Two former Calgary Little Leaguers are bringing their Triple Play Baseball Academy to Airdrie next week.
Scott Price and Chris Copot will host the four-day camp, designed for players ages nine to 12, July 26-29 at Fletcher Park. Price, who represented Calgary Centennial at the 2003 Little League World Series, said he is excited to share his experiences with the next generation of ball players.
“I’m a big believer in the Little League program and to be able to put something on for kids throughout the summer, once the baseball season is done, is a great thing to do,” he said. “We like giving back to the communities we grew up in as well. We have fun coaching and the kids get a good experience.”
The camp will be broken into practice, mini competitions and games each day. Players will also focus on 10 fundamental skills of baseball including throwing, hitting, fielding, catching, bunting, base running, sliding, positional play and mental preparation.
“We teach it in a simple model of ‘teach it, try it, gain it.’ We really like to move from one thing to the next in station work,” Price said. “It’s an all-around skill camp where you get to try every position and learn all aspects of baseball. Nobody needs to play one certain position until they’re about 16, so it’s better to be able to learn all the positions and decide later what you like best.”
Price and Copot have taught the Triple Play Baseball Academy for the past six summers in the Calgary area.
“It’s a good relationship with the kids because Chris and I both played on the same teams growing up and had awesome experiences,” Price said. “We’re trying to give that same experience we had back to the kids. It’s a big thing to relate to everyone who comes to the camp.”
The camp, which will feature an instructor to player ratio of one to 10, is intentionally designed for nine to 12-year-olds for a number of reasons, Price said.
“The nine to 12 range is the best range to really improve on your skills and it’s the biggest range of players in Little League,” he said. “It’s the age we believe we can have the biggest impact on and where kids can really improve year to year. And we like to keep the ratio small so that every kid feels like they’re really getting a lot of repetitions and personal instruction.”
The Triple Play Baseball Academy will run July 26-29 at Fletcher Park. Registration is still open and can be done by calling Price at 403-612-7971 or online at www.bigalbaseball.com
