High School Baseball Coach Teaches Youngsters New Skills

If you drove past Park Middle School sometime Monday morning, you might have thought a carnival was taking place. In some ways it was—a baseball carnival of sorts.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood baseball coach Tom Baylock and 10 assistants were running the first day of the week-long Fanwood Baseball Camp. About 100 Scotch Plains and Fanwood youngsters are taking part in the camp, which runs between 9 a.m. and noon on several baseball diamonds behind the school.

The camp runs through Friday and then begins its second week July 20. Baylock said that 80 youngsters have already signed up for that one. The camp is open to children entering the first through ninth grades and costs $125. More information can be found at www.spfyba.org.

“We're promoting baseball,’’ said Baylock, whose high school team won the Union County Tournament title in May. “We want to encourage the kids to come out and play more baseball and learn some things. If the kids can pick up one thing all week, it’s worth coming; and if you pick up one thing every year for the next five or six years, that’s a lot.’’

Baylock said that his first Fanwood Baseball Camp was held 10 years ago at a park in Fanwood when he was the borough’s assistant director of recreation. Forty youngsters signed up then. When he became the high school baseball coach in 2004, Baylock said there was a dramatic rise in the number of campers and the camp was moved to Park Middle School in Scotch Plains.

“We never changed the name,’’ he said.

The kids will be kept busy this week, Baylock said.

“There’s not a lot of standing around,’’ he said. “We cover infield fielding, how to field grounders, how to catch pop-ups, throwing to the cutoff man. We run the bases, hit and run. We learn how to run the bases.’’

Baylock said that awards will be given to contest winners.

“We’ll have contests for who hits the farthest, throws the farthest and runs the fastest,’’ he said.

At the end of Monday’s session—as their parents waited in front of them—Baylock ran a trivia contest. Players were asked how many strikes a batter got (3), who the shortstop for the Yankees is (Derek Jeter) and what 1-6-3 means in baseball parlance (a double play that starts with the pitcher, who throws to the shortstop who throws to the first baseman). The winners got baseball and T- shirts. The camp ended with the children repeating a chant with Baylock.

"All set,'' Baylock said.

"You bet!'' the children responded.