SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Following a historic 2026 season, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles hosted their annual youth baseball camp on Tuesday and Wednesday. 120 kids with ages ranging from five to 13 years old participated in the two-day event. 

“These kids just love being out here and playing,” Golden Eagles’ Head Coach Chase Jones said, “It’s good for our guys to see the enjoyment in the kids, but also they’re the ones that are giving the instruction. They’re having to take the things that we teach them and turn around to teach the little ones, so it helps our guys as well. It’s just a fun week of camp.”

Last year, Jones said they had 100 kids participate. This year, following a historic 31-11 season that finished with the program’s first-ever state tournament berth, the Golden Eagles were able to add an additional 20 participants for this year’s edition.

“It’s definitely exciting,” said Jones, “Baseball is doing well in Bedford County. We have 120 kids here, a lot of these kids are Shelbyville kids, some of them are Cascade, some others are Community. The hope is that with the excitement and work a lot of adults put into the Little League program and other things, that it will be beneficial to all Bedford County schools. You look around here, there are some kids at each age group that I look at and think that if they keep working they could be a good player.”

Jones has his players run the individual stations, teaching the younger children everything from baserunning to fielding to hitting, as well as character lessons. 

“These kids just love being out here and playing. It’s good for our guys to see the enjoyment in the kids, but also they’re the ones that are giving the instruction. They’re having to take the things that we teach them and turn around to teach the little ones, so it helps our guys as well. It’s just a fun week of camp. It means a lot for our kids to run the stations. It kind of goes into the 12 for 12 philosophy of passing it forward and handing it down to the next group. It’s awesome.”