Lady Dawgs hold annual Softball Camp
By SEAN HANEY
Cove Leader-Press
For the 10th year in a row and counting, Coach Waller hosted his annual Lady Dawgs softball camp this past week.
With 50 kids attending per night, this camp was very popular.
“One of the benefits of this camp is that I have a lot of former and current players that are here to help and I’m hoping that with them being here to share the similar terminology that we use here and help install fun and love of the game for these girls and then they get to get better and grow in the sport and try to be just like the girls here when they get older.”
Tuesday night started off with some agility drills and stretches to get them ready for their evening. Some of these stretches were shuffles and lunges once the stretching was done, they paired up and threw the ball a bit to get their arms warmed up.
With the help of current and former Lady dawgs, the kids who attended the camp were separated into two groups by age. The younger kids were up first practicing their throwing and catching. They fielded groundballs and caught pop flies. Along with honing their catching skills, these young girls also threw the ball immediately after catching it. The older kids were first at bat with their batting skills. Those batting skills included proper foot placement, swinging right and how to bunt. Each group had about 25 minutes, then they switched so the younger kids were batting, and the older kids started throwing and catching.
Coach Waller was very involved in both stations and all the drills that those stations included.
Longtime camper Isabella Hunt, who has been playing softball for nine years, said with energy that, “This camp helps me focus on the skills needed to make the High School team. With being a lefty. This camp also helps me work on my skills and my batting which is my favorite thing to do.”
While some have been attending this camp for a while, some have not.
Aydan Jewell, who is a new camper, is not new to softball. Ayden has been playing softball for 4 years and absolutely loves it.
“This camp is helping me develop my skills and teaches me more techniques.” Jewell said.
When asked about her favorite thing about her first camp “Batting Practice” exclaimed Jewell.
With the camp being three hours long and the heat high, these girls never once stopped giving it their all. In response to the question “What’s rule number 1?”, the girls would respond “Always hustle!”.
The girls had plenty of water breaks and ample amount of rest to stay ready to keep going and avoid any heat-related injuries.
The camp was all week from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Lady Dawgs Softball Field.