Bellview Ballpark Renaissance

It began last year with a concerted effort by the County's Parks and Recreation Department to work on modernizing, cleaning, and upgrading Bellview Park off of Longleaf Drive.  Crews came in, trash was cleared, a new Scoreboard was installed at the football field for the Bellview Packers, and the baseball fields were re-sodded, cleaned and painted.

Now, I'm told we are getting interested travel teams and other baseball and softball programs (the number of which had declined sharply in recent years due in large part to the condition of the facility) coming back to Bellview.

As an example of this, a High School softball game and a High School baseball game were scheduled this week in the evening on the same night;  East Hill Christian High had these two remodeled (pictured above) diamonds rented for their baseball and softball games -and they have several games scheduled here this year. 

The complex has also been rented a lot over the last several weeks with youth baseball season approaching-a far cry from 1-2 years ago with very little activity at this park.

Kudos to Michael Rhodes and the county parks department for sparking this renaissance!

Baseball in High Schools: Is this Sport in Decline Due to Costs?

“What is going on with the Baseball programs in the Escambia County School District anyway?” Was the curious question from a parent of a freshman player at one of our local, North-end high schools. 

“We just heard that Escambia’s freshman ball team has to end its season, and PHS and Washington did not even have enough students to field a freshman team to start the season” he continued.  “Our school had just 15 players try out for the freshman team---and just a few years back we had over 30!  So what is going on with Baseball in the Escambia County School District? This area has been, historically, a hotbed for baseball, sending many players to the minor and major leagues---so what do you think is going on—is it the costs?” he asked

He went on to describe his fear that the rising costs of player participation could be keeping some players sidelined.  With high equipment costs, and expensive player fees to participate—could it be 

No Zero Grading Part V: It's Like Baseball

Sometimes complex issues can be boiled down to essentials using an analogy.  

I like to use baseball as an analogy, as it is a sport I loved and played as a kid, it is America’s past-time sport, and most people understand the game of baseball—even if they don’t necessarily like it.

So as I began thinking about the accusations of students being given grades they did not really earn, regardless of the effort they actually put forth, I thought baseball made perfect sense as the object of a comparison.

In baseball, the object is to win games by scoring more runs than the other team.  It is pretty basic.  You utilize good fielding, pitching, and hitting to score more runs than your opponent while simultaneously preventing your opponent from scoring runs against you.

Many would argue that hitting is one of the most, if not the most, essential skills a good baseball player must possess.  That’s why people talk incessantly about a player’s batting average.

But becoming a great hitter takes years and years of experience, practice, and dedication.

Unless you are a naturally gifted Ted Williams or Tony Gwynn, this means you take batting practice daily.  

Or twice daily.

Some players take 1000 cuts a day.  In the cage, off the tee, soft toss, from a machine, from a machine that throws curves, under hand, overhand, half speed, full speed.  You name it.  It takes repetition-- lots of repetition.

It also takes dedication.

Because to win games you have to first get to base---and being a great batter allows a player to get to base more often than his opponent--- by either hitting, drawing a walk, or capitalizing on a catcher’s error. 

So if you want to make great players, successful at the game of baseball, you have to develop hitters.

  Bottom line:  Batting is hard---success actually is achieved if you get a hit one out of 3 or 4 tries.

But imagine if someone suggested a different way to play baseball. 

Imagine for a moment that learning to hit didn't matter.  If you got up to bat and struck out, you would still be placed on second base, giving you a better chance to score.   If you popped-out, grounded out, or swung at wild pitches all day long and were thrown out at first every time—it would not matter.  If you decided you did not even want to bat at all, when it was your turn in the lineup-you could bypass the batter’s box altogether-- you would still get to go to second base.  Your team would