Hi Al,

I just wanted to write a quick note to say how excited it made me to see some of the best fastball players in the world take time out of their day to meet and work with my Squirt Rep Team. 

I brought my team from Stouffville to the Legends of Fastball tournament in Woodstock last weekend to see some of the very best play the sport.  While there I ventured over to the Orillia bench and asked Coach Bruckert if his team would be able to take a minute and meet my players after their game was over, he said that they would be happy to.  After he finished talking with his team he invited my team into their huddle and the Rivershark players stepped right in finding players from my team who played the same positions as them and they started talking about the game.  Rob O'Brien and Frank Cox took my pitchers and worked on different spins with them, Jeff Ellsworth took 5 or 6 of my players to the outfield and worked on fielding ground balls and making strong throws back to the infield.  Mike Gasoway took my catcher and worked with him, as well as a bunch of other players on the Orillia team who took some time to talk about the sport with the boys. 

I thought that that might be the end of the "clinics" but later in the day Paul Koert came and found us and wondered about working a bit with our pitchers. When he came and worked with them he brought some of his Twins teammates, Jody Eidt, Evan Boyd and Blake Miller who all spent time with the team on fielding and hitting.

Coming home all the boys talked about how awesome their day was and with a practice under our belts since being at Woodstock I already see a little extra jump in their step from seeing how the sport should be played. 

I just want to say thank you to all the players who took time to hang out with our team.  Since Fastball isn't on TV it is hard for me as a coach to give the kids something to imitate and work towards, but after seeing some of the subtleties of the sport in person it gives the boys a whole new perspective on how the sport should be played.

Thanks again to everyone,  you all made a trip to Woodstock a very memorable one for a bunch of 11 and 12 year old boys.  We hope to come out as a team again and see more ball later in the year.

Regards,

Scott Eyre
Stouffville_Storm@yahoo.com
www.StouffvilleStorm.com