Broadwater, 23rd May

The Guildford Mavericks and the Broadwater Bobcats Junior Baseball teams put on a display at Sport Godalming's annual Sport for All Day, on the other side of the fence from their home field, at Guildford and Godalming Rugby club. The event is staged to bring a focus to a wide range of sporting activities for both young and not so young, in order to get more people out and actively participating in sports. In addition to baseball, there were displays and stands from amongst others Godalming Town Football Club, Guildford Hockey club, Fencing, Cycling, Cricket, Bowls, Swimming (stand only - no demonstration!) and Local Gyms.

The Mavericks and the Bobcats put on two displays in the main arena. Starting off with the some throwing and fielding drills, very ably demonstrated by the juniors they moved onto more complex drills including situation infield drills, and fly balls / cut off and relays for the outfield. This was then followed in the first session by a 20 minute tee ball game for the Bobcats, and followed up in the second session by a 30 minute tee ball game where younger members of the public were invited to come along an try their hand hitting off the tee, and running the bases, with members of the Mavericks on hand to offer advice, and coaching.

Before and after these demonstrations in the main arena, the Mavericks/Bobcats had a stand at one side, and behind which tee ball stations, pitching targets, and an pitching machine firing ground balls, were stationed. The tee ball stations proved very popular indeed with a lot of children wanting to take their time hitting whiffle balls as far as they could, under the watchful eye of Mavericks and Bobcat coaches.

Many thanks must go to Richard Williams who organised the Bobcats efficiently as always, and also for donning the clubs Bill the Bobcat uniform, as temperatures soared close to 30 C. Also many thanks to Nick Jolly, Dave Jones, Pete Badenhuizen and Ernesto Oviedo, for their time and patience helping out.

If anyone is interested in either playing adult baseball with the Mavericks or junior baseball with the Bobcats, then please just drop an email to either Michael Burdett for the Mavericks or Richard Williams for the Bobcats. Both teams are always on the lookout for more players, and no matter what your experience, whether absolute beginner or experienced played, you would be made most welcome.