First off, lets thank God for the beautiful weather we had for the 2010 version of the Classic Spring Training event. We had only had four good weather days all winter and they just happened to be the four days of the Classic Spring Training. It is raining at Ringhavor Park as I write this recap. Ya’ll don’t know how lucky we got on that one! It was great seeing some old friends as well as meeting and making some new friends. I think we ended up with 56 new campers this year which really makes it hard for me to remember everyone's name. I hope everyone had a good time and arrived back home safely. Speaking of getting home, I heard Joey Koorney from Enumclaw, Washington was stuck in Jacksonville International Airport for 12 hours or so. Sorry Joey. I want to thank each and everyone of you guys and gals for coming to Jacksonville and participating in Classic Spring Training. I am very thankful for another year with no serious injuries. Brett Kreuger of Tocoma, Washington….what is it with these Washington guys,…….did have a very nasty looking ankle sprain on Sunday about noon. John Semedey (Ponch15) and Debbie took Brett to the Orange Park Hospital and Art Eversole picked them up later and brought him back out to the park. Thanks guys!!! That is above and beyond the call of duty!!! Oh, I just read a blackberry post from Joey, who is stuck in the Jax airport…and I can’t help but post it “Kreugs and Art ran into flight delays to Atlanta and missed their connecting flight. Now they have been re-routed to get a connecting flight through Miami! We just can't get out of this d**n place! What's next? Feed us to the gators down here?”. Kind of reminds me of that old commercial “Roaches check in but they don’t check out“…lol Here is to hoping Joey, Brett and Art get home safely…..I heard a couple of pitchers got hit while standing beside a screen……..that’s a tough one to explain. I have received quite a bit of positive feedback on the event by phone and e-mail and I want to thank each of you for your feedback, positive or otherwise. Now, I want to start off by thanking those people that made this event possible. My wife, Debbie has put up with a lot of things not getting done around the house due to the amount of time I spent on this event. Debbie did quite a bit of errand running for me and she is always willing to jump in and help with anything I need. She did a great job in planning ahead and fixing some bottlenecks we had last year, such as with the banquet sign in and raffle tickets. I know it confused a few people but have these tickets already limped into sums of 10 tickets each really worked well. Speaking of working well, I want to thank Denise Buzzy and the Holiday Inn & Suites with the excellent job that they did hosting us at their hotel. Their part of the banquet ran flawlessly. My daughter Shannon gets a kiss on the cheek for her efforts with the event. She also did a very good with the military tribute. I watched it one time before the banquet and then the second time during the banquet. I saw about 6 or 7 things in it that second viewing that I didn’t catch the first time. Thanks Bug for your hard work! A special thanks to our service members. I am glad we had a little glitch with the video during the banquet as it gave us time to hear from our service members. Thanks again guys and God bless. I want to thank Kevin GoForth's wife, Heather and Davey Reed’s wife Judy for helping Debbie out with registration and other duties! Judy even helped Dave and I take down the flags!!! Lynn and Kathy Moser produced the sweat shirts, tee-shirts and hats and they did a super job! I was impressed with the color coordinating. Sorry Lynn, that had to be Kathy that did that! Oh by the way, we’ll be doing an additional order on a few minor things. Bob Butler, Keith Gibbs, Kevin GoForth and David Allgood supplied the pitching screens for our use. Thanks guys! This years field bosses were Sargent Parker (Randy), Troy Yowell and Kevin Crotts from Maryland, Ryan Davis, Mickey Kelly, Justin Hollis and Chad Jennings. Thank you guys for a job well done. I want to thank the old fellows running Ringhavor Park, John Teagle and his good friend Tommy. The opening the gates in the morning, closing them in the evening, operated the concession stand and dragged the fields after the campers left each evening. I think they did a little better selling in the concession this year than they did last year…..I really appreciate their efforts. We would have nothing without our sponsors. Rob Harris, owner of Walkoff Sports. Rob has been sponsoring this event for several years and continues to be the fuel that keeps the CST running. Rob always has his lowest prices of the year at the CST!! Thanks Rob!!! Please support Rob at Walkoff Sports during the year when you need Worth softball supplies. Contact Rob at custservice@walkoffsports.com Bobby NiFong of Combat did a super job with the few resources Combat gave him to work with this year. He kept the demo bats in front of people and help batters with their swings. He did an outstanding job representing Combat and he did all of this while fighting a stomach virus. I was very thankful for him stepping up to the podium during the banquet and saying what he said. Bobby, tell Johnny he owes you one! Big Time!!! We hope J-Mac can get back to see us next year. So, if your needing Combat gear, please look up Bobby Nifong at 252-679-6474. Wow, what a difference a year makes…..Johnny d**es invited Reebok to join us at the CST and they came in force….I want to thank Reebok’s Chris Waldeck, Director of Cleated and Equipment - Team Sports for making this happen. The resources Chris brought to the Classic Spring Training event says so much about Reebok as a company and Chris’s dedication to developing cutting edge products for his customers. Just in case you guys missed it let me x’plain it in English for ya. Chris brought in John Loiars, Reebok’s Director, Product Development at Reebok International and Tom Shine, Reebok’s Senior Vice President of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing. Now that’s BIG TIME right there!! In addition, they had Lee Trotter, the General Manager for Suncoast Reebok Team here….at our little event….Oh, no, no, no they didn‘t…yes they did, they even brought “The Gangster” Hammering Hank Garris, a 7 time Men’s Major MVP, 13 times Men’s Major All Tournament Team to our event. I can’t thank Hank and Gina enough for taking the time out of their busy schedule to join us at the event and banquet. This was the icing on the cake…….I can’t help to think what Bobby Nifong said at the banquet “They (Reebok) brought in the Michael Jordan of Softball”. I know Reebok realizes that this small group of campers is an internet driven group and by getting a good product in front of you guys it could create a buzz all around the country on the softball message boards and based on what I saw, that Vector-O bat looks like it just might create that buzz. But to me, it is even more important that Reebok would spend the resources to bring their top brass in to experience first hand exactly what is happening in the field. This says a lot about the dedication to what they are doing during the development of these bats. I’ll make you guys a prediction, Reebok will be a dominate force in this sport soon. Reebok asked our campers to provide them with our feedback on the senior prototype bat. I know John Loiars got a lot of feedback on the bat while it was being hit on Field #1. Again, I can’t thank these guys enough for caring so much about their product development by asking our opinions. Look for this senior bat coming in a couple of months to be the real deal!!! Heck, how can you not be excited, you had a hand in its development!!! Thanks Reebok!!! Now, to be fair, they are not the first company to ask for our opinion in the development of a bat. The Big Cat, Mike Macenko had our group test several models of prototype bats for Kevin as Anaconda Sports which eventually became the yellow and white Mike Macenko Combat Senior bat. A few years earlier I remember we test a couple of bats Pete Vinci of Vinci Pro Sports. Moving on, I want to thank “Bogie” (Big Ken Van Bogaert) for the donation of his newest DVD “Analyzing & Correcting Swing Flaws”. Some of these DVD’s were delivered to the New River Correctional Institute for the prison’s library and several were given away during the banquet. If you haven’t seen this DVD, I highly recommend it. Great job Ken!!! Check out www.sportstechnique.com Obie Oberhelman, owner of the Ultimate Sports Company sent his representative Ed Andrews over this year. Ed did a fantastic job representing The Ultimate Sports Co. last year and Obie had sent out some bat bags for the event winners on Monday only to have them return back to his warehouse on Thursday. If you won a division in the homerun derby or base running please make sure I have your name and address in the next couple of days. Obie will be shipping them directly to you. Thanks again Obie and if any of you guys/gals want a very functional bat bag you really to check out these bags. That ‘s all Obie does is bat bags! Kevin and Mike Macenko from Anaconda Sports provided us a great deal on the softballs again this year. The Trump Stote ball flew pretty good. Personally, I liked last year’s microcell balls better as these “Stote” ball covers seemed to tear a bit when they hit the fencing just right. I was surprised at the number of damaged balls this year. Regardless, I appreciate the deal on the balls and if you need softballs or any other sports gear…..get a hold of the “Big Cat” Mike Macenko (330) 419- 0205 or call Kevin at Anaconda Sports. Kevin Bass, President of Bass Gloves sponsored the event last year and his company is growing very fast. Kevin is a great guy and I talked with him Tuesday or Wednesday and he said he was making plans to come down. Kevin didn’t show and I haven’t had time to check on him so I hope everyone is OK. I was looking forward to picking up a couple pairs of his famous Bass turfs. They saved my back last year and I could have used them this year….You listening Kev!!! My back hurts!!! LOL. Check Kevin out at www.bassgloves.com A special thanks to the City of Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department for getting the fields ready. Good job! The Big Cat “Mike Macenko” had made plans to attend this year when a blood clot in his leg changed his plans. Mike is doing better now but he doctor doesn’t want him traveling so we just wanted to “shout out” to Mike that we missed him down here this year and to get well. Bobby NiFong, Joey Michals, Johnny d**es and Davey Reed all worked hard helping the campers with their swings. All of these guys donated their time because they love the game and want to give back to it. All these guys did a fantastic job helping campers. I can't say enough good things about this group. Thanks guys! I want to thank Johnny d**es for actually being on Eastern Standard Time this year and actually attending the Johnny d**es Pitching Clinic, LOL. Actually, I got a good bit of feedback on this portion of the event. Johnny worked with the USSSA/ISA pitching styles and 35 time National Champion Ray Wimbrough worked with the senior and senior pitching techniques. The feedback I received from campers indicated this was a really strong clinic with several saying this clinic was their favorite part of the camp…..I reckon they didn’t win a bat. By the way Ray, I heard the foul ball just missed you this year. However, I was standing by my wife Saturday evening when one hit her right in the gluteius maximus. She was un-injured but I took a shot to the arm after I made a comment that I could just not hold in. There were lots and lots of batting practice and the balls were flying out of all fields. I even saw Davey Reed losing balls like crazy on the senior field. I saw Bruce Fairchild losing balls on his field. I saw Blaine Hartley breaking pine tree limbs on the home run derby field. I saw Art Eversole pull a ball foul and hit the set of lights down the left field foul line, the ball went through the glass and is still inside the light. I saw the veteran campers coming in late on the first day and missing the morning meeting…I’m cool with that as long as they read the e-mail before the event. I saw Randy Parker running around the building acting like a fire truck. I saw the gangster bounce a ball off Mickey’s work truck on the other side of the parking lot. I didn’t see the base running event but thanks J-Bird and Randy for making that happen on time. I saw a lot of campers get two tickets for wearing their sweatshirt during the group photo while I saw a guy with only one chance win the bat…..I saw a lot of seniors on Field #1.….maybe we can do something about that next year…I saw Field #2 get neglected again this year……That’s not going to happen next year…..I saw Pickle’s pink uniform and no one got a picture of it……I saw Troy’s head go from bald to red….I saw the two oldest campers we ever had, I’m so glad they made the trip down and hope they both are back next year….I saw a lot of give-aways go to the very back of the room….Speaking of losing balls, I have to grade this years group with a solid “B” on taking care of the softballs. We had 78% of the balls or 187 of the 240 balls returned this year. That is a record!!! The mini draft was a success with close to 85 campers signing up to play. A special thanks to the team captains…“Big Brett” Kreuger, “Hammering Hank” Garris, Martin “Tiny” Long, the “senior phenon” Davey Reed, Joey “Money” Michals and Levi “Get it“ Wright. Thank you guys for leading these teams!!! The flat belly division of the home run derby was won by John Lapp of New Holland, Pa. after he defeated Blaine Hartley of Jacksonville, Fl. Both players were tied with 7 homeruns after the first round. There were 16 players competing in the flat belly division. Sixty three year old Davey Reed of Sebring, Fl. won the Senior Division of the homerun derby hitting 6 homeruns in 10 swings. Davey is one of our batting instructors volunteering his time to the event. Keith Gibbs from Jacksonville, Florida had a very good showing in the division hitting 5 homeruns in 10 swings. This division had 13 contestants. The Super Division had 11 contestants and some major league bombs were launched. Brett Kreuger put on a show by sending some balls over Hedi’s house in right field. Thank God she didn’t come out and put the bras back on the clothes line like she did last year. Anyway, this division had 11 contestants with Levi Wright and Johnny d**es hitting 6 home runs each out of 10 swings to tied after the first round. They tied again in the second round and finally Levi Wright pulled ahead to win the event in the third round. Johnny d**es was last year’s winner after a barn burner of a contest against Brett Kreuger that was one of the best in CST history. The Senior Division of the base running event was won by 53 year old Jack McNulty of Newportville, Pa. with a time of 12.14 seconds. The flat belly division winner was 22 year old Chance Wilms of Jacksonville, Florida with a 12.03 time. Both divisions had 6 contestants. Hmm, 31 years in age difference and only 0.11 seconds difference in time! I didn't catch any local guys slipping into the event this year so either we are getting better keeping them out or they are getting better at hiding? Maybe the local camper that I heard was calling them to let them know the check in station wasn’t being monitored decided he had too close a call already and didn‘t want to get a permanent ban from this event, maybe not. Thank you again Kenny Phillips for arranging the games at the prison, leaving his home in Ft. Lauderdale at 3:00 am to meet our guys at the prison at 8:00 am, staying with our guys during the event, praying with our group and the prisoners after the games and then driving back home afterwards and never asking for a dime. Kenny, I can't thank you enough!!! If you have never experienced this you really need to, it might be your only chance to play in front of a captive audience of 1,200 people. These prisoners really appreciate our group coming over and playing as they are a pretty neglected group in our society. We collect bats, balls and gloves before the trip to leave them at the prison for these guys to use but more important than that we leave these guys our prayers. This year we had 22 campers approved for the prison games but because the prison was so late getting back to us we didn’t have time to contact everyone involved so only 9 campers attended the prison this year with Kenny Phillips making the 10th player. The past 4 years the CST campers mugged the bad guys….This year, the warden put his “A” team on the field and held practices getting ready for our group. I understand they were asking where the big lefty (Kreug) and the mouth with the puffy hair (Deaton) were this year. Anyway, we took one on the chin in the first game but redeemed ourselves with a win in the second game. So now we have the warden setup thinking they can play with us…..sounds like a beat down is coming for him in 2011. The banquet went much smoother this year….thanks to Denise Buzzy and the staff at the Holiday Inn. I was very impressed. Thanks to Joey Michals for keeping us entertained in the banquet. His is a card and great at what he does. I knew as soon as I seen what was left at the park that Joey would have a field day….and he did. We’ll keep pulling for a man-cub for you and you keep fighting your medical problems hard brother. You have this whole group prayers behind you. Some people can’t quite figure out what this event is all about. Why would you pay $105 to go hit BP? Well, it's the camaraderie, its the friendships made, that can be nurtured over years, its the family spirit of caring about each other, its the common love for the game, its leaving just being a tad bit better person than what you were when you arrived or................maybe its the give-aways! By my count we were able to give away 19 bats this year! I'm sure there is plenty I forgot to mention like I would like to have as many of this year's group back next year as possible because you have been absolutely great. Look for a link to the 2010 photos to be posted on the web page soon. Oh, see..if you have any photos of the event, please forward them so everyone can enjoy them. I’ll post the group photo on the web page as soon as I get it. OK,.......that's a rap on the 10' event.