Central softball camp registration open

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA — Registration is open for Central College’s upcoming Championship Softball Camps.

An overnight camp for players entering grades 9-12 will be staged July 29-Aug. 2. A day camp for players entering grades 5-8 and a half-day camp for players entering grades 3-5 will be offered July 30-Aug. 3. The day camp runs from 9 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4 p.m. the first four days and from 9 a.m.-noon on the final day. The half-day camp is conducted daily from 9 a.m.-noon.

Several top college and high school coaches will provide instruction, led by Central’s hall of fame coach George Wares and associate head coach Alicia O’Brien. They’ll be joined by two-time state high school championship coach Laura Olson of Mapleton, Minn. and Hope College (Mich.) coach Mary Vande Hoef, who piloted her team to the NCAA Division III tournament again this spring, as well as Central assistant Keith Jones and pitching coaches Marcy Roff and Gary Grimes, among others.

Central’s camps were established more than 25 years ago and have attracted participants from Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, Connecticut, New York and Washington. Participants will benefit from coaching on all aspects of the game including hitting, pitching, defense and baserunning as well as training in mental skills and strength and conditioning. Individual hitting and pitching instruction sessions are offered, along with daily games.

Wares is the first coach in NCAA Division III history to record 1,000 wins and has compiled a 1125-384-3 mark over 34 seasons with a record 29 NCAA tournament berths and four national titles.

O’Brien spent 18 seasons as head coach at Western Connecticut State University with eight NCAA tourney berths and joined the Central staff in 2006. She’s compiled a career mark of 795-351-3.

Additional information and online registration are available through the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu/camps/.