Wilson ready to open baseball academy
The Wilson Baseball Academy is set to opens its doors in the fall.
After extensive planning and fundraising, Wilson Middle School was able to secure equipment to transform its gymnasium into an indoor baseball facility.
According to teacher Reg Dueck, the timing was right to launch the initiative, following the recent introduction of the sport into Wilson’s timetable.
“I’ve been running a baseball exploratory course for the last few years and what we’ve noticed is there’s a lot of interest in the sport, and we’ve also noticed there’s a lot of talent here.”
As last winter proved, the weather often doesn’t co-operate for baseball.
“The baseball season is so short in Lethbridge, so we thought, ‘is there something we can do to develop baseball here and expose kids to baseball year round?’”
With anywhere from 30-35 students involved in the baseball exploratory course over the last few years, the interest was there, as Dueck and fellow Wilson teacher Ryan Seifert got the ball rolling.
“The hard work began and we started putting sponsorship letters and grants out, and we were successful with a few of them,” said Dueck, who added those efforts began after Christmas.
Davis GMC and Richardson Oilseed Lethbridge stepped up to the plate for the academy, and a donation from the Wilson family helped the academy purchase a 70-foot indoor batting cage. That all set in motion efforts to purchase more equipment and find ways to incorporate a baseball setup within the confines of the newlyrenovated gym.
“We had to figure out a way to get the batting cage hung and provide protection for the floor of the cage,” said Dueck, who added other major equipment includes a pitching mound, various protective screens and fully electronic pitching machine, capable of hitting 75 miles per hour.
That equipment will be put to use this fall, as students will have the opportunity to participate in a combination of after-school and inschool baseball instruction. Indoor sessions will run from October to November and February to March, along with participation in a six-week complementary class component, which begins in May. Those sessions will include outdoor sessions.
So far, 16 players have signed up, with a goal of 20-22. Players registered represent a mix of house-league players and elite athletes from local programs. Seifert said one of the academy’s goals is to increase the sport’s profile in the community.
“We want to keep building it up and build capacity in our northside baseball community,” he said. “We want to create a culture where it’s fun but there is also a focus on developing some skills and building some tradition here at Wilson.”
That culture is beginning to develop, as Dueck added more and more often, students are throwing the baseball around at lunch and talking about the sport within Wilson’s hallways.
Registration is still open for the academy, which carries with it a $135 fee. The fee includes a fitted hat, an Under Armour shirt and shorts, equipment and facilities usage and an academy celebration at the end of the season. For more information, visit
and click on Wilson Baseball Academy.
http://wms.lethsd.ab.ca/