We are excited to start back up with our features on our Key Staff. During this segment, we will catch up with one of our popular key staff members and see what is keeping them busy in these winter months away from camp. We also see if we can get a “tip” to get our Starlighters ready for their activity during the long winter months. This month we are highlighting Starlight Baseball Director Blayne Murphy.
Coach Murphy is excited to be returning to Starlight for the Summer of 2013. Murphy had great success in his first season heading up the Camp Starlight Baseball program. His season boasts a First Place Boy’s 5th Grade team, as well as two Co-Champion titles in the 8th and 9th grade Boy’s Baseball divisions respectively.
To keep his mind occupied during his countdown until his return to Camp Starlight, Blayne is keeping himself busy coaching baseball at Hannibal-LaGrange University in Missouri. We asked Blayne about this year’s Trojans and he was excited to share. “We have a handful of impact transfers coming in, and are lucky to have a core group of returning Juniors and Seniors that should make us pretty tough this spring!” He even ventured to say that his team is good enough that, given the chance, they might take home a Wayne County Championship! He also is spending lots of time staying active at the gym and training with various baseball specific activities. He hopes the 
Starlighters out there with plans to return to the diamond this summer have been thinking about baseball in the “off season” too! He left us with a few great pointers for our campers to stay ready for another great summer up on the Starlight Baseball Field.
Blayne suggests simple long tosses in the gym; he says, “It’s really important to keep your arm limber during the winter, try and spend 15 minutes every other day just to keep your arm trained and fit. This simple exercise will greatly accelerate an athlete’s ability to get ready quickly for the baseball season.” Another great way to stay in shape for baseball, is to participate in a winter sport, basketball and swimming are two excellent sports that will keep a young person active and keep their general condition ready for a baseball season. Finally, “Coach Murph” recommends spending at least one hour a week at an indoor batting cage facility to keep your hand-eye coordination trained and keep your baseball swing grooved and ready to go once the snow melts across the northeast.
We asked Coach Murphy for any last words for his Starlight baseball players and he said “I look forward to seeing you all again at Camp so we can get to work on winning more Wayne County Championships!”
Tags: baseball camp, camp activities, camp atheltics, camp programs, Camp Starlight, Camp Starlight Baseball, sleepaway camp, sports camps, summer camp, summer camp baseball, Wayne County leagues
