If you want to be the best, you have to learn from the best.
A group of students from Chief Julius School in Fort McPherson got that chance to learn from some of the best Toronto Blue Jays there have ever been late last month.
The group of seven travelled to Whitehorse to take part in the Toronto Blue Jays Honda Super Camp on June 25 and 26. As with every camp hosted by the Blue Jays, some of the team's alumni made the trip up to help teach and those alumni included Roberto Alomar, Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Moseby and Duane Ward.
Tena Blake, a teacher at the school, was the one who got the ball rolling on the trip and said it all started with a post on Facebook.
“I saw the post and thought this would be a great idea,” she said. “Baseball is really popular here and the kids are playing once the field dries out but there's no minor ball for the kids here and no organized league. I just thought it would be a cool opportunity.”
Blake proposed the idea to the school's principal, Shirley Snowshoe-Peterson, who was on board with it. After that, Blake proposed it to the junior high students at the school.
“I put it out for everyone who wanted to go,” she said.
Some funding to help with the trip came from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and the students also did some fundraising to help pay for the trip.
Once the students got on the ground, they went right to work at every single station: hitting, running, throwing, fielding and pitching.
“One of the parents who was with them said they had a ball there,” said Blake.
Perhaps the best part of the whole trip was the students wanting to show everyone in the community what they learned, she added.
“They really want to teach the youth in the community what they were taught,” she said. “I've been talking with the recreation department here and hopefully, they can do that. It just shows great leadership on their part to want to do that for the community.”
With the camp over and the students returned home, Blake said she's happy they were able to get the chance to take part.
“We're only 12 hours away from Whitehorse by car and we had to go,” she said. “Driving saved a lot of money but it was something we just had to do.”