River View seniors using project to celebrate baseball program
River View High School seniors Ryan Weaver and Cole McKee are using their senior project to help the school’s baseball program. Part of their plan includes raffling off a baseball-themed gift basket. Contributed | Beacon
WARSAW – Cole McKee and Ryan Weaver are using their senior project at River View High School to help the baseball program.
“At first, we did mini camps,” McKee said. “We went to all four elementary schools to get fourth through sixth graders involved. They were hour-long camps on fundamental.”
The camps were held in the school’s heated, indoor practice facility where they could work on pitching, hitting and fielding. They started in October and wrapped up in February. Attendance was low at first, but then they got a lot of participation from the Snyder Strong baseball team.
“At first we had five to six guys coming and could work with them individually and then we had close to 10 coming so we rotated stations,” Weaver said.
This, however, is just the first part of their project.
“We wanted to help the guys who come after us get better and now we want to honor those who came before us,” Weaver said.
He and McKee have organized an alumni day for May 4 when River View takes on Fairfield Union High School. The varsity game starts at noon and the junior varsity game will follow. Alumni will be admitted for free and recognized in between the varsity and junior varsity game.
“We will give them a certificate thanking them for what they’ve done for the program,” Weaver said. “Just let us know at the game that you are there and we will print your name on a certificate.”
They also have put together a gift basket full of baseball and River View-themed items that will be raffled off that day.
“It’s got lots of stuff in it that parents can use to watch a game,” Weaver said.
McKee said tickets for the basket are available at all home games in the concession stand. Admission to home games is $4 and raffle tickets are one for $2, three for $5, and eight for $10. Money raised from the raffle will help the team with a variety of items including new baseballs.
“We always need them,” McKee said. “We got 12 dozen baseballs last year and they are already worn out because we are hitting constantly.”
Baseball has meant a lot to both Weaver and McKee.
“I’ve been around baseball my entire life,” Weaver said. “I moved here in eighth grade and when I found out there were baseball signups, I was there. I’ve made a lot of great connections and friends.”
Weaver agreed that he has made lots of friendship from baseball and that he plays for the fun of the game.
Category: High School, Sports
