Independence head coach Ken Adkins wanted to get his team a little extra instruction from some of the best in the state.
He instead opened the door for more kids in the area, and beyond, to learn.
Adkins started a camp in 2019 to help that cause but in just two years its grown into one of the top softball camps in the southern part of the state.
Featuring college head coaches Steve Warner (West Virginia Wesleyan), Marissa Leslie (Shepherd) and Sara Scoone (Glenville St.) as well as assistant coaches Michaela Hamilton (Wesleyan) and Allison Rager (West Virginia State pitching coach), the camp has taken off, accomplishing everything Adkins hoped.
“I’ve known Coach Warner for quite some time,” Adkins said. “We used to always go up and do his camp in January. I’d take my whole team up and do it. And I had asked him about doing a camp down here, especially for our younger kids. They just don’t get much instruction like at the little league level. Plus anything I could get for my kids that were coming in, especially as my new freshmen, was good.
“We wanted to find a way we could get them some basic instruction – some of the stuff they should already know but don’t. We could kind of get those covered. He had done a camp at Nicholas County but it had kind of fizzled out and they weren’t getting good attendance there. And when he told me he wasn’t going to do it there anymore I asked him if that date was open if he’d move it to Independence. My original idea was if I get my players in the camp I’ll be doing well. We did it for the first time in 2019 and we had 60 kids between the two age groups.”
The camp, which started on Monday and spans across three days at Independence, features sessions for ages 7-12 and 13-18. Each session lasts for three hours with the first beginning at 9 a.m. and the second at 1 p.m. It’s been a massive success as this year’s installation has attracted over 80 campers with spots still available for Wednesday’s final session.
The camps allows the college coaches to scout the area’s younger talent while teaching those players what they need to know.
“I always admired Wayne Ryan at Summers County,” Adkins said. “He had such a good program built over there with basketball that he knew who his point guard was going to be five years down the road. But for the little kids it’s mostly drills and instruction. They started off (Tuesday) with hitting and they go through all aspects of it. I mean breaking the swing down, load and the finish. They do some tee work, soft tosses and front toss, break out the catchers for some catching drills. They do the fielding stuff for outfielders, infielders and pitchers. They work on all of it from the basic stuff down to the grip of the ball and stuff like that.
“On Wednesday it should end with some live type of stuff, but it’s a pretty intense three days. I think I counted eight hitting stations that they do different things on and they had different fielding stations. There’s just a lot of stuff to go over and they do it all. I think we had 85 kids – 46 in the 7-12 group. We’ve got kids from Liberty, Richlands and Tazewell, Va., PikeView, Princeton, Nicholas County, Oak Hill and Fayetteville, the Raleigh County schools – we’ve got them from everywhere.”
The camp will conclude on Wednesday. Those interested in participating can still do so by coming to the Larry T. Poe Field at Independence High School. For more information please contact Ken Adkins (304-573-0869) or Steve Warner (304-473-8005/304-613-0229).
