Oct. 2, 2007

On a gloriously sunny Sunday morning 178 area kids from around the Weld County area came together at the first Northern Colorado free baseball camp at the Greeley Youth Sports Complex.

"We really want to thank our sponsors and the Greeley - Evans Youth League for stepping up and hosting this great event," said Baseball Coach Kevin Smallcomb.  "I heard some great things from the kids and the parents and they want to know when the next camp is."

The boys and girls went through 12 individual hitting, fielding, throwing and base running stations instructed by current Bears baseball student-athletes and supervised by Smallcomb and his coaching staff.  The Greeley - Evans Youth League provided a lunch and refreshment break during the five hour camp. 

Peter Ommendon of Greeley said that he liked the hot dogs best followed by the base running and sliding drills, "but I did throw 43 miles per hour on the radar gun and that is a good thing."

Camp coordinator and Bears assistant coach Ryan Strain said his experience running the University of Nebraska baseball camps proved invaluable for this assignment. 

"I am so very happy that the word got out to the baseball community and we had this great turnout.  I know all of the future Bears had a great day today."

Both individual and teams came out to the camp with ages ranging from 7 to 14 years of age.

"We saw uniforms from Winsor, Loveland, Eaton and there must have been three Greeley Driller teams here today" said Chris Johns one of the Bears volunteer coaches.