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Sports

Watch: Why These Girls Loved Softball Camp

Former DHS softball players return to teach youth fundamentals of game during summer clinics.

The Deerfield Youth Baseball and Softball Association (DYBSA) is doing its part to get girls involved in the game at an early age. With former players as coaches, the organization has been offering summer softball clinics for the past several years to girls from 1st grade through middle school. The number of participants grew to 120 this summer, with even more on the waiting list.

"We never had anything like this," First year coach Lindsay Januszewski said of the clinics. "The (Deerfield) program was not as established when we were this age. So I would love to do this again and keep it going and help to have a good softball program in the future when these girls are in high school and playing for the Warriors."

The six week camp ran from June 14-August 2, with a break in the middle for Fourth of July. All the coaches use lessons they've learned in the past to try to instill the fundamentals of the game to camp participants.

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"It's kind of funny when I'm trying to coach the girls," Second year coach Emmie Schlessinger said. "I hear myself using the same kind of mechanisms that my coaches used on me in high school."

The clinics were held every Monday night at and were referred to as "Date Night in Deerfield" because it gave parents a chance to drop off their daughters and head out for a quick date.

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Last Monday was the final session of the summer. Click on the video link above to see how much these girls learned in six weeks.

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