New baseball academy hopes to raise level of play in Kamloops

There are 14 students, from Grades 8 to 10, taking part and each are receiving school credits for being part of the academy, which runs Tuesday through Thursday at Norbrock Stadium every week until January. The academy is run by TRU Wolfpack manager and former major leaguer Ray Chadwick.

“An academy in Kamloops, why not?” he said. “There are academies everywhere I go, play everywhere I go, coach everywhere I go. Why not Kamloops? We have the kids, the facilities to do it, so let’s do it.”

Chadwick was approached by a parent from St. Ann’s Academy, the mother of Brett MacDonald who wanted her son to be able to work on his baseball skills while staying close to home.

“A couple years ago, she said by Grade 10 I could go to any academy I wanted,” said MacDonald. “I really wanted to just get better and take it to the next level. She didn’t want me to leave, so she basically just did her best to make an academy here for us and it worked out really well.”

For an hour and a half, three times a week, the kids get batting practice, a chance to improve their swing in the cage, among other key skills that Chadwick teaches.

“It’s great. The coaching he provides and the level of knowledge that he provides to the game is amazing,” said Sucro. “He’s helped us all become better baseball players, even in the 2-3 weeks, and it’s just great to have such a highly-touted coach come out here and spend his time for us.”

Chadwick says the academy will no doubt raise the level of play in Kamloops and the kids taking part will be well ahead of their peers when the next season begins in the spring.

The goal is to expand the academy eventually to welcome other schools in the city.

“Looking at the future, if other schools come on board and we can figure out how to make it work with them as well, that’s the plan to try and do it,” said Chadwick.

The academy players would like to see a league established in the future when new schools join.

“Hopefully it changes the game,” said Sucro. “Hopefully we can get a couple other schools involved, hopefully maybe even a league that we play each other, just like basketball and volleyball with high school sports. It’d be amazing to see baseball included because baseball is an amazing sport.”

by Chad Klassen

New baseball academy hopes to raise level of play in Kamloops

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