Signing up was easy enough, just filled out some stuff online. Paid the fee. Then it was mostly just waiting for the day to come. Dug out my old glove from the garage. Had to give it a good wipe down, smelled kinda musty. Found some old cleats too, surprisingly they still fit, sorta.
Getting Started at the Camp
Sh.kciuq owed up that first morning, a bit nervous honestly. Felt like the first day of school or something. Lots of other folks milling around, all ages, looked like. Found the check-in table, got my little name tag thingy. They split us up into groups pretty quick.
First thing, we did some stretching. Basic stuff, get the old muscles moving. Then right into drills. My group started with fielding. Ground balls, pop flies. Man, I felt rusty. My arm wasn't what it used to be, that's for sure. Saw a few guys making really slick plays though, kinda impressive.
- Fielding practice - grounders mostly.
- Throwing drills - trying to hit the cutoff man.
- Pop flies - judging the ball was tricky again.
Hitting and Other Stuff
After fielding, we rotated over to the batting cages. This was what I was looking forward to. Stepped in there, took a few practice swings. Felt okay. The pitching machine was pretty consistent. Made some decent contact on a few. Fouled a bunch off too. It's just fun hearing the sound of the bat hitting the ball, you know?
They had coaches walking around, giving little tips. One guy told me to keep my elbow up. Tried it. Maybe helped a little? Hard to break old habits. We also did some base running drills. Not my favorite, gotta say. Running isn't really my strong suit these days.
The vibe was pretty relaxed overall. Everyone seemed to be there just to have a good time. Met a few people, chatted about baseball, the Mariners obviously. Mostly just focused on trying not to completely embarrass myself during the drills.
One funny thing, during fielding practice, a ball took a weird hop and smacked me right in the shin. Left a nice little bruise. Souvenir, I guess.
Wrapping Up
The days went by pretty fast. We did more drills, some simulated game situations. Nothing too intense, just fun. By the last day, I was definitely feeling it. Sore muscles I forgot I even had.
Looking back, it was a solid experience. Didn't magically turn me into a pro player, obviously. But it was cool to be out on a field, swinging a bat, throwing a ball. Felt like being a kid again for a bit. If you like baseball and wanna actually play a little instead of just watching, it's worth checking out. Just make sure you stretch first.
