Savannah Bananas put own spin on traditional youth baseball camp with nicknames, bat flips

For his next trick, Bill LeRoy is creating a nickname for each of the 85 children participating in the Savannah Bananas Academy's winter youth baseball camp.

And then remembering them all by Friday when the five-day camp for ages 6-14 concludes at Grayson Stadium.

"I think I have about 75% of the names burned in my head," LeRoy, one of the camp organizers and instructors, said Tuesday after the second three-hour session. "I don't know their first names, but I know their nicknames. It's something that sticks for me that's easier."

So LeRoy can put a nickname to a face, when he first meets campers, he asks a little bit about them, such as their names, hobbies like video games and other things they like. It's a personal connection. Into LeRoy's world enters Big League Chew, Alexander the Great, Power Hitter, Kool-Aid Man, Dirt Bike, Fortnite and Parking Lot.

Parking Lot?

"Some of the nicknames come from first names, Parker and Parking Lot," LeRoy explained. "That's the first thing that came into my head."

Charlie Keating is an 11-year-old camper from Brooklyn, N.Y., whose family is vacationing on Hilton Head Island, S.C. Here, inside the confines of Grayson Stadium, everyone calls him Chuckles.

He said he likes the nickname and the camp and wants to be just like Bill LeRoy when he grows up.

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There are a few female campers, including Vaeda Percinsky, 11, of Rincon. She's actually a softball player who is enjoying "getting to play with different people and having fun."

Her family calls her Vaed for short, the "V" getting a "W" sound in a twist of a German "W" sounding like a "V" in English. Here, at camp, she's Wade, aka Wade Mayhem.

Campers have come from the Coastal Empire as well as from states such as New York, Texas, Ohio and North Carolina, said instructor Kyle Luigs, also in charge of registration and by Tuesday said he had a basically memorized all of the names.

Pitcher Luigs, like catcher LeRoy, spent the past four summers playing for the Bananas' collegiate team in the Coastal Plain League, including the championship squad of 2021.

The best friends are now full-time employees of the organization, playing on the professional Banana Ball travel team in 2022 and currently directing the Bananas Academy's winter camp after working after-school hitting and fielding clinics in the fall.

Luigs credited Tyler Gillum, manager of the Bananas summer league team, for designing previous camps and clinics.

"They've done a really good job of laying a good foundation for us," Luigs said. "Really, this camp is Gillum's camp how we run it. We put a little bit of flair on it. We have our own little fun with it."

For example, LeRoy ran the batting cage and provided encouragement and player introductions along with nicknames as he pitched to the batters. They worked on their hitting and their bat flips.

"I try to incorporate fun with absolutely everything we do. When you have 10 or 12 6-year-olds in a batting cage, most of the time you're not going to have their attention," said LeRoy, who had each group determine the batting order through battles of rock, paper, scissors. "Any way you can keep a 6-year-old's attention for that long, we're doing something right."

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Gillum put an emphasis on player development for winter camps, helping them improve in the offseason. Players rotate from station to station working on hitting, throwing, catching and baserunning.

"So that's why you don't see any of your kickball or cornhole stations, that kind of stuff that's not baseball-related, but obviously still have fun," Luigs said.

The Bananas' way to play

Wade, Chuckles, Parking Lot and the other campers are spending part of their winter break from school learning the Bananas' way to play baseball, developing their skills and approach to the sport without losing sight of why they started playing in the first place.

"I think the big part of Bananas camp is it's all about fun," said Biko Skalla, the Savannah Bananas Broadcast Entertainer pulling extra duty this week as a camp instructor.

Skalla was manning the wall ball station, where campers threw tennis balls against the outfield wall and caught them barehanded as he provided play-by-play. Skalla's creativity behind the microphone, such as conducting video interviews with Bananas players in a shower, and from inside a spread of food at the player meal line, earned him the league broadcaster of the year honor last season. He planned to do some more traditional mock interviews with campers this week.

Other instructors include current Richmond Hill High School baseball players and Class of 2015 graduate Brian Eichhorn, who was a year ahead of his Wildcats teammate Luigs.

"The main thing is soaking up as much knowledge from the guys like Bill, Kyle and Brian on just how baseball players at the top level go about their business," Skalla said. "There's a lot of fun to be had here, but you're also getting hands-on teaching from some really knowledgeable baseball players."

From Richmond Hill and Georgia Southern to pros

Eichhorn pitched at Richmond Hill and Georgia Southern University before getting selected by Cleveland in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB June amateur draft.

The right-hander pitched one season of minor-league ball in 2019 before the pandemic led to the shutdown of the minors in 2020, and Tommy John surgery sidelined him this year. Eichhorn said Tuesday he will be ready to play in 2022 and will head next week to the organization's spring training facility in Arizona.

He is impressed with the Savannah Bananas after seeing in person their brand of the baseball and entertainment experience.

"That's a whole different environment. I don't know if I could do it," said Eichhorn, noting that he would still give it a try if an offer came after his pro baseball career is over. "It's cool because I've been able to come here and watch Kyle play. It just seems so different and awesome. I've never seen Kyle dancing like that."

There's more to be taught than baseball and dance moves. Luigs said they try to introduce life skills that go with the sport, such as making eye contact when someone is speaking to you, and mastering a firm handshake.

Stay off the roller coaster

On Tuesday during the scrimmage games that conclude each daily session, one team hit into a triple play and felt deflated and angry at themselves. Luigs saw a teachable moment, gathered the players around him and talked about keeping steady emotionally through the highs and lows of playing the game.

"That was cool. That's the kind of stuff I live for," Luigs said. "I get super-attached to the group of guys I coach for a week. They're a tight-knit group. They're competitive little kids. It's up, down, up, down.

"I can't tell you how many times a coach had told me that, to stay even-keeled, don't ride the roller coaster."

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Luigs felt seeing the players upset was a good indicator that they cared about winning the game and wanted to play well for their teammates, whom they had just met a day earlier.

The instructors are learning, too, as they pass along wisdom and reflect on their early days in baseball. LeRoy said he understands "exactly where a lot of my former coaches were coming from, things they'd tell me."

"When you're working with these kids like this and you see smiles on their faces, in turn putting a smile on my face, it just reminds you of what the game's all about," LeRoy said. "It's about having fun, camaraderie, being out and enjoying the nice day. It's been beautiful weather, beautiful green grass, beautiful blue skies. It's just a blessing to walk on the field every day."

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Bananas put spin on baseball winter camp at Grayson Stadium