NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks owner and general manager Greg Morrison, South Alberta High School principal Darren MacMillan and Prairie Rose chief financial officer Ryan Boser pose with bats after announcing the Mavericks School of Baseball to start this spring.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Looking back at his childhood, Greg Morrison would be head over heals for more baseball in his school days.
Morrison, owner and general manager of the Medicine Hat Mavericks, announced a partnership with Prairie Rose Public Schools on Tuesday that will see the opening of the Mavericks School of Baseball this spring.
The sports program is designed for students in Grades 4-9 and will be available at Senator Gershaw, Irvine and Schuler schools this spring. The program will integrate baseball training into the regular school curriculum outside regular physical education instruction.
It’s a program that Morrison, who will serve as program director and head coach of the school, says he would have loved when he was growing up and one he is excited to start.
“Playing catch in school, it’s all about reps, and playing catch for even five to eight minutes, two to three times a week, you just see dividends, not only immediately, but years to come building up the proper structure of those muscles in your shoulder,” Morrison said.
In a brief press conference at Athletic Park, Morrison said the program will feature baseball skill development and baseball-specific performance training to help develop skills of the sport while also developing healthy routines that lead to active lifestyles.
Those are some of the lessons he already shares in the Mavs’ youth and after-school camps. He says this new program furthers the community impact from the WCBL organization and continues to share those early lessons of baseball.
“This is just such a really good fit for us, we know the programming, we know that age group from a growth and development standpoint,” Morrison said. “To get some young kids, whether they become a future Maverick or a future Maverick fan, to me that’s just a win-win for us on all accords. So we’re very excited to be part of it.”
Morrison will be joined by coach Chad Martin who played U.S. college baseball and served on high school baseball staffs for 25 years. He’s worked with the Mavs since 2009 and is a teacher at Senator Gershaw School.
For Prairie Rose, it’s another sport opportunity they offer to students with their High Performance Hockey Academy and the South Alberta Hockey Academy.
South Alberta High School principal and South Alberta Hockey Academy general manager Darren MacMillan says they want to provide students every opportunity they can and saw the opportunity with the Mavs as the perfect next step.
“I grew up playing baseball, it would have probably been my second sport behind hockey, and played with the Monarchs here in town. I’ve always had a passion for baseball and I think to provide those opportunities to our kids is going to be something really special,” MacMillan said.
Details such as price are still being finalized and will be shared by Prairie Rose as soon as they are available.
An information night will be held Jan. 16 at the Prairie Rose Public Schools division office at 6 p.m. for any interested families.
Morrison says he’s looking forward to working with the first group and learning alongside them how to further the program and give everyone the best experience. It will be years down the road and lots of baseballs thrown, hit and picked up between now and then, but Morrison says it will be a special day when that first student of the program suits up in a game for the Mavericks.
“We want these kids to learn the Mavericks way, which is, be a smart baseball player, put your time in and do things as right as you can and have a growth mindset where failing is just a part of learning,” Morrison said. “That’s the biggest thing for us, baseball is a very high-end failure sport. Success is three out of 10, hopefully catching the ball is a little higher than that for us. But I’m really excited for these kids, to see them grow and develop as baseball players and humans.”
