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Franklinton held the 2023 Demon Baseball Camp that took place May 30 through June 2, as participants looked to improve their skills on the diamond.
The camp had 85 participants.
“We focus on base running, just catching and throwing, which in my opinion is probably one of the most important things. If you can’t catch and throw, then you’re not going to be a very good baseball player. We do hitting prep where we talk about physical things, how you hold the bat, how your feet are aligned and then we talk about the hitting approach, what counts you want to hit in, what pitches you’re looking for and they actually hit in the cages,” Franklinton coach Clay Tageant said. “So, really a combination of everything. We divide it up by age group and then kind of decide what things we’re going to do with that certain age group.”
Assisting Tageant with the camp included Jeff Tageant, Dustin Kahle, Nate Murray, Brady Smith and several players.
“Our players are helping and teaching and I think that’s a very important thing for them because I think a big aspect for high school kids in learning a skill is not just being taught that skill. I can see a lot of our high school players learning things as they teach that product to the younger kids,” Clay Tageant said. “They also kind of learn the coach relationship when they’re the coach rather than just being the player, so everybody gets a little bit out of it. Our program gets stuff out of it from kids being able to see our facilities and seeing the way we do things and then they’re outside, they’re learning more about baseball, they’re meeting new friends and spending time with current friends, it’s good for our high school players because they’re getting to teach things and see things, so it’s a huge benefit for everybody.”
Clay Tageant attended the camp when he was a kid every year when his father Jeff was the coach. Jeff Tageant retired at the end of this past season.
“Every year. Didn’t miss it and this was something you always looked forward to,” Clay Tageant said. “You had buddies that went to my dad’s camp at old Doc’s Diamond and you’d just be ready to see kids during the summer. I know there used to be several soccer vans full of baseball campers comin from Bogalusa that we would expect to see every summer during camp. Some of my fondest memories were being at baseball camp.”