Three local young baseball players are looking back over their summers as having the thrill of a lifetime by attending the Blue Jays Honda Super Camp at Okotoks' Seaman Stadium.
Jake Ewashen, 16, and Jeff Tulk, 11, both from Innisfail, along with 12-year-old Cleary Simpson of Elnora, were given the opportunity to go to the camp, held from July 31 to Aug. 2. Following a local letter-writing contest on what baseball meant to them, the three boys were selected by officials from the Innisfail Indians, Innisfail Merchants Jr. AAA Baseball Club and the family of the late Dallas Yarbrough.
“This is an Innisfail senior Indians driven initiative, and the Innisfail Merchants were happy to combine with the Indians to get these three very deserving individuals to this great opportunity,” said Desmond Bouteiller, coach of the Merchants and retired Indian.
The three boys were able to go to camp from money raised at this year's annual Dallas Yarbrough memorial game. Bouteiller said $250 was given to each boy to go to the Okotoks super camp.
“My son ate, dreamt and slept baseball. He always said every kid should have a chance to play baseball,” said Darla Radke, whose 24-year-old son was tragically killed in a car accident on Dec. 16, 2004. “It was nice to have that game to raise money to send those boys to camp. It is nice to know that something good has come out of this.”
The Blue Jays camps are designed for kids between the ages of nine and 16 to enhance their skills and techniques from former team alumni that include Roberto Alomar, Jesse Barfield, Denis Boucher, Cecil Fielder, Lloyd Moseby, Otto Velez, Duane Ward and Devon White.
Each participant received a Blue Jays photo card supplied by Honda Canada, a hat, T-shirt and instructional manual, along with a leather pro model Roberto Alomar Series baseball glove.
“It was a really cool atmosphere because there were so many people there, making it the second-largest camp in Canada, besides Toronto. The diamond and stadium was really fancy which made for a great opportunity to have a chance to play on such a professional field,” said Simpson, adding it was “neat” to have met kids from all over Alberta. “It was really amazing to see so many Hall of Famers. My favourite part of the camp was playing catch with Robbie Alomar.
“I also saw a number of guys from other teams that I had played against and we got to know each other a bit,” he added. “I came away from the camp with my Blue Jays hat full of signatures, which was awesome. I will remember this forever.”
His mother Tricia agreed it was an “amazing opportunity” for young boys and girls, adding she “highly encourages” every baseball organization for kids to support the summer camp program.
“I think that the information Cleary learned will stay with him as long as he is involved in baseball,” said Tricia. “I feel that this chance was an opportunity of a lifetime for our son and our family.”
