IVBN youth camp draws record numbers
With a record attendance of campers and clinicians, the Imperial Valley Baseball Network’s Annual Youth Baseball Camp held last Saturday was an undeniable success.
Some 155 Valley youths showed up to work on honing their baseball fundamentals with instruction supplied by 28 seasoned volunteer coaches — whose knowledge and devotion to fostering the next generation of ballplayers gives the camp its bonafides.
Contributing to this year’s turnout was a concerted effort by the IVBN to partner with local Little Leagues to join the links of the Valley baseball chain and make sure all interested parties had access to the “creative instruction that we believe makes our camp unique for the Valley,” per IVBN President Ruben Niebla.
As part of this partnership, the IVBN donates a portion of the funds raised by the camp back to the various league organizations, with the remainder of the proceeds going to local high school programs — who furnish many of the “creative instructors” — and the IVBN scholarship fund.
Another factor driving the camp’s growth is its filial atmosphere, with fathers passing their love of the game to their sons.
One family involved in such a generational exchange was the Redden clan, with instructors Chad and Matt Redden taking what they learned from their father, Ron, and passing it down Chad’s son, Cole. “My dad and Rick Bush had the Valley’s first travel team, the Desert Rats, so I was raised around baseball. … It’s the ‘family business’ as people put it,” said Chad. “Now it’s my personal family business as my son and my daughter are players, I got Cole in baseball and my wife, Chantae, coaches our daughter, Chloe, in softball.”
Redden has long been involved in the local baseball scene and currently coaches at Sunbeam Little League and with the IVBN’s Fogball U-11 travel team. He has seen how IVBN has grown baseball in the Valley.
“I feel good being involved with the IVBN,” said Redden. “CJ Bermundez and I had the pitcher-fielding station working with the older players (at the camp this year),” he said. “It’s something that a lot of coaches of younger players don’t get to do, so the camp gives them a chance to get more detailed instruction.”
Eleven-year-old Cole is a veteran of the IVBN camp.
“This is my fourth year,” he said. “It’s fun and I feel like I learn something new (every time). … It’s nice to be there with my friends and playing baseball.”