The greatest gift for an athlete The greatest gift for an athlete By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island A coach that long one is getting ing his/her tools once told me if you aren’t practicing hard or enough,
The greatest gift for an athlete
The greatest gift for an athlete
By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island
A coach that long one is getting ing his/her tools once told me if you aren’t practicing hard or enough, somewhere else, some-better by craft-to become a better player.
That type of thinking goes a long way and it doesn’t only apply to sports.
If a person is satisfied with what they’re currently doing, that’s fine, but if they want to improve their quality of work or improve their weaknesses, they’ll have to almost be unsatisfied most of the time.
A baseball player who works on hitting and pitching during the off-season will no doubt get better, but it’s the athlete who never wants to stop learning and always wants to improve that will reach a higher level.
On Kaua‘i, we are faced with isolation, and it’s widely known that exposure is tough to come by.
Waimea senior Isaac Castillo is just one of a handful of talented athletes on the island, who needs much needed exposure.
Staying on Kaua‘i and ruling KIF baseball isn’t enough. Luckily, there are baseball camps/clinics all over the country, which help athletes like Castillo get to the next level.
Not only do you get to see some of the best players in your age bracket, but you also get instruction and coaching from top coaches and players.
But most importantly, the exposure that comes from these camps is priceless.
I went to my fair share of basketball camps/clinics in my time. I attended two UH-Hilo Vulcan camps, a UH camp, a few Jimmy Yagi Clinics, and another one in Kona.
The experiences gave me unrelentless confidence. I knew that I could compete with the rest of the state and I wish more of my teammates could’ve had that same opportunity.
Of course though, these camps don’t cost just a nickel and a dime, instead it’s an arm and a leg.
That’s why I say that the greatest gift any parent could give to an athlete, would be a trip to a couple of these sports camps/clinics.
Whether it be for soccer, basketball, football, baseball, or softball, these camps/clinics offer not just great instruction and teachings, but it truly opens up your athlete to what’s out there — and believe me there are so many opportunities and doors that will open from the experience.
The County of Kaua‘i has done a tremendous job by bringing down UH players for clinics about a month ago.
However, the turnout for these events aren’t as high as I’d like it to be. Opportunities like this don’t come around often and back then, if you’d want to receive instruction from UH players and coaches, you’d have to head up to O‘ahu for that opportunity.
Getting better involves making the right choices. So parents, make the right choice by sending your athlete to a camp/clinic whenever the chance comes along!
