By Jeff Dever
This year's baseball season is over, but looking towards next year and would like to run an idea by all of you. There is a baseball tournament in Cooperstown NY that hosts teams of major aged players using similar rules to the CFR Last Hurrah tournament. But it is much more than a tournament, it's a week long baseball camp where all the players, coaches and umpires stay in barracks at the unbelievable baseball facility: 22 baseball diamonds, 100 team clubhouses/barracks, 20 batting cages, webcast games, pin trading, provided uniforms, a train ride to the Baseball Hall of Fame, fireworks, night games and lots of time for the kids to just be kids with each other.
One of the teams that played at the Pinecrest Summer Classic Tournament this year, the Adirondack All Stars, went to Cooperstown Dreams Park. While here, Adirondack played local teams from Kanata, Pinecrest and Orleans. Having played them myself and talking to the coaches and the kids, it really makes Cooperstown feel close to home. For us its about a 4 hour drive away near Syracuse NY. Another team to note is from North Langley BC, who fundraised over an entire year to raise $18,000 to also attend the tournament as one of 96 teams. It is very impressive in what this team was able to do in getting themselves so organized to be able to get to the tournament. http://northlangleycanadians.com/index.php
Its not cheap, $800 per player which would probably ramp up to $1000 including much of the extras, but that does include accommodations in a full week of a once in a lifetime camp experience. It also requires team level organization: as a family you can go to disneyland, but to go to Cooperstown Dreams Park, you have to go as part of a baseball team. Its possible we could send a team from one league, a few leagues together, the district or the whole city - it all depends on who is interested and committed to make it happen.
So let's hear from you.