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Partly Cloudy Merrick campers learn baseball from a pro
On a recent Friday morning at Birch Elementary School, many eager campers arrived at the Merrick School District’s Summer Recreation Program equipped with baseball gloves, bats, balls and even batting helmets.
It was the first day of the program’s baseball clinic, which was started this year because of popular demand by the campers. Tom Merkle, a former professional baseball player who played minor league baseball for the Florida Marlins organization in the early 2000s, came to Birch to teach the kids how to hit, field and run the bases.
Campers ranging in age from 7 to 12 waited their turns for one-on-one lessons with Merkle, who taught the kids the fundamentals of swinging a baseball bat to hit a ball off of a tee. “You can’t get more of a good feeling than doing this,” said Merkle, 31, who has taught baseball since he was a teenager.
An East Meadow native, Merkle has instructed kids at the New York Baseball Academy at the New York Institute of Technology — his alma mater — and also at Sportsplex in Bellmore.
As a member of the Florida Marlins organization, he played baseball with star players such as Josh Johnson and Jeremy Hermida, and learned from baseball legends like Tim Raines, Ozzie Guillen and Hall of Fame outfielder Andre Dawson. “To be able to give all the knowledge that I’ve learned to these kids is really special,” said Merkle.
The Merrick Summer Recreational Program takes in kids from the three Merrick District elementary schools — Birch, Chatterton and Levy-Lakeside — and provides them with activities and programs in July. Kelley Merkle, a teacher at Birch, and Melissa Robinson, a teacher at Levy-Lakeside, are co-directors of the program for the sixth consecutive year.
The two educators said they decided to institute the baseball clinic after the kids requested it the previous summer. “It teaches teamwork, and it shows different skills they can build upon,” said Kelley, who is the sister-in-law of Tom.
About 60 kids registered for the baseball clinic. “They were super-excited,” said Robinson, of Merrick. “They came in this morning with their baseball bags, their mitts and their helmets because they were so excited.”
