From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
No fewer than 60 Nigerian children last week participated in a weeklong Baseball clinic organised in Abuja by the United States of America (USA) in conjunction with Baseball Tomorrow Academy.
The clinic which drilled the participating children on the rudiments and basic knowledge of the game, ended last weekend with also a train the trainers clinic at the Baseball pitch, Package B of the Abuja National Stadium.
Former US Major Baseball League star, Jeremy Guthrie, who arrived the country last week took charge of the training of the Nigerian coaches and equally conducted the training exercise.
Speaking to sports writers in Abuja, Guthrie revealed that the Major League Football Association had invited him to come and groom the Nigerian kids, adding: “I was very surprise to learn that baseball is played in Nigeria. I have seen some other teams like Kenya, Uganda but not Nigeria.
“Baseball teaches many life lessons and you have to practice a lot to be good at it, you must learn to play defence and offence as well. A lot of work is required of baseball players, so I taught the importance of work,” he said.
While assuring that the kids will learn a lot from the camp, he expressed confidence that Nigerians have all it takes to play the game at the highest level.