Raider baseball returning youth camps this summer

ROCKINGHAM — Rolling out the next phase of amping up Richmond Raider baseball, Eric Brown is returning summer baseball camps for local youth players.

With his first season in the books as the head coach at his alma mater, Brown believes development camps will play a crucial role in reestablishing Richmond as a long term statewide powerhouse in baseball.

This month, the Raider baseball program announced two youth camps, both of which will involve current players and coaches working with campers.

Camps return to Raider Field for the first time since 2018, when former head coach Ricky Young put on annual summer events.

Not only beneficial for the county’s growth with the sport, Brown has been adamant about building bridges with the community.

“I love summer baseball camps. It’s a great way for the youth in our community to come out and get on Raider Field and interact with our players and coaches,” Brown shared. “I want (the campers) to have fun and enjoy themselves and learn a thing or two about the game of baseball to keep them involved in the game and hopefully see them on the field one day wearing a Raider uniform.

“I think it’s really good for our players to have fun with the kids teaching them the game. The kids will remember their experience because of our players, and hopefully our guys will gain a few more young fans that will want to come and watch them play in the spring.”

The first camp of the summer will be the Little Raider Camp, set for June 12-14. The age group will range for players who are rising kindergarteners through sixth graders.

Little Raider Camp will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and those who pre-register before June 5 will be guaranteed a camp shirt.

Brown shared that the youngster camp “is geared to be fun, have a fun atmosphere and let kids be kids” and “will be led primarily by our current Raider baseball players.”

The following week, from June 17-19, the Future Raider Camp will be held at the high school. This camp will be open to rising seventh and eighth grade students.

Future Raider Camp is set to go from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. each day and the t-shirt pre-registration date is June 10.

The older group will see “more coach-led instruction and focus on teaching fundamentals to help prepare these players for middle school baseball, while having fun of course.”

Both camps will cost $75 per camper with sibling discounts available — two ($125), three ($200) or four siblings ($250).

Brown, who graduated from Richmond in 2002 and played pro baseball, admitted to not having all the answers for youth sports, but said “we (Richmond County) need to do something if we want the Raiders to get back to being the Raiders (in all sports).”

“I believe that kids today are specializing in one sport way too soon, and whatever sport they are choosing to specialize in, they are playing that sport way too much at an early age,” Brown commented. “That leads to burn out and injuries and doesn’t help them reach their full potential as an overall athlete.”

As an example, he said baseball players should play basketball, football, soccer, or other sports “because there are different athletic movements involved in those sports. If they only play baseball, they won’t be able to run and jump and be as explosive as they could be if they don’t play sports like basketball, football or soccer.”

In addition to camps, which many athletic programs at Richmond offer throughout the summer, Brown is an advocate for seeing youth players try their hand at all of the local rec sports and then supplement that with a travel ball sport of their choosing.

Brown remembers playing basketball at the Wilbur Dome on a school night “as the best, and the same goes for Hamlet Legion Field and Hamlet Memorial Park.” He said playing ball and seeing his friends outside of school at the same time made for good memories and skill development.

“The opinion that I have is all the towns in Richmond County that offer parks and rec need to come together for the betterment of our youth and Richmond Senior High School,” Brown closed.

“They need to figure out a way to coexist and offer central locations of facilities and sports for all of the kids in our county.”

The Raider baseball program is also planning a coaches clinic during the fall or winter to help with practice plans and teaching points for local youth baseball players.