LaGrange College head coach Kevin Howard offers some pointers during his camp.
Sports Editor
Kevin Howard makes his living trying to get the most out of college players.
Howard is the head baseball coach at LaGrange College, and under his tutelage the Panthers have become a small-college power.
Howard’s passion for coaching isn’t limited to men of voting age, though.
He also enjoys offering coaching pointers to young ballplayers.
Howard is a youth baseball coach, and he was an assistant on the 9-10-year-old team that finished second in the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series last August in LaGrange.
Howard’s son, Jake, was on that team.
Howard has also been offering a youth baseball camp since he became the Panthers’ head coach 10 years ago.
This week, nearly 100 young players are learning the basics of the game at Cleaveland Field during the second weekly camp session offered by Howard.
“It’s always fun,” Howard said of working with young ballplayers. “It’s fun to get to know the kids, get to know their parents. We try to help them get ready (for competitive baseball).”
Howard’s goal is to provide the young players with a solid foundation they can take with them after the camp.
“We work a lot on the fundamentals,” Howard said. “Tomorrow, we’ll work on what we learned (today). Every day builds on the one the day before.”
Howard said he takes satisfaction when he sees some of his former campers go on to do big things in high school and college.
One of those former campers, Troup High graduate Luke Bailey, will likely go in the first three rounds of the baseball draft today.
“It’s kind of neat to see players graduate from high school, and I can remember them coming to our camp,” Howard said.
Howard hopes that some of the current campers will be LaGrange College baseball fans in the future.
“We don’t charge for the games, and hopefully these kids will get excited about LaGrange College baseball, and they’ll come out and watch a game, or be bat boys in the dugout,”Howard said.
PANTHER NOTES: James Yancey, a 2008 graduate of LaGrange High, is transferring to LaGrange College from Southern Union.
Yancey was a standout pitcher for the Grangers
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