For the eighth year, the Mount Gilead High School Baseball team held their Community Service Day at the Flying Horse Farms as volunteers for the camp flip project.
The annual service event, organized by Head Coach Greg Gompf, is part of his coaching philosophy:
“I was fortunate to have a college coach at the University of Toldeo that instilled in me the value of serving others,” the coach said. “Teaching my players the love and respect for the game is important, but teaching them the value in serving others, working with them to complete a project and showing them that service can be fun will hopefully develop life skills each player can use beyond high school.”
Gompf believes the annual community service project allows for team building and unity for his players.
“Every year we look for a project that allows the players to come together for a common cause,” he continued. “We choose the camp flip project because it allows for us to provide a manual labor service that the other local service organizations cannot.”
The baseball team spent the day picking up fallen tree limbs, hauling heavy logs from pathways and tree lines, and filling in potholes that had developed over the winter.
“I feel it is important to give back to our community,” Second year volunteer Coach and Tidy Tim employee Zack Gosset, said as he worked alongside the players during their community service day. We are providing a much needed service for Flying Horse Farms. At the same time, we are showing our players the power of teamwork and pride in a job well done.”
“Working together in this camp clean up, to make a difference in the lives of young campers and having fun while doing so will hopefully translates to a team effort on the baseball field,” said senior Mount Gilead baseball player Cameron Brown.
Brown went on to say that his team had worked extremely hard in the off-season and was hopeful for a successful season.
“This is a great bonding day for our team,” Jake Wayt, senior catcher, echoed. “We get to help the community that supports us year round, and we show the community there is more to us than just baseball players.”
Wayt went on to say that he is hopeful for a good season, finishing better than 2015. Mount Gilead finished their 2015 season as sectional champs and lost in the semi-district playoff.
The Mount Gilead Baseball players and coaches spent Saturday on their annual community service project. This year, they partnered with Flying Horse Farms for their Camp Flip program.
