Parents play along at sport academy
Instead of heading to bed after her midnight shift, Orma Bazinet played a little soft toss with her son Lucien Bazinet Monday on the indoor field at Central Park Athletics. Orma joined 14-year-old Lucien for his physical education class that’s part of the baseball academy he’s enrolled in through the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board.
The board organized a parents’ day so they could see exactly what their sons and daughters do at the academy.
Another parents’ day is in the works for January at one of the other eight sports academies. “I like to encourage him in everything he does,” Orma said. “For him to want me to come here, it was important. He kept reminding me about it.”
Orma played a little recreational softball when she was in her 20s, but Lucien has been hanging around ball diamonds since he was two years old. He plays travel for the Windsor Selects and he hopes to play at the university level after he graduates from Brennan. Lawrence Jeun grabbed a glove and joined his son Colin for some fielding drills.
“I was curious about what the program is like,” said Lawrence, who played a little coed baseball in his 20s. “I’ve been hearing about it for a long time, so it’s nice to put eyes on it.”
Mason Mayea quickly collected his baseball gear after taking class with his dad Jim and was headed out to play a hockey game for the Brennan Cardinals.
In Grade 11, Mayea has tried three different sports academies during high school. He did a hockey academy in Grade 9, a volleyball academy in Grade 10 and now baseball.
“I like them all but baseball is my Number 1 passion,” Mayea said. “The academies are really awesome. Every day I know I’m coming here to play baseball.” Veteran travel coach Marc Picard serves as the skills expert overseeing Monday’s workouts. Next door at the basketball academy, former high school coach Pete Cusumano was showing students a layup drill.
Academy principal Dan Laporte gave parents a tour of the facilities if they didn’t want to actually take the field themselves.
“A lot of times, parents don’t really know what their kid’s day looks like,” Laporte said. Laporte said the group of 18 students in grades 11 and 12 were on the field for their first period, after which, they moved into a classroom at Central Park Athletics for a business class.
Then the group headed back to Brennan for afternoon classes. Sports academies have proven popular since their introduction in the Catholic school board in 2014. The board is expanding its scope and is currently in the process of hiring three more skills experts for a football academy at Holy Names, a basketball academy at St. Anne and a Future Saints’ basketball program at St. Anne.