PRINCETON, N.J. – Over the last two Sundays, the Princeton baseball team has welcomed the Special Olympics baseball team to its indoor facility at Jadwin Gymnasium.
The two sessions featured about 20 athletes aged between 6 and 44 years old. The Princeton baseball team and staff demonstrated warmup routines, proper throwing techniques, base running fundamentals along with pitching and hitting tips.
The final session had a live game experience where the younger division hit against the older division. Each player was accompanied at their position by a member of the Princeton baseball team to help with the specific game situations.
Baseball was introduced as a sport to the USA Special Olympics Games for the first time in 2014 with teams from Alabama, Delaware, New Jersey (the gold medal winner) and Rhode Island. The Special Olympics team will be training for the next several months before taking part in state competitions in June.
“We’re always excited to have the Special Olympics baseball team to train with us,” said Princeton assistant coach Mike Russo. “It’s an unbelievable experience for our staff and players to be a part of.”
The Princeton baseball team gets the 2016 season underway next week at Louisville (Mar. 4-6). Head coach Scott Bradley’s squad will host their first game at Clarke Field vs. Seton Hall on Apr. 30.
