Baseball camp benefits coaches, players

Saluki baseball will host a youth hitting camp Jan.11-12 for players ages seven to 18 at the Garden Grove Event Center in Carbondale.

Hitting coach Ryan Strain primarily will run the camp, but the entire coaching staff and some players will contribute in coaching the camp participants.

“Most of the guys that we go out and recruit are pretty advanced in their skills,” Strain said. “Most of them will be able to handle some minor tweaks to (the campers’) swings.”

Coach Ken Henderson said SIU used to do a winter camp years ago, but stopped. He said with the new facilities, the team wanted to give back to the community again. Henderson said the camp will have mutual benefits in case an older camper has talent and interest in SIU.

“It’s a good thing for baseball players in the area,” Henderson said. “It’s also a good thing for us. Hopefully we can help some kids, we can help some young men with their hitting, and who knows we may find a prospect in there somewhere too.”

Henderson said any time he or his staff is coaching, they are getting better. Volunteer assistant coach Joe Lincoln said he thinks the camp will benefit his coaching style because a camper might ask a question he would not normally hear.

“I learn every single day,” Lincoln said. “I could be working with a small kid helping him out with his hitting, and him asking me a question a college kid wouldn’t ask because they think it might be a dumb question, it gets in my mind and makes me think and me look farther into the way I coach.”

Lincoln said the main differences between SIU’s players and the campers are their physical bodies and the amount of experience with the game, but he teaches the same techniques to every player.

“All in all, I’m going to teach the way that I work with my guys here,” Lincoln said. “It’s obviously different physically and from the knowledge standpoint, but overall a baseball player is a baseball player.”

Senior catcher Matt Jones said he is excited to teach both age groups because it will help the team get more fans, and make it feel like home field advantage.

“Most of the kids are probably local,” Jones said. “If we show them our new facility and the direction we are going with the program, I think it’s going to bring a stronger fan base.”

Strain made the analogy of a baseball field being like a classroom and that he hopes the campers learn something that makes them a better hitter.

“It’s just like teaching a young kid when they go to a classroom,” Strain said. “This is kind of our classroom when they come to our camp, and we try to break down the basics and hopefully when they leave they have some ideas of what to work on to become a better hitter when they get ready play in the spring.”

Lincoln said he is glad to give back to the community, and he would appreciate any parents that stay for the camp so that are less likely to forget anything they learned.

The campers will be divided into two age groups. 7-12 year olds will meet from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 13-18 year olds will meet from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. both days. There is a $125 registration fee and each session caps at 40 registrants.

Players interested in the camp can download the registration form from the Saluki Athletics website, and mail it along with the $125 camp cost to: Continuing Education Southern Illinois University 1255 Lincoln Dr, MC 6705 Carbondale, IL 62901.