The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

By Rick Campbell Chronicle Staff Writer In less than 24 hours from now. some good Baden ehed- dar cheese and a Waterloo women's Mennonite cook- book will be circulating around Fresno. Calif. Fresno? Thanks to the diligent ef- forts of many people on both sides of the border, the Wa- terloo minor peewee Tier II Panthers will be winging west to the land of the gol- den sun tomorrow to engage in a week of exhibition games and more important- ly, cultural exchange with the people of Fresno, The trip was spearheaded by Panther coach Bill Brown, who coached last year at the Fresno Junior Hockey Academy. _ "Through working with these people last August. we made plans to bring our team down. We've contact- ed them throughout the year to make arrangements." said Brown last Friday. It was a roundabout way that the Waterloo coach got associated with the Fresno people. Brown and interim Major Junior A commissioner Sherry Bassin coached to- gether a few years back in Pickering and were partners in a hockey school in Chicago. “We were just sitting around the tStrattord) club- house last year chewing the fat." said Schooley last week “A couple of the guys were pointing out that the kids today just don't know the proper fundamentals of the game and that Canadian kids are In great need of bet- ter coaching At that school was a goal- tender named Joe Biedron was on a hockey scholarship in Elmira, N.Y. He and Brown became friends but over the years they lost con- tact until Biedron assumed the post of athletic business manager at Fresno State University and asked Brown to come down and help operate a hockey school. That got the ball rolling. By Rick Campbell Chronic“ Sta" Writer Sometimes it takes a great deal of initiative to get the (baseiball rolling. And Dennis Schooley has taken exactly that. Schooley, a six-year ve- teran of the Stratford Hillers of the InterCounty Major Baseball League, has founded the "Dennis Schoo- ley Baseball School" to serve youngsters in the Southwestern Ontario re- gion Page " . Wuuioo Ohmic“. WM, Match 14, 1979 Kids need instruction It will be spring break for the Panthers, but not for the lads in whose homes they will be billeted. So one of the cultural highlights of the trip will see the Waterloo Schooley’s school set for summer CALIFW Other planned events in- clude a trip to Yosemite Na- tional Park, Sunmaid Rain- sin company, various win- eries and a Special Weapons and Tactics training centre. "Never mind the kids, rll be excited myself on that SWAT trip," said Brown with a laugh. “It should be most interesting." The Panthers, who fin- ished fourth in Hub League play and are awaiting a fina- list to vie for the league con- "No one had really done anything in this direction, so I just decided to get off my behind and do it myself. " Schooley's is not a hastily- constructed program as he has developed it from a mul- titude of sources. Included were consultations with American varsity baseball coaches, professional players, the use of over 200 books and articles on base- ball and Ontario Baseball Association coaching guides as source material. boys attending a day in school in Fresno. The Stratford manager has assembled an impres- sive list of instructors. In- cluded are 1977 Inter4lounty MVP Kevin Higgins, liryear veteran Hiller pitcher Doug Landreth, 1976 MVP Denis Flanagan and Hiller short- stop Mike Riou “We want to test the re- sponse in the area and pro- viding it's acceptable we'll be adding on more players and coaches as intruetors," said Schooley. Other contributors to the program include Montreal Expo Larry Landreth. former Kitchener Panther Bob McKillop. former Wa- terloo Tiger manager Gary Jeffries, and 1978 Inter- County MVP Jeff Jens. The reason behind this is that Meisner Travel Agency has an arrangement with United Airlines until March 30 that allows all children under 12 to travel free when accompanied by an adult. So while the adults will pay. the Panthers will travel free from Detroit tomorrow. Schooley pointed out that as instructors are added in each area they will attend his comprehensive Instruc- tors Clinic to keep the pro- gram uniform in each area. solation championship will, be accompanied on the trip by as many as 26 adults. in- cluding parents, grand- mothers and aunts. Each clinic will be set up for five days in Inter-County cities and smaller south- tern towns, Every day there will be six..hours of instruc- tions and practice Skills that will be taught include practice routines, conditioning. positional That is not to say there THE WATERLOO PANTHERS Two parents donated six different sets of reds to Maple Leaf games during the year and a raffle was held. A garage sale brought in $500 and the parents held a gourmet dinner which net- ted close to $200. The Panthers themselves have also been busy with bottle drives and so on. The team will be loaded down with momentoes from this area to leave with their have not been many fun- draising efforts by the club. play. base running, hitting teamwork and many others "For the younger kids iCll be pretty basic, batting, hunting, throwing and pick- DENNIS SCHOOLEY ...takos big step CHRONICLE SPORTS-LINE 886-2830 The Oktoberfest commit- tee has donated a bagful of Oktoberfest dollars and but- tons and the team has pucks crested with their name. Various companies such as Baden cheese have also don- ated products and one of the more unique gifts will be Edna Staebler's cookbook Food that really Schmecks! hosts Brown has been in touch with the Fresno people twice a week on the average tving up loose ends, mt ing up grounders," said Schooley. "The older kids will graduate to more ad- vanced things, but the basics will still be stressed." No more than 40-45 players will be accepted at any one park and age group classifications are: 1965 and older. 1966-67, 1968-70, and 1971-72. Each day of practice will include mini-games for the participants' enjoyment, These games will include bunting into a basket, throw- ing at a target. and so on Applications have been sent to most youngsters in the 1978 minor baseball pro- gram The last day applica- tions will be accepted is April 30. on a first come. first served basis Dates for the clinic in Wa, terloo are Julv 23-27 (14 and there have not been too many since the Californians have organized everything and are most eager to be gracious hosts. "They tFresno) took a po- laroid of each player and put together a fact sheet to send to us to match our kids for billeting purposes." said Brown. "We did the same, with our guys sending the a letter about themselve‘ "WeYe really anxious. get down there. The Fresno people are very sociable and love to be good to people. Considering the number of Canadians in the major lea- gues today (five) represents less than one percent of the total, Schooley and his as- sociates are right on in re- cognizing the need for in- structional schools older). July 30-Aug.3 (12-13 year-olds), and Aug. 20-24 (7-8-year-olds). The 9-11- year-old dates have not been confirmed but will also be in August. "Our immediate goal is. see improvement in the ln- ter-County and minor base- ball leagues in the area. Our ultimate goal is to see as many as possible make the pros" They've started the ball rolling Now it's up to us to take advantage of it Further inquiries can be made care of the school at 576-9200.