CINCINNATI — Summer is a great time for kids to hone in on their skills, between summer reading and sports camps.
One college baseball player is helping young kids get better at the sport while giving back to the community he grew up in.
What You Need To Know
- Luke Hammond grew up in Cincinnati and went to Indian Hill High School
- Now, he's playing collegiate baseball in his hometown as the Xavier third baseman
- Hammond is spending his summer before his final college baseball season giving baseball lessons to local kids
- He hopes to impart wisdom he's learned from his coaches onto these kids
Luke Hammond is spending his summer days on the baseball diamond he played on in high school.
“It’s just good to come back here, reminisce a little bit," Hammond said.
The Indian Hill grad and now Xavier third baseman isn’t just here for the memories; he’s here to make a difference. Hammond is helping up and coming baseball players refine their game by giving lessons both at Indian Hill and at Xavier University.
Hammond said he decided to skip playing summer ball and instead work on his individual game, but he couldn’t do it alone.
“I decided that it would be worth my time to just develop myself," he said. "And in the meantime, while I'm developing bigger myself, I might as well do lessons with kids. Because I've always like to work with kids.”
Now, he spends his days with kids ages 6 through 18 hoping to instill some of the lessons he’s learned through his baseball journey.
“Just give a slice of some of the knowledge that I've picked up along the way back to the younger generations and help them through the path that I've kind of been through," Hammond said. "It means a lot.”
And that journey includes playing collegiate baseball in the city he grew up in, learning from coaches that have gotten him to where he is today.
“They’ve taught me a lot of lessons through baseball and even to try to give a slice of that back to a kid like Brandon would mean the world," he said.
Hammond realizes what role he can play in these young kids lives.
“That's part of the reason why you do it, not because you're trying to get your ego up like, oh, this kid thinks I'm celebrity, but you're like, this kid is going to look up to me, so I have to set an example for them," he said. "And what I say they're not going to take lightly. Like if a big leaguer or college player came up to me when I was a kid and told me some of the stuff that I'm trying to get across to these kids, I'd be like, whoa!”
And he hopes to show them what it takes to achieve their goals.
“I just hope they realize what it takes," he said. "And I hope that my message is just dedication, and hard work is going to get you everything you want.”