'Hustle, hustle, hustle’ as Steamers coach aspiring athletes

EDENTON

The Edenton Steamers kept their promises to parents.

"About noon every day we'll be done," Eric Peterson, a coach for the baseball team's youth camp, said Wednesday. "And they'll be tired."

During the three-day camp, approximately 40 boys, ages 7 to 14, were told to run everywhere.

And when they weren't moving fast enough, the player-coaches were quick to point it out.

"Hustle, hustle, hustle," yelled Matt Thielepape, a player-coach. "We never walk here."

The boys ran around the bases. They ran to field balls. They ran from coach to coach. And they ran to get water and popsicles.

Dianne Winslow said that her son, 8-year-old Brenton, slept until 4 p.m. on Thursday.

She also said the camp was a great way for Brenton to learn new skills as he begins the transition to Little League.

The camp, which started Wednesday and ended Friday, offered young players a chance to work with players and coaches from this year's Edenton Steamers team.

The Steamers are part of the Coastal Plain League, a summer league for college baseball players.

The camp participants came from all over. Hats and shirts boasted teams from as far as Camden County and as close as Rocky Hock.

Six teams were formed and assigned to a coach.

They chose team names - Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, Astros, Phillies and Steamers - and were sent to different parts of Historic Hicks Field.

On the first day, they learned defensive skills, such as catching and throwing, fielding grounders, and catching pop flies.

The second day covered offensive skills, such as batting, bunting, stealing bases and sliding.

Throughout the morning sessions, the teams would rotate through each station with a different coach.

Peterson manned the refreshment station. After handing out water and popsicles, he'd talk with the players about what they had learned so far, their favorite coaches and what they enjoyed most.

It is likely that the feedback will result in changes in the next camp, Peterson said.

The last day of camp started the same as any other. After signing in, everyone stretched and ran drills together. But Friday's schedule had a faster pace. There was less instruction and more play.

While the younger players practiced throwing and catching in right field, the older players practiced catching pop flies and ground balls in left field.

About 20 minutes later, the teams met back in center field.

The younger players ran as a unified pack from right field and screamed all the way.

A few of the older players jogged back and yelled, but their efforts lacked the same unity and enthusiasm.

Parents on the sidelines chuckled.

Each of the six teams was then assigned to a station that put skills from the first two days to the test.

Player-coach Ty Boyles threw grounders and pop flies to players, challenging them to get other players running the bases out.

By 10:30 a.m., the 10-minute rotations were complete and the teams played rag ball, as they had at the end of each day.

Each of the teams had a win, Peterson said, so Friday's games could be intense.

An hour later, however, the outcomes didn't matter. The games were forgotten as the players and coaches took turns sliding on a make shift Slip'n Slide, eating snow cones and getting autographs from the entire Steamers team, who showed up for the end of camp.

Lauren King, (252) 338-2413, lauren.king@pilotonline.com