Success on the diamond
July 03, 2008 | Softball
It's summer time, so let's play ball! That's what many did during the end of June at the UW Softball Summer camps. The team hosted two camps, a Day Camp, which was June 22-24 and the Overnight Camp, which ran from June 22-25.
Head coach Chandelle Schulte and assistant coaches Julie Wright and RoAnna Brazier as well as former and current Badger softball players served as the camp staff.
'I thought the energy from the staff and from the campers was great,' Wright said. 'The campers worked really hard. Overall, I thought the setup went really well and the knowledge that was given to campers was great. They really appreciated the instruction from our players.'
Campers had the opportunity to develop their softball and team-building skills in front of the Badger staff, played on the Goodman Diamond, toured Camp Randall stadium, had a dance party in the dorms and learned the ever-popular game, 'Gladiator Ball '.
'Gladiator ball was huge,' Wright said. 'It was a big success.'
A 15 by 15 yard square and a goal three yards wide make up the playing field. Three people make up a team and they wear their helmets so they have facemasks on. Each team tries to throw the ball into the goal, without crossing the center line, and you can try to block it however you want. The kids were competing ' whipping the ball so it 's bouncing off each other's heads, arms and legs, and they loved it. The young kids ' 9- and 10-year-olds ' beat two of the current players.
The camps this summer were a success for the Badger softball program and the coaching staff is looking forward to even more camp options in the future. This summer, groups of six or more received a discount and focused on drills to help them improve even after they left camp, drills they can share with coaches and teammates. The staff hopes to have a special team camp in the future.
'To every kid I would talk to, I would say `You can take this back to your team. Look at this drill. See how this drill is helping you. Take this back to your team, and you guys can work on this,'' Wright said. 'For the most part we were able to help them with the mental aspect of the game, team bonding type of things and then the physical aspect.'
Photos from camp will be available soon.
