Even the heat and early morning practices couldn’t keep the young athletes away from the Charles Henderson Baseball Camp this week at the high school.

With the heat index hitting triple digits Wednesday morning, athletes from kindergarten through sixth grade were hitting the field working on baseball fundamentals and sharing the love they had for baseball.

Current and former members of the Charles Henderson baseball program shared in the teaching of skills that helped them in their baseball careers.

“We are trying to teach them basic knowledge,” said Trojan assistant baseball coach William Teal. “It’s been really good so far. We don’t want to do anything extraordinary with kids at their age. We are teaching proper base running, hitting, bunting, throwing and communication.”

Even in the heat, the athletes are having a good time and learning skills that are new to them.

“I have learned to field and catch the ball the proper way,” said Ben Dunn, one of the camp participants. “We have done a lot of stuff, and I learned to keep both hands on the bat when I swing.”

Charles Henderson hosts the camp annually in hopes of growing the game of baseball throughout the Troy community.

“In the City of Troy, sports are huge,” Teal said. “Troy is a sports town. It’s good to see the youth continue to progress in the game. These are the kids that will feed into Charles Henderson and Pike Liberal Arts. Our ultimate goal is to get them to college, whether they play baseball or not they can learn a lot of life lessons through baseball.”

The camp was started by former Charles Henderson baseball head coach Derek Irons.

“Ever since he left, he has still done a lot of things behind the scenes,” Teal said. “He has prepared me to run the camp and has given me the format of the camp, so he has still been a lot of help.”

An added bonus for the participants coming out is the ability to learn from some experience ball players that either are playing at the high school level or have already graduated and committed to playing at the next level.

One special instructor is former Trojan catcher and current Troy Trojan Chase Smartt, who has helped athletes learn what it takes to become a well-rounded ball player and successful behind the plate.

“It’s a lot of fun, to hang out and watch the kids,” Smartt said. “The most important thing about these camps is to have fun. I am really glad we have kids still coming out to these camps. Watching these kids is fun, because I did the same thing when I was little. It’s not all about getting better, its about having fun.”