WILBRAHAM, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - The Valley Blue Sox are three days into their four-day summer baseball clinic and organizers say keeping young athletes cool has been just as important as the drills on the field.

The camp runs three hours each morning and wraps up by noon. It’s a schedule organizers said was designed to avoid the hottest part of the day. Staff runs mandatory water breaks every 10 to 20 minutes and distributes frozen treats throughout the morning session.

One cooling measure was not part of the original plan. After checking the forecast early in the week, organizers contacted Wilbraham town officials and arranged for a splash pad to be activated on-site. “And then also the city was great enough to turn on the splash pad for us, so we can cool them down a little bit in the morning,” said Blue Sox President Matt Drury.

The safety measures extend to the older Blue Sox players who serve as camp counselors. Those athletes have access to misters and cooling tubs in the dugout at McKenzie Stadium in Holyoke. “You plan for everything and try to just be as prepared as possible,” Drury added. “And we don’t want to ever have to stop because of what’s going on with Mother Nature. We want to be able to kind of play through it.”

Spots remain open in upcoming Valley Blue Sox clinics. The team hosts camps in Greenfield and South Hadley later this month. More information is available at valleybluesox.com.

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