Young ballplayers from Norwalk will be hitting, fielding and pitching outdoors this week in preparation for the upcoming baseball season. With another coat of snow on the ground here, the Norwalk Baseball Club hit the road over the weekend for Delray Beach, Fla., where it is attending the Bucky Dent Baseball School.
The group has been attending the camp for about 15 years, says Joe Parlanti, vice president of Norwalk Babe Ruth baseball. The trips are organized by Gerald Anastasia, athletic director in the citys Recreation and Parks Department. Parlanti said about 45 players, mostly from Norwalk and a few from neighboring towns, made the trip. The players were scheduled to leave Friday night. After some mechanical issues with buses, the players and eight chaperones left Saturday morning and arrived in Florida Sunday.
The players work out at the camps from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day, with a half-hour break for lunch. The camp also includes scrimmages.
"Being in New England and knowing what we're up against with the weather, it's great for them to get down there for a week and work,'' Parlanti said. "It puts them so far ahead of the rest of the players. They get 800-1,000 swings, they get 200-300 ground balls a day. It puts them so far ahead of the curve."
Parlanti made the trip with his sons, Michael, 16, and Matt, 13. He has seen firsthand how the experience can benefit players. Matt made his first trip to the Dent school last year. He ended up helping the Cal Ripken All-Stars reach the World Series.
"It's a tremendous learning experience for the coaches, too,'' Parlanti said. "There's so much information being passed out to the kids, that we get a lot out of it."
The group plans to leave Florida Saturday and return home Sunday. When the baseball season begins in about a month, the players who went to Florida might not be in midseason form, but pretty close. "It really helps give them an edge,'' Parlanti said.
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