They carry out a sports clinic in favor of autism | Forward Valley

EL CENTRO — With spring in full bloom, local athletes are honing their skills and preparing for league championships, summer ball or even minor league games.

While it can be difficult to find time to get extra reps during the regular season, local coach Joshua Patton hosted an on-field clinic at the ZT Baseball facility in El Centro over spring break for Little League players from around the world. the Valley, ages 8-14.

“It started as an idea between me and coach Jerry Niebla to see how many kids we could get out here and we ended up having a great group of kids,” baseball coach Josh Patton said. “It was a three-day clinic. We had an average of 60 kids per day and we focused on fieldwork for the baseball and softball players.”

While the clinic focused on baseball and softball, Patton saw an opportunity to go a step further and celebrate Autism Awareness Month.

“When we started planning the clinic, we wanted to support a cause, and since April is Autism Awareness month, we decided to show a little blue, the color of autism awareness, on our camp shirt and show our I support something bigger than the game,” Patton said.

In terms of the game, there was a strict focus on fieldwork as the clinic aimed to expand the boys’ abilities as position players.

“We were hoping to motivate the kids, encourage them and show them that it can be fun to play and learn new skills,” Patton said. “It was an opportunity to not only make them better players, but also people.”

To provide the kids with different perspectives and learning experiences, Patton invited four Southwest baseball players and some members of the SHS coaching staff to provide the young baseball players with a variety of ideas.

“It was a team effort, from the coaching staff sharing their knowledge with the kids to the kids being open to learning,” said Patton, who works as an assistant coach at SHS. “It also gave our high school players a taste of what it’s like to teach and a chance to see a different side of baseball.”

The clinic was able to house children from Mexicali to Calipatria.

“Ultimately, we wanted to reach as many kids as possible and show them that the Valley is a great community and if we can take care of each other, help each other, then our kids will grow up,” Patton said.