Bryan Henry teams up with Chicago Cubs baseball manager for father-son baseball camp

Every year, Bryan Henry (Assistant Baseball Coach for Florida A&M University) and David Ross (manager for the Chicago Cubs baseball team) provide a baseball camp for student athletes and their fathers.

This year was no different - even with the bone-chilling cold, a large turnout filled two fields and the practice batting cages at Lawton Chiles High School in late January.

Despite a bout of cold weather during late January, Henry and Ross said the annual baseball camp had a ‘great’ turnout, with kids coming out to learn to play baseball.

The camp has been going on for 14 years, and each of the successful baseball camps have inspired numerous parents and local students of the North Florida region to learn, play, and love the game.

“Baseball has been instrumental in my life,” Henry explained to a Gadsden County Times reporter. “I’ve played it competitively starting at the age of six. It has taught me so many life lessons and I am lucky enough to make a career out of the game.”

How did Henry and Ross become friends and what was the event in their lives that inspired them to start the baseball camp together?

“My best friend growing up was Brad Jackson. Brad’s older brother, Jason (who is the pitching coach at Alabama), was best friends with David. So, we knew of each other at a younger age, but we didn’t really become good friends until my professional career started in 2007,” said Henry. “During that off season, we trained together at Titus Sports in Tallahassee. It was during that off season the camp came about. It was actually our dads (Jim Henry and David Ross) who thought of it, and we did our first camp in January 2008.”

This year marked 14 years of the Father-Son Baseball Camp and when asked which event was his favorite, he eagerly responded.

While there have been highlighted events of each camp held throughout the years, Henry says he doesn’t have a true ‘favorite’ out of the years.

Bryan Henry (left) is the assistant baseball coach at Florida A&M University. Pictured on the right is David Ross, the manager for the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The two run a yearly baseball camp for father-son duos in Tallahassee.

Henry remarks that the camps held after David Ross won the World Series in Boston and then again in Chicago were ‘fun’ as the camps served to honor Ross’ accomplishments.

“But each camp we finish is my favorite,” Henry adds. “To see the smiles of both dads and sons and hear everyone talk about how much fun they had makes each year my favorite.”

This year’s camp took place in Tallahassee on January 22.

Despite the extreme cold weather, Henry expressed how he felt about the event: “It was definitely cold, that’s for sure. We were thrilled with the turnout despite the weather. Once everyone got moving around it wasn’t that much of a factor. I’ll take cold over rain any day!”

In further discussion, when asked if he had thought about any changes that could be made to the program and where he thought improvements could be made, he responded by stating, “As athletes and competitors, we are always looking for ways to get better. We have made little changes here and there but at the end of the day, this camp is about dads and some moms spending quality time and learning the game of baseball with their sons.”

Love the sport of baseball?

Another camp is in the works for next year and applications for fathers and sons will be available once it is scheduled and announced.

Patricia Smith - Gadsden County News Service

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Bryan Henry teams up with Chicago Cubs baseball manager for father-son baseball camp

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Black History Month contests announced by Florida First Lady

Catching up with the Jameses: spotlighting the 50 year love story of Gadsden County natives

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CAT TALES – Phone Cats

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