Inner-City Baseball Camp in Charlotte

We will be setting up a meeting in a few weeks to discuss the camp. I would like to have as many of you there as possible to bounce ideas off of. Shoot me a pm to let me know what day would work best for you all. I was thinking a Saturday.

 

Contacted Little League

I'm not trying to pit one league against another (Babe Ruth, Dixie Youth, Cal Ripken, Little League, etc.) - I just have a contact who is the area director for Little League and I discussed with him what little I had gleemed from the posts so far, and I asked him what Little League's interest might be in promoting baseball in the inner city. They actually have a group in Williamsport the home office dealing with this very issue. He was very interested in helping and I for one would like to see if we could aim a little higher and perhaps look to promote some inner city teams and train and develope these kids with the camps. There is the potential to have these teams play other teams from around the city to create a seasons worth of competition. The Police Athletic League has done some work in the past, but has had far better success with football and basketball. Perhaps with the impassioned assistance of this group we might get a different result.

Just a thought, What do you think????

 

That sounds great to me. We just need to attempt to get everyone together so that we can map out a gameplan moving forward. I'm thinking Saturday, Feb. 9th around 1:00. Would that work for you guys?

 

this is a great idea. let me know what i can do from a web site standpoint.

 

OK, when I make the comment I am about to make, I expect to get blasted by some on here, but I still feel it needs to be made. Just how much does it cost for a kid to participate in a baseball program? We are discussing here the costs and wanting to go out an recruit inner city youth, correct? To me it is really a matter of choice. When you open the closet door, and find $600 worth of basketball shoes then the kid has made a choice. Has he not? That same money could have purchased a good pair of baseball shoes, a nice bat, and a quality glove. With some work, if he is a decent athlete, made a high school team. Combine that with some more work and some good grades and he is playing in college. It is more a matter of changing perceptions of what is a "cool sport" to participate in than another feel good social program. Blast me if you want but just my opinion. I have see too many kids over the years, being sold on HS football and basketball and being no more than average at those sports, that could have been outstanding baseball players.

 

4-6-3...any updates?

 

Let me know...

I have thought about trying to start programs at the middle schools that are in the parts of Charlotte that have not traditionally had these opportunities or where they need extra resources. This could be a good way to help motivate young men to stay up with their school work and enjoy baseball.

This could then feed into summer programs to continue what is started in the middle schools.

Eventually, these kids will then feed into the high school programs to help revive baseball in areas where the programs have been struggling to stay competitive in recent years.

Let me know when you want to get together - I would love to help.

 

We are still in the planning stages. Right now, the biggest obstacle is figuring out how to reach the kids and get them to the field. Suggestions?

 

Getting in Touch with Players

I grew up playing in the PAL (Police Athletic League) and we played our games at Revolution Park and Optimist Park. Your best bet may be to contact someone that was associated with that league (or is assuming that league still operates), the local Boys and Girls Club Athletic Directors as well as Athletic Directors at those feeder middle schools. You may also want to contact football coaches at these middle schools as they will likely have some idea of the talented players that may be interested in participating in such a program. Also, the low-income housing developments usually have someone designated as a coordinator of the housing association, so this may be another lead. You can get these names from the City of Charlotte, specifically the agency in charge of these housing developments. Good luck with this as, having grown up in North Charlotte (the real North Charlotte, i.e., Plaza/36th street area), I'm sure there is some talent in these areas.