Spain Park hosts 124 campers at weather-adapted baseball camp
Published 6:36 pm Friday, May 30, 2025
Spain Park didn’t let rain affect a fun week of baseball camp as the Jags taught the fundamentals of the game to 124 campers. (Reporter Photos/Andrew Simonson)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
HOOVER – Over a hundred kids got to learn baseball skills from the Spain Park Jaguars at their annual baseball camp, and even though rain from May 27-30 affected some of the plans at Spain Park High School, it didn’t affect the turnout or the fun.
“I thought it was very much a success,” Spain Park varsity baseball coach Will Smith said. “We battled the elements. We battled the rain. We’re blessed to have 124 campers so having all the things that were kind of working outside the weather against us, I thought it was very much a success.”
A few batches of morning thunderstorms sent Smith and the coaches to their backup plans, but thanks to Spain Park’s PE gym, a pair of gyms next door at Berry Middle School and their indoor batting cages, campers could still learn a wide variety of skills from the players and coaches.
“Those three indoors along with our indoor up at the school, our cage area, allowed us to do some really unique things with us being inside all day for both Tuesday and Thursday,” Smith said.
Campers got to learn a wide range of fundamentals throughout the week, including fielding, throwing, hitting, base-running and sliding, the latter of which saw the campers practice with a tarp to aid their slides.
“Watching the kids go through that the progression the competitions and then playing their game each day, I saw some developments, saw some growth in a lot of the campers,” Smith said.
One of Smith’s favorite parts of camp is meeting kids when they’re as young as five or six years old and following them all the way through high school as many of them will go on to play in Spain Park’s varsity program. He said building that relationship early is crucial for development.
However, his relationship with the campers isn’t the only thing getting developed.
With current Spain Park players leading the stations, they got to meet and build friendships with the campers over the course of the four days. Smith always enjoys seeing those cross-generational bonds form and says the fruits of those show every spring during the varsity season.
“That’s one of my favorite parts of the camp is watching the high school kids take ownership and take on a leadership role and they get to see the other side of it, the frustrations that come with the coaching and the leadership side, but, at the end of the day they’re forming relationships,” Smith said. “These kids and their families are people that will come out and watch them play in the spring, so just building that relationship is all about adding community, and it’s very beneficial for those guys.”
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