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Sports

Fenton Tigers Travel Baseball Continues Growth

Travel team has become good feeder for high school program.

The Fenton Tigers Travel Baseball program started with just a couple of teams, hoping to one day grow into a successful program that equips players with the skill to go on and contribute at the varsity level.

Now, just three years later, not only has the program grown to seven teams (ranging from ages 8U to 15U), but 100 percent of players from the program who have tried out for Fenton's high school team have made it.

"I think the need for advanced or travel baseball has really skyrocketed in the last few years," said Laird Landis, president of the organization. "Travel ball provides an environment to help kids develop to a level that will help them play high school ball and beyond."

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The first step in that development is getting kids ready for high school. Landis said Fenton varsity coach Chad Logan has been a big supporter of the program and Landis hopes as the club grows, so will the impact of its players on Fenton's high school program.

"Everyone who has tried out for Fenton High School baseball has made the team," Landis said. "That's both a testament to our program as well as knowing that the advanced players who work hard are going to become representatives of the high school team."

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As the club grows, one of the benefits is the long-term chemistry that forms from players continuously growing and playing together on the same teams. This year's 8U team has already won four tournaments and the other age groups have had strong performances this summer as well. Landis believes that the younger teams will only get stronger.

"The more you play with the same shortstop, the more you learn how he's going to flip the ball or where he's going to be and you always have each other's back," Landis said. "It truly becomes a team effort vs. an individual effort."

Unlike Little League and youth baseball programs, participants in the Fenton travel program get nearly year-round instruction. Tryouts are typically held in August, with indoor core training beginning in November and December. Then, the teams play indoors at Premier Indoor Sports in Fenton from January to March. Outdoor play in the Kensington Valley baseball league starts in April and each team plays in at least five tournaments over the spring and summer.

The program focuses on fostering a solid work ethic, teaching fundamentals and character, including the mantra, "It takes no talent to hustle."

The program hosted a 15U tournament over Fourth of July weekend, The Fenton Freedom Festival Heroes Tournament. Four teams participated and the Michigan Rhinos, based in Dearborn, won. Landis envisions the tournament getting bigger and including more age groups in the future.

"Hopefully next year we'll have even more participation," he said. "We're going to build on it and hopefully increase participation year after year."

Fenton Tigers Travel Baseball is having tryouts for its 2012 season from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 13 and 20 at the Rose Township Fields. More information is available on the club's website.

The program abides by an '80-20' philosophy, meaning they try to fill 80 percent of the available spots in the program with Fenton kids to serve the feeder role for the high school program, although the goal is to help all of the kids from outside the area make their high school teams as well.

"Maybe one day we can all go down to Toledo and watch some of them in the minors, that would be one of our greatest goals," Landis said.

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