CINCINNATI — Maikel Ramirez loved his time at the Cincinnati Reds Youth Academy earlier this week. The first grader enjoyed running the bases and hitting the ball as hard and far as he could off the t-ball setup on the outdoor field at the Roselawn facility.
“I’m good at hitting,” Maikel, 7, said with pride on Tuesday. But his favorite part of the morning was playing with the kids on the other teams, including some of his classmates from Roberts Academy in Lower Price Hill.
The event was part of the Reds’ Fun At Bat program. It’s a partnership between USA Baseball to attract more young kids to baseball and softball, also known as the “diamond sports” because of the shape of their fields.
What You Need To Know
- The Fun At Bat program aims to make lifelong baseball and softball fans
- Last year, the program worked with 25,000 kids from schools across Reds Country
- The program aims to address a decrease in baseball participation in recent years
- Beyond baseball skills, the students also learn other skills to benefit in the classroom
Through this program, students ages 4 to 10 learn the fundamentals of the game: fielding, throwing and batting. They also go over the general rules, such as when you need to tag a runner vs. touching the base for a force out.
Fun At Bat has non-baseball aspects, such as character development, physical education and literacy. But the primary goal is for them to have fun while developing a love for America’s pastime.
Maikel is one of thousands of kids in a multi-state region known as “Reds Country” taking part in the program through their school this year. More than 25,000 participated last year.
“We want them to have fun out here,” said Charley Frank, executive director of the Reds Community Fund. Started in 2001, the nonprofit works to improve the lives of young people through initiatives connected to its baseball and softball programs.
“It’s about access and showing these kids what these sports are all about,” he added. “If these kids don’t understand the nuances of the game, then they’re never going to be drawn to it either as a participant or as a fan.”
Introducing more kids to ‘game we love’
Prior to Fun At Bats, the Reds Community Fund hosted its own program aimed at introducing children to baseball and softball known as Reds Rookie Success League. The June-July program operated in Cincinnati, Butler County, Clermont County and Louisville and Dayton, where the Reds’ minor-league teams play.
The program operated from 2003 until 2019. It was effective, Frank said, but at its peak, it only reached about 2,500 kids a year. Fun At Bat involves 10 times more kids.
“It’s allowing us to not only reach more kids, which is really one goal, but it also allows us to host it in the school year where every kid’s going to get access to it,” Frank added.
Sixteen elementary school teams from Cincinnati Public Schools visited the Youth Academy this week. Each took part in the school-based program incorporated into their physical education (P.E.) classes.
The Reds Community Fund also hosts two “open to the public” Fun At Bat sessions at the Reds Youth Academy, with 150 kids ages 4 to 7 taking part in a fall and winter session.
“I asked my mom if she could sign me up for baseball after school,” Maikel said.
Students in grades K-5 go through drills and activities focused on developing certain muscle groups used most by baseball and softball players. They learn how to throw a ball, the proper way to hold and swing a bat and learning the proper fielding positions.
Growing up in Cincinnati, Frank, 57, said that kids had a greater understanding of the game a generation or two ago. But the emergence of basketball, football, soccer and even e-sports has changed that, he added.
About 1.2 million fewer kids ages 6 and 12 played baseball and softball in the United States in 2013 than there did in 2008, according to The Aspen Institute, a nonprofit promoting youth sports participation. It used data compiled by the Sports Fitness and Industry Association.
The data showed that 14.4% of kids in that same age group played baseball in 2019 compared to 16.5% in 2008.
“It’s so different from it used to be,” said Frank, a father of two, 18 and 20. “For a lot of reasons, kids aren’t playing softball and baseball the same way, and that’s a big challenge for the MLB, the Reds and all the other teams. We really need to reinforce it in the schools if we want baseball to continue to grow and thrive.”
Put them in, Coach
This is Shaud Redd’s first year playing t-ball, but he’s no stranger to the game. The Roberts Academy kindergarten student has grown up watching his mom play and coach slow-pitch softball.
“I know it’s something that he wants to do, and he looks forward to doing so I’m very excited about that,” Shaud’s mom, Sasha Young.
The 5-year-old said he enjoys watching his mom play and going to Cincinnati Reds games at Great American Ball Park. But he doesn’t have a favorite player.
“They don’t hear about a LeBron James in baseball,” said Jennifer Curtis, a physical education and health teacher at Covedale School.
The Reds bring budding stars such as Hunter Greene, TJ Friedl, Jonathan India, Jake Fraley and others to as many kid-centric events as often as possible, Frank said. Joey Votto, for instance, has been at the Youth Academy three times in the past two weeks.
“We want to give these kids someone to look up to and someone to dream about becoming when they grow up,” Frank added.
Curtis said attracting kids to a sport is going to take more than just autographs and watching games on TV.
“I think a sport will be popular if students are exposed to them, especially at a young age,” said Curtis, whose first sport as a child was t-ball. “If there isn’t an opportunity to play a specific sport, there won’t be any interest when they get older.”
Today, Curtis coaches Covedale’s kindergarten and first grade t-ball team. She’s been part of the Fun At Bat program for the past four years. Curtis receives athletic equipment, an eight-part curriculum and access to an online course for baseball instruction.
“We don’t focus so much on winning or losing, but instead focus on athletic and motor skill progress,” she added. “We discuss character traits like teamwork and responsibility and tie those to our practice, but also work on transferring those traits to the classroom and home.”
“Overall, we want a healthy environment that produces more well-rounded kids.”
Jeff Campbell is Maikel and Shaud’s coach at Roberts Academy. His class usually does a game-like active warmup to get the students’ attention and then they work on a specific skill each day.
The goal, he said, is to figure out what sport they’ll want to continue playing outside of school.
“I want these kids to have the same love for the game that I have had since I was their age and the only way to do that is with opportunities like these,” Campbell said.
The Reds Community Funds hopes a lot, if not most, of the kids in the program end up joining a community baseball or softball team during the summer, Frank said. The Reds also operate Major League Baseball’s junior RBI program for kids 12 and under and senior RBI program for high schoolers.
Frank noted that the timing of the Fun At Bat program is close to the start of summer baseball season for a reason.
“We hope to all these kids develop a love for the game that lasts the rest of their lives,” Frank said.