A long way since our first training in 2022

In April of 2022, the Celbridge Bobcats youth baseball club had their first training, with it being memorable for one reason in particular. 99% of the kids had no idea how to play baseball – as in zero knowledge, zero experience.

It was an entertaining training seeing kids first experiencing the sport, some of them 10 or 11 years old and never tried on a baseball glove before.

We ran batting practice at the end, with each child running the bases after hitting the ball. Or should it be said rather that each child ‘tried’ to run the bases – until they were gang tackled by at least 5 kids!

It would have been easier if half of them had no knowledge, or even a quarter, but starting from scratch was quite the undertaking. We realised early on that learning the basic fundamentals like throwing and catching were probably not good measures of success for the first season. We had to break it down to “If the kids have fun and by the end, they remember how to put their glove on the correct hand, then we’re in a good place.” Baby steps.

At the end of the season in 2022, we played a friendly game against the Ashbourne Giants at their home grounds at the International Baseball Centre. We played some of their younger players, and it was a great day, with hot dogs on hand and smiles on all faces.

Growing and learning in Year 2

2023 was much the same, but we started taking on more friendly games and participating in a few of the youth league blitzes. The kids slowly began to construct and piece together the rules of the game in their heads, creating a good learning culture for new players joining up.

We also begin to develop our skill levels at the pitching and catching position amongst our 9-12-year-olds and begin looking more and more like an actual baseball team.

Excitement over Year 3

Following an offseason spent training indoors, the Celbridge Bobcats are finally joining the Irish youth league, and looking forward to taking trainings outdoors at Willowbrook Park ahead of a month of April blitzes in locations such as Ashbourne, Portmarnock, and Corkagh Park, Clondalkin.

Now is still a perfect time to join for players new to the game, with 6 blitzes planned along with 10 regular season league games.

A great time for new youth players to join the Bobcats

For parents, you may be time-strapped and wondering how you can manage another sport. If your child is already involved in multiple other sports, then it may be a stretch to take on another sport and this is understandable. However, it is doable.

The Irish youth baseball league is generally set up in a way to have minimal crossover with these other sports, with the club training on Friday evenings and playing games on Sunday afternoons. That being said, we do have players who did play other traditional Irish sports, but have given up those sports to focus on baseball – their top preference.

What are your child’s chances of playing for the national soccer team?

What are your child’s chances of playing for at county-level GAA sports?

The odds are against them, even in a small country like Ireland. However, the odds are much better that your child will have a chance to play for the Irish national baseball team, which is still growing through its youth programme but finally seeing multiple Irish-born players secure college-level spots in US-based baseball programmes and putting Ireland on the European stage.

This, when combined with the fact that the kids have learned to not rugby-tackle base runners, just means there couldn’t be a better time for you to sign your child up to the Celbridge Bobcats youth baseball club.

For more information, contact us at celbridgebaseballclub@gmail.com