IVC teaches young players the true meaning of softball
IMPERIAL — Only true dedication and passion would get a young girl out of bed early in the morning during her winter vacation from school to practice the game of softball.
It was, in fact, true dedication and passion that about 75 young softball players showed as they attended Imperial Valley College’s second annual all-skills softball camp, which ran from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday and Friday.
“It was really hard to get up in the morning, but it was really fun and worth it to come,” admitted 10-year-old softball player Annasofia Bernal. Held at IVC’s softball field, the two-day clinic had current IVC softball players working alongside young players on drills that polished both offensive and defensive skills. “In the morning it was dreadful, I didn’t want to do anything,” said Isabella Esquer, 10, on the clinic. “Then one minute later, I was ready to party.”
Thursday’s clinic featured basic defensive drills such as fielding a ground ball, throwing and receiving while Friday’s segment went over basic drills such as soft toss pitching and tee hitting, and then progressed into front toss pitching and base running. First-time softball player Kiana Alvarez, 12, attended the camp with hopes of improving her batting.
“I really liked it. I haven’t been really good at my batting so it was a really good experience,” expressed Kiana. “I thought I was going to end up throwing the bat and hit someone by accident, but I actually did pretty good.”
The clinic was supervised by IVC’s head softball coach Jill Lerno, IVC’s assistant softball coach Nikki Cordova and Holtville High’s head softball coach Melissa Snyder. Above any drill, the most important part of the second annual clinic was for each player to have fun, said Snyder.
“You cannot get better at anything or excel at anything if you’re not having fun,” mentioned Snyder, who will begin her first year as Holtville’s head coach this year after serving six years as head coach for Calipatria High’s softball program.
Snyder also noted that the oneon-one interactions between IVC players and the camp-goers were of true importance.
“They want to be them. All little girls that love the game of softball want to play in college,” said the Holtville head coach. “These are the girls that they really look up to.” IVC player Melannie Ibarra, a sophomore, agreed that the interaction between her teammates and the young camp attendees was just as important as the drills in the clinic.
“I always had players that I looked up to when I was small, so it was cool to see that with them,” explained Ibarra. “They would ask me questions and I thought it was cool how I was able to help them and they were able to use that in how they played.” In fact, working with the IVC players was the best part of the clinic for 10-year-olds Isabella and Annasofia.
“I liked it because our coaches would help us correct everything we did,” stated Isabella.
“I liked how the coaches were really patient with us and how they would correct our mistakes and help us,” said Annasofia.
Snyder hopes that the clinic, which drew in 70 players last year, can continue to grow and eventually reach 100 participants.