Herts Baseball Club has launched a programme for boys and girls aged between 4 and 7. The initiative for this has come from Herts Falcons manager, Lee Manning, who also played a leading role in the launch of the Herts youth baseball programme in 2007. “My son Riley turned 5 in January. He loves coming to the field with me and loves to hit and run the bases like all kids” said Manning. To our knowledge no other baseball club in the United Kingdom is offering baseball to players in this age group and Manning feels that “Herts is in a good position to lead the way”. As British baseball continues to grow, the hope is that many other under-8 programmes will start popping-up.
In the older age groups teams aim to develop and, in later years, compete. The approach is completely different for the under-8 programme. “It will be all about having fun” said Manning. He added that “If they can pick up some good fundamentals along the way, it would be a bonus. For the kids this will be their first introduction to baseball and I hope that they will love it.”
Lee Manning will be joined by coaches John Kjorstad and Ken Pike. Both of them are players and coaches with the Herts adult league teams. Similar to Manning, they also have children who will be playing in this age group so this is very much a project which will be created by families to give kids the opportunity to enjoy the game and create life-long friendships. “We hope to welcome many more mums and dads to take part in building this programme as coaches, umpires, fans or in some other capacity” said Manning.
The Herts under-8 baseball programme will commence on 9 May 2015 at Grovehill Ballpark and will include around 11 events which will run until September. The membership fee for the full season is £20 which equates to less than £2 per session. It will be reduced proportionately for those who join partway through the season. Contact us for more details about the programme and how to sign up. Children are welcome to come and give baseball a try for free before they join.