Baseball coach Larry Tougas runs through a ground ball exercise with young players. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
It was all about learning the fundamentals as dozens of young baseball players gathered at Veteran’s Field the past two weekends for the 5-hour Youth Baseball Clinics hosted by the North Bay Baseball Association.
Young baseball players aged 6 to 12 were broken down into small groups and went through all the parts of the game including pitching, catching and batting fundamentals.
Long-time area baseball coach Larry Tougas was one of three coaches running the late June program.
“I think its plain to see that at the younger age level there is a little lack of skill development which scares me,” stated Tougas who conducted the camp alongside coach Dave Saad and his son and former OUA pitcher Jake Tougas.
Tougas believes camps like this are important because if kids get frustrated with the game, they will do something else the following year.
“I know there is a lot of skill development in soccer but it’s a lot easier game to learn and to play,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong there is a tremendous amount of skill in soccer but baseball is so fundamental and its so difficult if they haven’t had the skill development to fall in love with the game and have some fun.”
Baseball coach Dave Saad goes through a batting drill with players. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
Tougas hopes that perhaps creating more camps like this will help.
“It’s really going after the 6 to 12 age level where they get a good experience about playing the game and hopefully this gives them a little indication about the skill development that they need to learn in order to become a good player in the future,” he said.
But Tougas, who has coached a number of provincial championship Stingers teams, says he can’t do it alone.
He would like to see more former Stingers come out of the woodwork and get involved in the local baseball association.
“There’s some other people that have some really good capabilities in the community but they need to step forward,” said Tougas.
“I think we live in a selfish world - they want to play ball, they don’t want to pass the great fortune they had onto others. I’m kind of glad my son helps out when he gets the calls from the Stingers teams and he has no problem working with young players and do some work with them. My son has been blessed with some good coaching with me and the university level.”
