Kids slide into Lady Admiral softball camp
She was one of several children in attendance at Farragut’s annual summer softball camp, where the Lady Admiral players and coaches instructed players ages 7 to 14 Monday through Thursday, June 1-4.
The camp has been running for quite some time, but Lady Ads coach Nick Green has been a part of it in some capacity since 2007.
“It was more of a full day camp then, and we’d break for lunch before the older ones would come back for more advanced topics,” Green said. “I reformatted the camp, changing some things and keeping others the same.
“We try to keep them pretty active, teaching skills we think they’ll be able to do,” he added. “Most are basic skills because if you can do those right and really well, you’ll be pretty darn good. But we do introduce advanced topics to some of them and try to get them in a position where they can play.”
The camp welcomed children from West Valley Middle, Concord Christian and Farragut Middle School, among other schools, all in the name of growing the sport and making kids better.
And while the younger players certainly learn plenty of skills, current Farragut players take just as much from each camp — if not more.
“It’s fun,” Green said. “I try to tell them that no matter how good or bad you think you are or how your day was, when these kids come out to watch you, they want to be you. They want to be you then they get older, so it’s a big deal.”
“I know a lot of them remember some details from their camp. maybe who their leader was or some of the events we did that were fun,” he added. “And a lot of them, the players, end up making friends with the kids. In the past, they end up babysitting them and things like that. So it’s nice.
“And now I’ve seen a lot of them when they were 7 years old to coming through high school, so I might know them for more than half their lives by the time they graduate.”
The camp ran from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each weekday, as the campers did what Green called, “a little bit of everything.”
Day one included plenty on throwing and catching “because, in my opinion, those are the two most important skills you can learn,” Green said. “Then we have some kind of defensive section with a new skill, and this year, that was ground ball work for different age groups.”
From there, the players went into specific position work, base running and batting practice with a snack sandwiched in-between.
Day two featured a fly ball focus on defense with more base running and an emphasis on bunting and slapping during batting practice.
The third day began with a relay race, then players went into throwing, sliding, position groups and more base running specifics, such as how to come out of the box on a fly ball or grounder.
They wrapped with batting practice, focusing on contact points, then started the final day of action with competitions.
Those included a home run derby for each age group, a long toss competition and base running by time, among others.
A defensive station with targets and a point system for ground balls and throws followed, then it was on to an egg toss before Green broke out the tarp for a slip ‘n slide.
“All of a sudden, they become amazing sliders,” he joked. “And we have to cut it off at some point because they’ll do that all day, but we get out a huge tarp and just let them go at it and have fun.”
From there, they wrap up with pizza and awards, capping off a week that saw plenty of fun with approximately 60 kids in attendance.
“It’s really fun this year because the weather isn’t very hot,” Green said. “A lot of kids, good turnout. It’s fun watching them — and I won’t lie, it’s still a lot of work to get the field ready and get the equipment out. But it’s fun to watch them have fun and talk to them.”
