Over the last several years, numerous softball players from Selma have moved on to play the game at the college level. On Saturday, many of those same players were back to help teach the game to the next generation of players during a free camp hosted by the Selma City Parks and Recreation Department and All in Sports Outreach.

Among the volunteers were former Auburn Montgomery pitcher Cassie Jones, Auburn’s Kendall Veach, Auburn Montgomery’s Amy Persinger and Auburn student manager Hunter Veach. Meadowview Christian’s Maggie Tipton was also teaching at the camp, just one day after signing with Faulkner University.

Numerous other volunteers also took part.

“It’s one of those things where [others] have kind of passed the torch, and it’s your job to encourage the next generation and promote it,” said Jones, who now serves as the softball coach at Pike Road School. “We have so many athletes here.”

Around 30 softball players took part in the camp Saturday at Bloch Park. They learned basic fundamentals, such as hitting, fielding and pitching.

“Our mission is to increase the level of interest in the game of softball and getting these kids in Selma the best opportunity … to have their best chance to compete at the highest level possible,” Hunter Veach said.

With so many coaches on hand, players were able to get a lot of one-on-one time.

The camp went in one-hour rotations starting with hitting and ending with fielding and pitching.

Some of the instruction was as basic as how to hold a bat correctly, but it got as advanced as teaching catchers which way to turn their glove to make pitches look more like strikes to umpires.

“To have these guys out here that I have and you put their experience together and what they’ve accomplished as players alone, it’s pretty much an all-star cast,” said city baseball and softball coordinator Jamie Tellier.

Earlier this year, the city held a free baseball camp that taught a lot of the same techniques.

Tellier and All in Sports Outreach thought it was important to hold a separate softball camp so that players could get the instruction they deserved.

Tellier said camps like Saturdays are the key to growing the sport in Selma.

“I hope we instill the fundamentals and that they know the basic stuff that they may have questioned before,” Tellier said.

“I just want them to have confidence and really learn the game of softball.”