There are exactly a handful of reasons why young baseball hopefuls will absorb the necessary knowledge required to jump start their diamond careers at the annual Fayetteville High Baseball Camp.
The Purple Dogs have won five state championships since 2003, including the last four consecutive state titles. Fayetteville skipper Vance Arnold is hoping to maintain the strength of the program and cited his camps as a key cog to help bridge the gap between current Purple Dogs and the future generation of players.
“We want to get these kids in here to see our facilities and to meet our coaches and current players to see what it’s like to be a Bulldog,” Arnold said. “I know a lot of the dads read the papers and they know what we’ve done and we hope they want their kids to come be a part of that. We started it but it’s these young kids that will help keep the tradition alive. We invite the dads to come and listen to what we’re teaching in hopes they will take what they’ve learned home and work on it and improve.”
If that’s reason enough, the camp will also feature the FungoMan and a physical test that gauges athletic aptitude by conducting a series of physical exams, including throwing, running, jumping and mobility exercises.
“It’s a national deal called the Sparks Test and it measures motor skills and helps give an assessment of their overall athletic ability,” Arnold said. “We thought that would be a fun way for the kids to get involved and compete against each other.”
Arnold, though, said the FungoMan will likely be the main attraction.
The FungoMan is a robotic device that facilitates fullscale practices at the touch of a wireless remote device that operates effectively from up to 400 feet away from the machine.
“We can set this up and have the coaches and players in the field,” Arnold said. “This allows us to give more in-depth instruction and allows us to spend more time with the kids teaching them all the aspects of baseball.”
The basic architecture of the FungoMan is a plastic tub atop four wheels with an oscillating, Jugs-like pitching machine device mounted to the top. A tube feeds baseballs from the tub to the oscillating wheels, which shoots the ball at any speed and at any angle.
The wireless device uses Windows operating software and can script entire practices. The FungoMan can throw batting practice as well as hit infield and outfield. It has the ability to torque curveballs, changeups and knuckle balls. It boasts a 92 mph fastball but can decelerate to 30 mph for beginners.
It can function as a catcher throwing to any location to facilitate baserunning drills. It can jettison fly balls up to 415 feet and with its computerized program can deliver a ball at any spot on the field with the touch of a button. It can mimic choppers, rollers, dribblers, comebackers, bloopers, pop flies, one-hoppers and doubles in the gap. It can also distribute the baseball at various time increments with a minimum interval of 3 seconds.
Arnold said it’s the perfect practice tool and will help campers get the most out of their time and money.
“Off a live bat, sometimes the coaches hit it too wide or too far and the kids don’t get as many reps,” Arnold said. “Now the kids at our camp will get more reps and will get more out of the camp. I think the kids are going to be in awe of it. We can have different lines with several groups and the FungoMan can deliver grounders or whatever we want, and right to them. Then the coaches can be standing right by the kids to give one-on-one instruction.”
The campers will be separated according to size, age and skill level. Also new to the camp this year is the instruction on mastering student-athlete status, which will focus on how to successfully balance academics and athletics.
Arnold said the camp will focus on the fundamentals, including stance, footwoork at the plate and in the field, pitching, fielding, hitting and mechanics in all aspects of the game.
The camp, which costs $65 per participant, will be held June 8-10 for kindergarten through fifth grade and June 10-12 for grades sixth through ninth. The camp will be held from 1-4 p.m. each day. The Sparks Test will be administered June 10 on the overlap day between the two camps.
Arnold and his staff recommend preregistration but registrations forms can be submitted on the first day of camp, which is June 8. For additional information, contact Arnold at 435-1277 or tarnold@fay.net or contact Scott Williams at swilliams@fayar.net. To preregister, complete the online form and mail it along with the camp fee to Vance Arnold, 1001 Stone Street, Fayetteville, AR 72701.