Youth Sports

Skills clinic a homerun with young ballplayers

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The fundamentals of baseball were the focus of LSW Sports’ annual summer clinic, which is wrapping up this week at Cuomo Field in Seaford.

The Levittown-Seaford-Wantagh Athletic Association has been hosting the program for 21 years. Between 40 and 60 young players took part in the camp each week over its three-week run.

Instructors included past and present MacArthur High School baseball players such as Chris Danetti, 18, who recently graduated. He played for the Nassau County Champion Generals, and will be attending Hofstra University in the fall.

“You get away from everything, learn about baseball and how to deal with kids,” he said. It was his first year as an instructor, and he also attended the camp when he was younger.

Mike Lesak, the head counselor, said the instructors teach the basics of hitting, fielding, pitching and catching. The camp was open to children ages 6-13 and split into two age groups. Skills for the older campers were more advanced, such as how to turn a double play.

“It progresses as the week goes on,” he said. “There are more challenging things that we throw at them.”

Dino Danetti, past president of LSW Sports, said that many children attended the camp for all three weeks, and noted that the price was very affordable. The final of day of each week included a skills competition and awards.

The children who participated said the camp improved their abilities. “There’s well-run drills that we do,” said Liam McDonald, 13, of Seaford. “Everything we do is situational that will benefit us in a game.”

McDonald is on a travel team, and plays pitcher, outfield and first base, but prefers to be on the mound.

Christopher Gaglio, 10, of Wantagh, plays for an LSW baseball team, and has been participating in the summer baseball clinic for four years. “There’s no waste of time, and every drill is about learning,” he said.

Gaglio said he enjoys long toss because he likes to see how far he can throw the baseball.

Michael Randazzo, 11, of Seaford, said baseball is his favorite sport. “I like that it’s a team sport,” he said, “that everyone can contribute to. It’s fun.”

He added that he likes the ground ball drills to improve his skills. Randazzo has been attending the camp since he was 6.

All instructors must have college or high school varsity baseball experience. Mike Anarumo, a 2012 graduate of MacArthur, has played at both levels. This is his fourth year teaching the campers. He said his hope is to teach them the basics of baseball and get them to love the sport.

“Our goal is to make them into high school baseball players and hopefully college,” he said. “We enjoy baseball, the counselors, that’s why we do it.”

Anarumo attended the camp when he was younger and said it is one of his best childhood memories.

Chris Danetti said he learned so much from Lesak as a child. “Now I can give back to the program,” he said.

LSW also hosted a two-week senior clinic at MacArthur High School this month, run by former college ballplayers Chris Sipp and Bobby DeMichael.

Lesak said he hopes that the campers take the skills they learned to enhance their game wherever their play, whether it’s for a travel team or a high school varsity squad.