Boys flock to Black Fly baseball camp; girls camp March 30

By Greg Hart

More than 40 players turned out for the 8th annual Black Fly baseball camp on Saturday March 16 and Sunday March 17 at the Green Mountain Union High School gymnasium.

Players worked on fielding and reflexes by protecting the targeted goal using their bare hands./ Photo by Greg Hart.

GM’s boys varsity coach and athletic director Eric Anderson directed the two-day camp saying, “We had a great response not only from the kids in the Chester community but we drew a number of players from Cavendish, Grafton, Londonderry and Springfield as well. Matt (McCarthy, Chester rec director and camp coach) did a great job getting the word out and using his connections from working in the Springfield rec program.” Indeed, with large numbers of campers, the players were able to break into six groups of varying age and ability. The campers were in grades 3 through 8.

Focusing on fundamentals of fielding, throwing and batting, Anderson hopes that the players will be able to work on proper mechanics and have a good basis to start the season with solid foundation.  “Hopefully these guys can learn and build on proper technique, so that they can have a base to build on for the season ahead,” said Anderson.  With more than 40 players and six skill stations, the camp was well-coordinated and staffed thanks to Anderson, McCarthy and Scott Renfro, GM’s Boys Middle School coach.  They were assisted by several GM alums as well as varsity players in Jacob Walker (GM ’12), Logan Little (GM ’12), Calvin Stowell (GM ’13) Jake Cavacas (GM ’14) and Brighton Bischofberger (GM ’14).

“It’s nice working with these kids from the rec program,” says Anderson. “With myself coaching Varsity and Scott coaching middle school it lets us work on the skills they’ll need to succeed at the next levels and exposes the kids to some of the drills and terminology that they’ll be using as they move forward.”

According to Anderson, the camp was started in in 2005 by former Chester recreation director Steve Nelligan.  Many of the older campers have attended the camp for years, and several of the GM varsity players assisting as counselors are alumni of the camp as well.

At the conclusion of camp on Sunday, Anderson thanked all the players, their parents, the other coaches and counselors saying, “This has been one of the best camps ever in terms of participation as well as the focus campers exhibited resulting in a smoothly run and safe camp.” That’s no small feat given the large number of players in a small space wielding bats and balls.

Girls softball camp

The girls’ softball camp originally scheduled for this weekend did not have the same large number of participants.  Hoping for more players to sign up the camp has been postponed until Saturday March 30th. If you have a softball player in grades 3 through 8 who would like to participate, register at Chester Town Hall or contact Matt McCarthy via email at recreationinchester@yahoo.com.  The camp will be run by GM varsity softball coach Terry Farrell.