No glove, no problem at clinic

One of the Tennessee Lady Vols softball players was surprised when several children arrived at Saturday's free baseball and softball clinic at Caswell Park without gloves.

Second baseman Kenora Posey wasn't surprised a bit. She didn't have a glove either when she was a youngster.

Posey, a UT senior this year, grew up in South Central Los Angeles.

"There was poverty, drug use, and violence going on in the area," Posey said. "I went to school at Crenshaw High School, which was not a good school at the time, but somehow I decided to get out of that atmosphere."

Her ticket out was softball, and her career in that sport started with a program called Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, which is sponsored by Major League Baseball.

The program started with baseball and expanded into softball.

Saturday's clinic at Caswell Park wasn't an RBI program, but it was a chance for UT's baseball and softball players and coaches to give children an opportunity to experience their sports.

"I think it's important that every child has the opportunity to play softball," UT co-head softball coach Karen Weekly said. "This is a clinic that can expose softball and get the Lady Vols out to help some of the inner-city kids get a start and hopefully get them interested in the game."

Posey, who helped the Lady Vols to a runner-up finish in the College World Series, got her start in softball when she was 11.

Major League Baseball was just starting the RBI program in each of its cities that had an MLB team, so Posey signed up for the softball program in Los Angeles.

Posey was featured along with Boston Red Sox second baseman Coco Crisp in an ESPN program that aired Aug. 24 entitled "The RBI Story."

Posey and Crisp told their stories of inner-city life and how the RBI program propelled their careers.

"Kenora Posey is a great example of a program that focused on helping inner-city kids have access to the sport of softball," Weekly said, "and you look at where she came, from South Central LA, and how she's here at Tennessee and going to get her degree and graduate, that's really the ultimate goal, to help these kids into adulthood, get their educations, and be able to be productive citizens."

The City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation Office teamed with UT's coaches and student-athletes to provide Saturday's clinic and the necessary equipment.

For three friends from Vine Middle School, it was their first chance to play softball. Tyshanna Bell, Tonia Carter, and Joeneisha Wallace didn't have a glove, bat or ball when they arrived at Caswell Park.

"I feel appreciated," Wallace said. "I'll teach even more children how to play (softball) at school and I'll teach my family."

Carter said most of her classmates at Vine Middle are focused more on football, basketball, track and even volleyball, and baseball and softball are not as popular.

Posey would like that to change.

"Once I graduate, that's what I've decided to do," Posey said. "I want to go into different communities and talk to them about softball and relate it to life skills and how to prepare yourself for the outside world by using softball as a tool to get there."

UT baseball coach Todd Raleigh didn't expect to see any Major Leaguers at the clinic, but he hopes it got some youngsters involved in baseball.

"I think we get one or two (players) interested and it is a success," Raleigh said. "A lot of these kids didn't bring a glove, so it tells you they're not playing a lot at home, so if they came today and have a positive experience, it might be the hook to get them to play."