Staff photo by Lizz Bottrell
Andrew Pasap gives one last big stretch before the instructors tells him to switch spots with his partner.

Youth get schooled in baseball and softball
By Lizz Bottrell, Citizen Staff

On May 3 and 4, young people from around the Kipling area received the opportunity to attend the Doyle Baseball School. Kipling is the only community besides Regina that hosts the American-based school in all of Canada. After its second year in Kipling, the on-site coordinators, Nicole Lyons and Brett Ferch plan to bring the school to Kipling every spring.

The weekend involved two intensive days of schooling. Ray Kerr, a director for Doyle Baseball, stressed the word school over clinic or camp. “To get better at ball they need to get smarter.” said Kerr. “To get smarter, you go to school. They even had homework. They had hitting, fielding, and throwing that they each had to do 50 times.”

Despite the fact that most kids grumble at the site of homework, the kids treated this homework a little different. “Burke [Lyons, Nicole’s six-year-old] was up at 7:30 this morning and doing his homework,” said Lyons.

At the Doyle Baseball School, participants learn many aspects of playing ball. “We teach the fundamentals of hitting, fielding, throwing, sliding, base running and perfect fielding, which is how low a person needs to get to field a ground ball,” said Kerr.

While watching in on some of the schooling, anyone could also see the kids learn much more than how to be a better ball player. All three instructors, Kerr from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Brian Murtha from Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania; and Harold Debert from Regina, taught the kids some discipline. The neat thing was watching just how much respect the youth had for the three instructors, obeying their every command without any hesitation.

Kerr said the school is much more than making a better ball player. The school also teaches life skills, part of which takes place during an optional chapel on Sunday morning. For the school in Kipling, it took place at noon and was well attended. Kerr tells the kids the reason for chapel is because the school is modeled after what major league players learn in spring training and in practice, which for them involves chapel. Though Kerr goes on to say the chapel would exist even if the major league players did not take part in the ritual because the organization is based on Christian values. “Our organization, the Doyle baseball, we’re a Christian organization and we know baseball and softball will end but life goes on,” said Kerr. “Part of our program is to teach life skills. We tell them that the “L” in Doyle stands for life skills. Because we’re a Christian organization, we offer an optional chapel at all our schools. Even if only one person comes, we do chapel.”

The chapel also seems to serve a personal purpose for Kerr. “Personally, I feel if I can touch them through baseball to become a better Christian, that’s my ministry, my calling in life,” said Kerr.

There was also something for the coaches at the school. On May 2, area coaches had the opportunity to attend a coach’s school. Two days later on May 4, after school was out for the kids, the coaches once again had the opportunity to attend an advanced coach’s school. The coach’s school is actually what sparked Ferch to bring Doyle Baseball to Kipling in the first place. “I went to their coach’s school in Carlyle about five years ago and met Ray,” said Ferch. “I took my boys to the Regina school three years ago and that was all it took to convince me we needed one here.” Then, after many, many phone calls, Ferch managed to get the school to come to Kipling.

Ferch knows how well the school works for the kids just from comments from coaches after the fact. “Other coaches and umpires find a difference from those who have attended and not,” said Ferch. “They do improve. It gives them a foundation for the season since it’s held in the spring.”

Both Ferch and Lyons are very happy with the way the school turned out this year. With 61 players from as far away as Carlyle, Arcola, Grenfell, and Montmartre, it’s no surprise they were happy with the turnout. However, Lyons does have one small concern. As a softball coach, she wants more involvement on that end. “I’m hoping for a bigger softball involvement in the future,” said Lyons. “There’s still the assumption that it’s more baseball, but that’s not true. It’s the same game but our balls are bigger.”