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Sowden Flanagan Baseball Training firing up after COVID-19 shutdown

Off again, on again situation officially ‘on’ as indoor facility prepares to open on Monday
Sowden Flanagan Molleken
Craig Flanagan (left) and Shane Sowden pause for a photo with former Major League Baseball prospect Dustin Molleken during a series of pitching clinics this past winter.
Sowden Flanagan Baseball Training is officially getting ready for the season.

But not after a fair amount of wrangling just to get to this point in the first place.

The local facility endured a bit of an off-again, on-again situation in recent days as plans to re-open were held in limbo, but the word came down from the Saskatchewan Government earlier this week that yes, once and for all, they were good to go.
And now the preparations begin at their Hillcrest Sports Centre facility.

“Everybody in general is wondering what’s going on, and it was nice to get some clarity on Monday,” said Shane Sowden, who runs the SFBT alongside fellow longtime Moose Jaw baseball standout Craig Flanagan. “Now all the fun paperwork and prepping the facility has begun, and it’s nice to get going again.”

There was some question as to whether or not they’d be able to open at all before Phase 4 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, questions that lingered well longer than Sowden would have liked, but lobbying for a simple fair shake worked out in the end.

“After talking to the government (Tuesday) for the 10th time or whatever, they basically told us that we sit underneath the gym and fitness facility protocols, even though technically baseball isn’t supposed to be open until Phase 4,” he said.

“The other three [baseball training] facilities in the province were open and doing baseball stuff, Gymtastiks opened up, the tennis club in the Hillcrest had opened up, so it was really frustrating. We understand that baseball isn’t opening until Phase 4, but why are other places being given the green light, what’s going on? So after all those conversations, one government official said we fit under the gym stuff, and that was then we got the go-ahead.”

Since then, SFBT has been keeping in close contact with RBI baseball training out of Regina to create a consistent system with what they’re doing.

And to say things are going to be different is quite an understatement.

“Basically, we’re going to be down to three or four activities, since you can do whatever you can without sharing equipment,” Sowden said. “We  have to follow all the cleaning and sanitizing and stuff, follow social distancing, everything that gyms and places like that have to go through.”

Social distancing means only four or five players will be allowed in the facility at a time, with SFBT putting down a six-foot grid through their entire building in order to label that distance.

Things get really stringent went comes to practices themselves, with the biggest issue coming out of the aforementioned no sharing of gear.

Which includes baseballs and softballs.
 

Sowden Flanagan baseballThe hitting cages at Sowden Flanagan Baseball Training and the facility in general will have a bit of a different look when things re-open on Monday.
“Kids can only throw into a net, we’re not allowed to play catch because that would be sharing the baseball,” Sowden explained. “Some of the training we do with the kids, we already to do that, but not there’s no playing catch at all, which is too bad because especially for the younger kids that’s a major skill to develop.”

Players can hit off a tee in batting cages and pitchers can throw to a target, and ground balls can be taken off the wall, all of which have drills and plans that can be used to make things more entertaining.

“From a baseball standpoint, it’s bare basics that we’ll be able to do, but it’s better than nothing,” Sowden said. “We’re happy that we can provide this and at least give kids a chance to work on some things before they get outside… we’re busy right now, but we’re thankful to be busy and even though it’s been a bit of a gong show the last week we’re looking forward to getting going.

The feedback has been really good and we’re excited to have a chance.”

That excitement will only increase once they can head out and actually take the field – something that will hopefully happen within the next month.

“This is our first year running this, and when we shut down in March, it was just where we were seeing kids’ growth and how much more they’re improving after working with us all winter,” Sowden said. “Craig and I are coaching our teams, but we wanted to go out and see these other guys and how they’re playing and growing… Then the last two months, almost all that progress just stops. That’s the frustrating part, but it is what it is and we’re going to try and make up some ground in the next two weeks.”

Be sure to keep an eye on their website and Facebook page for more information, including as to when bookings can take place.

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