Blue Wahoos debut FunBall clinic for young baseball, softball players
The Blue Wahoos are using their final home weekend of the season to try a new style of youth baseball/softball clinic.
They will debut “FunBall,” a two-hour event on Saturday morning (8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.) at Blue Wahoos Stadium for youths ages 6-12. It will feature elements like a walk-up song, a photo station, a media interview, a whiffle ball home run contest over the outfield wall and other elements of a non-traditional clinic.
“The whole idea of this is to really have something in the baseball and softball world that is fun for kids,” said Blue Wahoos team president Jonathan Griffith.
The cost is $40 per-player and includes a T-shirt and a free ticket for the Blue Wahoos game that night on Sept. 12 against the Biloxi Shuckers. The Blue Wahoos game will be followed by the final fireworks show of the year and the annual “Diamond Dig,” sponsored by Bere’ Jewelers where fans can dig with plastic spoons for a plastic trinket buried in the infield that can be exchanged for a diamond ring.
Parents are able to watch the FunBall morning clinic free, then purchase tickets, if they wish, to the Blue Wahoos game that night.
“We want kids to come to the ballpark, experience the stadium, say they hit a ball over the fence and heard their own favorite walk-up song,” Griffith said. “Most clinics are more intense and maybe for more of a skilled player. This one is for anyone.”
The concept was first tried in June at the Kansas City Monarchs’ Legend Field. The Monarchs, an Independent League baseball franchise, was purchased earlier this year by Blue Wahoos owners Quint and Rishy Studer.
That area’s FunBall event was popular and brought good feedback. The Blue Wahoos are hoping to incorporate this event every year, albeit sooner in the season.
Local high school players will help work the event, which is designed to be the opposite of a travel-ball type of clinic that features more intensive sessions.
“We want them to enjoy this, so when they get to be say, 30-years-old, and maybe never actually have played on a travel ball team, they will still remember this,” Griffith said.
“And they will say they loved it, they loved the Blue Wahoos… we are putting it on for that aspect of baseball.”
The Blue Wahoos will close their regular season on Sunday against Biloxi, before the teams turn around two days later on Sept. 15 and square off in Game 1 of the Southern League divisional series at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Want to go?
WHAT: FunBall Clinic
WHEN: Saturday (Sept. 12) 8:30-10:30 a.m.
WHO: Ages 6-12 boys and girls
WHERE: Blue Wahoos Stadium
COST: $40 per participant. Includes T-shirt, free ticket to Blue Wahoos game on Sept. 12.
TICKET INFO:www.bluewahoos.com/funball.
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Blue Wahoos debut FunBall clinic for young baseball, softball players