Camp St. Louis Southeast baseball takes skills camp north

Southeast Missouri State University baseball coach Mark Hogan tried something new this year. For the first time, his program held a summer youth instructional skills camp in the St. Louis area.

Although the participation was not all that great for the camp, which ran in two sessions beginning last week and concluding Thursday, Hogan believes it holds plenty of potential and hopes to make it an annual affair.

"Like anything, the first time you do something, it just takes time to get the word out," Hogan said. "We didn't have as many kids participate as we would have liked, but this is something we're committed to."

The camp, for boys ages 8 through 18, took place at the Creve Coeur Athletic Association facility in St. Louis County.

"We've gone to Sikeston over the years and we just have tried to expand a little bit," Hogan said. "We had a connection with the Creve Coeur people because my brother in law, Steve Mach, is president of the association. He asked me about doing this a couple of years ago. We couldn't get everything together then, but we were finally able to work out all the details.

"The main thing is they said they wanted to get some quality instruction. They said they had a hard time getting it in that area."

Hogan and his coaching staff, along with the coaching staffs from various St. Louis area schools -- including the University of Missouri-St. Louis and two-year school Jefferson College -- provided the instruction.

According to Hogan -- who annually holds a winter youth instructional camp indoors in Cape Girardeau -- having a camp in the St. Louis area allows he and his staff to perhaps get an early recruiting lead on potential promising young talent.

"If we see somebody we like we can eventually follow up on them," Hogan said. "It's good exposure for us to the kids. Obviously the kids who come in here are the ones who already enjoy baseball and are committed to do better.

"I think it's a win-win situation for the kids and for us."

Hogan said he anticipated the first year of the camp being sparsely attended. Only about 25 total players signed up for the two sessions. But he expects things to pick up in the future.

"The turnout this first time is not as important as getting the word out," Hogan said. "We expected it to be slow because the first year is always tough. People make their summer vacation plans early, and there are so many camps in St. Louis.

"But I think this is something that can be very beneficial for everybody involved down the road, not only for our baseball program but also for getting out the general word about Southeast Missouri State University."