A group of parents of Kamsack youths have begun the process of re-establishing a minor ball organization.
The minor ball season, which is May and June, will begin with a clinic on April 19, said Kev Sumner, Kamsack’s recreation director. Jacqueline Eiwanger of Regina, the executive director of Softball Saskatchewan will be conducting the clinic in three groups: for parents and coaches of children aged six years and under; eight years and under, and 10 years and under.
Designed for parents, coaches and other volunteers, the clinic, to be held at the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., will begin with a one-hour classroom session when drills, rules of the sport, risk management, insurance issues and other basic information will be discussed.
The classroom session will be followed by two hours of skills training in the school’s gymnasium or on the ball diamond, he said.
“We want to build a long-term minor ball legacy,” he said. Many parents do not have the skills needed to foster such an organization so those skills will have to be developed.
Sumner said that during the clinic, he will have registration forms available.
The town is paying for the clinic and the purchase of manuals, he said. “We have uniforms.
“Our goal for the first year is to become familiarized with the basic skills, although by the end of the season we might be able to organize a game with a neighbouring community.”
It has been a while since minor ball was played in Kamsack, he said. A teenage team played in the Parkland League in 2013.
It would be great if a group of adults decided to get a team together, he said. “We’ve got the facilities.”
Working in executive positions for the minor ball association are: Jared Ruf, president; Lee Symak, vice-president; Kev Sumner and Julie Gareau, treasurers; Chantel Kitchen, secretary and communications co-ordinator, and Louise Sumner, equipment manager.
Persons wishing to obtain further information on the minor ball program may contact Sumner at the Kamsack recreation office or may visit the program’s Facebook page listed under Kamsack Ball.
“We’ve already got nearly 90 followers on Facebook,” he said. “And we have 15 people signed up for the clinic.”
Regarding soccer, Sumner said that last year his wife Louise had conducted a parents-and-tots soccer program for children aged three to six years old, and said that he has held an after-school soccer program at the Victoria School for students in grades three and four.
Soccer is played 52 weeks a year in Kamsack, he said referring to Stephen Ruten’s group which meets Friday nights at the KCI year round and on Sundays during the summer at the Victoria School grounds.
