Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 61, Number 92, Decatur, Adams County, 18 April 1963 — Page 11

THURSDAY, APRIL IS, IMS

Every Wildcat Player Gets Pro Help

SINCE THE WILDCAT LEAGUE chooses its players and teams after all the other leagues have been formed, and since every player gets to play in every game, it is most important that each team member get professional help in his playing. Every league has a director, anassistant director and two junior assistants, the latter being high school students. All must have prior athletic training and ability, and the ability to work with boys on a high moral and athletic plane. Correct forms of play, how to choose a bat, hold it, how to run the bases, to lead off, to field, pitch, catch, etc.—all are stressed. Any player may leave the league at any time to "move up" into the Little League, Pony League or other play. The ambition of the Wildcat League is to make every boy good enough, tough enough, smart enough and well-enough liked to "make the team." # ■ It is most important that other leagues be strengthened and enlarged, so that boys who do not need special training, who need only to "play ball," have the opportunity to gain the benefits of play in advanced leagues—this is a fundamental precept of Wildcat League play. It costs more to support a Wildcat League because of the professional, paid workers connected with it. But the boys who need the professional coaching will get it, and the entire community will benefit, as better boys, in better shape, and better adjusted to meet the world, result from the keen competition and leadership present in Wildcatting. X 'X . PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FRO/jA A REAL PRO, Carl Erskine, former Big League pitcher, is given here to Scott Russ, of Fort Wayne, at a baseball clinic last Spring. Erskine conducted baseball clinics throughout the city for a week; then the local professional staff took over, and helped each boy through the entire playing season, which roughly parallels the other leagues. Learning the sport from the ground up is especially important to the younger boys, and to those who are less athletically inclined and with less training.

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