Girls ages 4 to 12 were at the Athens softball field this week for the Golden Eagles camp.

Head Coach Travis Barnes said that getting the kids at camp in the summer is important to the sustainability of the program.

“My job only exists if I have softball players coming through, so it’s just good to start building them,” Barnes said. “They can start hearing the terminology we use … they can already learn it so if they’re in the Athens School system, if they come to camp every year, they’ll kind of be ready once they get to middle school.”

Once they reach middle and high school, they become the coaches at the camp themselves, helping them learn important values along the way.

“During the year, I’ll coach them and teach them the fundamentals, but a lot of times you’ll find that you’ll learn a lot better by teaching yourself,” Barnes said. “This is stuff that we do every day, and for them to be able to teach it to the young ones that’s kind of special and teaches them what it’s like to be a coach.”

Morgan Stiles, a rising senior and the 6A hitter of the year, could be found in her element teaching the girls how to hit in the batting cages. But she started out young, just like a lot of the other girls on the team, and Barnes talked about the hitter when she was younger.

“I can remember this very day on this field she was up there hitting when she was 8 years old, and I threw a pitch and she hit it and hit me in the shin with it,” Barnes said. “It’s just neat to be here long enough to see a lot of these when they’re 7 to 8 years old, and now they’re coming through the softball program.”

Stiles has also watched some of the young kids come up through her years at the camp and has an appreciation for the coaching she gets to do in the camp.

“Some of the ones from the little group, they come back and they’re the older ones, and it’s just adorable to see their progress even in small amounts is just amazing,” Stiles said.

The progress comes from all the work they do on the basic skills throughout the camp.

“For me, fundamentals were pushed into me from such a young age. So it’s really important to me to instill that in them so they can work on that on their own, because it’s the biggest part of our sport,” Stiles said.

Barnes said having the kids learn these skills early on is what helps them to become better players in the long run.

“Once you get to middle school, or once you get to that higher level of softball, you’ve already got those fundamentals set and you’re not having to learn them as a 13-year-old,” Barnes said.

“It’s so fun. They’re great. They’re adorable, and I just love it so much. I like giving back to the community, putting in a little effort into something,” Stiles said. “They all watch us, and so we get to help them and it’s so fun and they all enjoy it.”

Barnes said this year there were more than 50 girls who came out to play at camp, which is really encouraging.

“I like to see that, because I like to see the interest in softball. You know there’s other sports, other activities to do and … to see 53 out here that makes me feel good to see where softball is headed,” Barnes said.

The community has been really important to Stiles, and seeing them come support them at games and then get to teach them too has been fun. She said she’s enjoyed being out here and teaching the little ones year after year.

“It’s a little bittersweet. My time here is coming to an end, and I get to go onto bigger things. But, I also love the Athens community, so I’m happy that I even got the chance and the opportunity to do this period,” Stiles said.