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Prince George - Sports - Free Press
Friday, June 14, 2013
www.pgfreepress.com
Grays hold camp to help young players ALLAN WISHART allanw@pgfreepress.com
For the Prince George Grays, it’s the Willie Nelson song – On the Road Again. “It’s tough getting teams to come up here to play,” says Jay Cook. Cook and some of the other Grays spent a good part of the weekend working with 13 to 17 year olds from Prince George and Quesnel at a baseball camp at Citizen Field. “We’ve got about 30 kids out, which is a good number,” he said. “There’s quite a range of skill levels, which poses some challenges when you’re setting up drills.” The camp is the first one the Grays have held, and the experiment seems to have been successful. “The drills we’re using are pretty standard. All of us have played at the college level or above, so we know these drills. “Some of the kids are a bit overwhelmed by them,
though.” The Grays are working out as well, getting ready to start their season at the end of the month. “We’re down in Burnaby on the long weekend to play the Bulldogs,” Cook says. “Then on July 6 we’re in Kamloops, Coquitlam on the weekend of July 13, and down to Victoria on the August long weekend for the provincials.” Being on the road for all their games is tough, but Cook says it’s a fact of life for teams from the north. “There are more teams down there, so they can schedule among themselves and not have to travel up here to play.” One solution the Grays are looking at is joining the Interior League, which currently has teams in Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon and Trail. “If we got into that league, we would play our games A lla n W ISHA RT/ Fre e Pre s s against Trail at a neutral site, Jason Cook of the Prince George Grays shows a group of middle infielders some fielding techniques probably Kamloops.” during a weekend camp for 13-17 year olds at Citizen Field.
Knights hope for big crowds for games against Vernon Local senior baseball players and teams have had tons of opportunities over the past 14 years to play on home turf – nationals, and even the international level, with the World
Baseball Challenge. For youth baseball players, aside from some provincial tournaments it’s been rare for an all-star team to play games after sleeping in their own
beds, so for a June 15-16 series with the Vernon Canadians, the PG LTN Contracting peewee Knights allstar team would love to see a big crowd supporting them at Spruce
City Stadium. The games go 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, and 9 and 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 16 – a four-game set to showcase the high level of youth baseball city fans will be treated to Aug. 8-11 when the provincial Peewee AAA Championship serves as an appetizer ahead of the international-level World Baseball Challenge (Aug. 13-22, Citizen Field).
“We’re so glad to have Vernon coming up, coached by former P.G. resident Rick Leroux – he has a strong team that will play in AA provincials but has not lost to a AAlevel team this season and are considered the class of the Okanagan region,” said Knights manager Jim Swanson. “Their only losses have been to AAA teams like ours, and they don’t have many
Northern Interior Communities Association Presents…
A Community Gaming Grant Workshop Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 @ 9am - 1pm 1600 Third Avenue, Prince George Prince George Native Friendship Centre The Northern Interior Communities Association will be providing participants with an overview of the grant process. Community Gaming Grants are administered by the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, governed by the Province of BC. These grants are available to non-profit organizations providing programs or services of direct benefit to the broader community. New applicants are welcome. To RSVP please contact Rhonda Dickson at 250-562-2553 or email coordinator@northernica.org
Call your local police to pick up unwanted firearms, weapons, and ammunition. Do not drop off items at police departments.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia
of those. We have played Vernon already five times and all the games have been close, they have taken four of them but we had a split-squad for the first two meetings. Both teams had a strong showing by individuals at the Team BC tryouts for the CABA World Series, and we’re excited to be challenged by Vernon once again, very pleased they could arrange to come up and play us. Vernon has a big, athletic and well-coached team with good pitching and some very strong hitters.” There will be no charge for admission, but the Knights will be selling raffle tickets to help support the team and provincial tournament. “This will also mark the first time Spruce City Stadium has had a mound installed, so that will be interesting in itself,” said Swanson. “It’s a great test for provincials, and it’s
been a pleasure working with Peter Ghostkeeper and the Spruce City league on this. It’s a great venue.” Members of the Knights are Michael Schwab, Ryan Hampe, Seth Lapre, Brevin Gervais, Tommy Kreitz, Brett Mero, Quinten Astorino, Liam Campbell, Ajay Nickolet, Zach Swanson, Matt Siemens and Soren Erricson. Mero will not be able to play against Vernon due to a school trip. Colton SchaperKotter of Vernon was named an alternate for Team BC, but at least five other players showed they have incredible skill at the tryouts. Zach Swanson of Prince George is on the roster, while Mikey Schwab and Ajay Nickolet are alternates. The Knights hope to have other teams visit in July. The Knights will play in tournaments in Kamloops (July long weekend) and in Kelowna (two weeks after that).
For news and updates, check us out online at www.rdffg.bc.ca 155 George Street, Prince George, BC V2L 1P8 Telephone: (250) 960-4400, Toll Free 1-800-667-1959 Fax (250) 563-7520, Web: www.rdffg.bc.ca