. Jack said that the response has been a positive one from the communities, especially the smaller ones.
“I always enjoyed the environments in the small towns because when you go to a large place, like Toronto or Vancouver, these camps are always happening,” Jack says. “But when you get to the small communities that aren’t used to getting an ex-major league baseball players to work with the kids, it has a huge impact.”
Players can sign up via the Toronto Blue Jays website.
Ben Fines sees any opportunity to get the kids out playing baseball as beneficial.
“The more repetitions on the field the kids get, the easier the sport will be down the road.”
