The Hank Aaron Sports Academy will host the 3rd Annual Fantastic 44 Summer Program, which is an accumulation of the top 100 minority High School baseball players in the state of Mississippi with the top 44 players on teams named after two of Hank Aaron's team-mates Dusty Baker ("Clutch-Batters") and Ralph Garr ("Road-Runners).
These players and teams will be trained and coached by legendary NCAA Hall of Fame - Jackson State University's former Head Coach Robert "Bob" Braddy and former Jackson State Alumni Clint Johnson who was drafted as a pitcher into the Boston Red Sox organization (1978-1983).
Kevin Brown and Kurt Deluca both of whom played in the New York Mets organization will assist in training and coaching these top players from across the state for their second year as well, as these young players get the opportunity to play in highly competitive games for additional exposure and in front of local/regional college coaches.
ABOUT THE ACADEMY
HANK AARON SPORTS ACADEMY
The Hank Aaron Sports Academy (HASA) is designed to host youths from economically-disadvantaged areas of Mississippi and the southeastern region of the United States. For too long, the Jackson Public School District, located in the capitol city of Jackson, MS has had the unfortunate designation of one of the few if not the only school district to have seven (7) high schools and not one of them having its own (on- campus) baseball field. In 2017, a group of concerned coaches, parents and political leaders came together to determine how best to solve this issue. Born was the concept that would later come to be known as the Hank Aaron Sports Academy.Through local and national financial support the HASA will provide an opportunity for each of the seven high schools to host, practice and play games on a modern and up-to-date baseball facility. TheAcademy will also serve as the host for as many as 36 – 40 weekends of tournament baseball for ages 6-14 featuring both recreational leagues and travel leagues, many playing with and against each other in a setting such as this one offers. It is our hope and goal that this level of competition, exposure and training will increase our youths and their parents’ interest in the sport of baseball.
“Many of our youth don’t have the financial capabilities to compete in “travel ball” due to the costsassociated with hotels, rental cars, food and the other costs involved with going out of town 2 or 3weekends a month. Local HASL tournaments will now allow these same families to only need to travelan hour or so or in some cases just across town to play travel ball without all of the financial overhead” – Clint Johnson, League President.
With baseball becoming an almost year-round sport, the HASA will be able to offer the same
alternatives and opportunities to the youth of Mississippi and surrounding states as is experienced in somany other areas and countries where academies like this one prevail.
The Hank Aaron Sports Academy currently has 12 counties in Mississippi set up to participate in 2021 offerings. Please see the Participating Counties Map to see if your county is currently sanctioned to participate the 2021 Hank Aaron Sports Academy.
Sanctioned Counties currently have a county director, a volunteer selected by HASA to coordinate HASA efforts in their county. If you do not see your county listed and would like to volunteer to be a county director or would like to nominate someone to be a county director,
please email us at: hankaaronsports@gmail.com
ACADEMY REGISTRATION:
Parents with players 6u-14u who want to participate in Hank Aaron Sport Academy can register at the links listed below.
Thank you!
HASA Mgmt
PARTICIPATING MISSISSIPPI COUNTIES
PARENTS: Register your players here to participate in the Hank Aaron Sports Academy.
