Two weeks ago today, we were fortunate enough to be able to host The Neil Walker Joy of the Game Baseball Camp in South Fayette, PA in partnership with Matt Bianco of The Bianco School of Baseball, Clint’s first instructor. 110 campers, aged 7-12, were separated into age-appropriate groups and adorned in eight different colors of our camp’s official t-shirt. The groups participated in fielding, throwing, base-running, homerun derby, hitting, and “simulated games” that allowed them to record outs and score runs. In a blur, the event that we’d been anticipating and planning for over the course of many months was over, and the “joy” that baseball brought to over 100 youngsters and over 30 grown adults could be measured only by sore faces from too much smiling and sore bodies from too much laughing. We have no doubt that all of our campers, once the excitement finally wore off, slept well on August 6th (we know we did!).
Left behind with the memories of the event we are happy to include for each camper several personal pictures with Neil, taken just before they were able to turn double plays with The Pittsburgh Kid on the same field where he concluded camp by talking about his life as a major league baseball player. These photos were taken by volunteer professional photographers Kate Schuster and Greg Scelp, and we are so thankful for the beautiful lasting memories they’ve left with each camper. We were also able, with the help of Brian Seymour, to capture dozens of exciting action shots that do no injustice in capturing the activity and excitement of our campers from start to finish on August 6th. Please enjoy and share widely, as we would love for the success of the baseball event to be broadcast to future interested young children! We would love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thank you, all of you, for making The Neil Walker Joy of the Game Baseball Camp such a memorable, and amazing day.
Here are some great quotes we were able to collect:
Obviously, you can tell that all the hours of preparation and hard work were well spent. I know your son would be so proud of his dad. The children in our program truly benefit from experiences that allow them to spend time with caring adult role models.
It was a super fun event for the kids and all of the volunteers were terrific. It was great to see a smile on Don’s face.
Thanks Neil Walker and Clint Seymour’s spirit
I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful experience that camp was for my son. I have never seen him so excited about anything in his life. He was on cloud 9 for days after. He said that it was the second best thing that he’s ever done in his life. (It came in second only to Disney)!
God bless you for turning such a tragic event into something so positive for so many kids!
Thank you so much for the photo and for the opportunity to go to the camp!! My son had a great day and it will be a day he remembers forever. It is a great think you do for the kids.
Thanks again for telling me about the camp experience today. Glad to help the cause anytime. I am not sure that our son slept last night. It’s so good to see kids get that excited about something that’s positive. Tough world to be a kid in these days – thanks again!
Have been receiving pics from the camp. Our whole family is enjoying the day via text.
Great camp for a great cause.