Baseball Has Been Very Good to Me - Week 1 (5/21)

Baseball has been an important part of my life growing up. From making lifelong friends to playing in the Dominican Republic it has offered me so many opportunities. As a Catlin student, through community engagement, I have developed a deeper care for my community around me. My senior project combines these two aspects of my life. 

I will be working with a coach, mentor, and family friend of mine named Gerald Bolden to make videos instructing kids on the basics of baseball. These videos will be made for Friends of Baseball, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching kids life lessons and life skills through the sport of baseball. The videos I will be making are directed towards young children who have never even picked up a bat or a glove (around 6-8 years old), as well as their parents. 

Gerald Bolden:

The first week of my senior project consisted of the fundamental groundwork that will allow for the next steps of the project to occur. I reached out to a professional videographer who can help film and edit the videos to enhance their quality. I scheduled a time for Gerald and a Friends of Baseball volunteer, as well as the videographer, to meet together for filming (Sunday, May 30th). The plan is to do as much filming as possible in one day, so hopefully, it will only require one or two filming sessions. That's why this week was so important in terms of the logistics. If everything is laid out in advance then the production will run more smoothly.

The plan is to make four individual videos, each covering a specific topic of baseball fundamentals. 

1. Batting

2. Throwing

3. Catching

4. Fielding

The actual teachings and advice provided in the videos will come from Gerald's expertise because a man who has played and coached baseball for around 40 years is just a little bit more qualified than I am. However, we will be sharing the on-video air time relatively evenly. He will do about 60-70% of the talking and I will be performing the respective actions and sharing out information that I think is important to add. A crucial aspect of this project is developing a "script" with the baseball knowledge Gerald provides to create a natural, engaging, and informative product. I say script in quotation marks because, although there is a predetermined dialogue, the goal is not to follow it line by line. 

I held a meeting with Gerald to make sure we were on the same page about what the videos will consist of and how we will go about making them. I have also begun working on the "script" for the four main videos but concluding that will be the next steps for the following week. I will meet again with Gerald to gain his insight into the educational content as I finalize the prep work.

My three goals for my senior project are to:

1. Have fun! 

Baseball is all about fun.

2. Give back. 

Working for an organization like Friends of Baseball gives me an opportunity to help the greater community. I also have the opportunity to give back to Gerlad who has given so much to me.

3. Try something new.  

I have never made a professional video let alone a series of them. However, I am excited to do something new and use the presentation and teaching skills I have developed throughout my Catlin education.