The Better Baseball Academy held its first camp on Dec. 8 in Pella, Iowa. The free camp featured pitching instruction by Rick Mathews of the Colorado Rockies, and hitting instruction by Jonathan Mathews of Indian Hills Community College. More than 50 players between 6 and 18 years old attended the daylong camp, held at Pella Community High School.

Matt Ballou, the Better Baseball Academy's co-founder, kicked off the camp introducing Rick and Jonathan Mathews, as well as the other instructors at the camp, which included 10 former and current college and professional players from Southeastern Iowa. Matt shared insider's tips on how to become successful players and "take their game to the next level."

Rick Mathews, who went to the World Series in 2007 as bullpen coach of the Colorado Rockies, showed the young players how to fine-tune their pitching skills. The participants also picked up new pitching drills to keep improving after the intensive training session. After lunch, the players worked with Jonathan Mathews on their hitting skills. The camp concluded with players honing their swings in batting drills and batting practice.