Words by Anna Lee Vaughn | Images by Ryan McGill
Camden Watkins was hooked on sports from the age of three.
He began playing baseball for Oakman Park and Recreation and continued until he was five, when he tried out for a travel team, the Walker County Thunder. After making the team, a six-year-old Camden was throwing a baseball around in his house one day when his parents, Barry and Keona, realized how deep his love for the sport ran.
“He was in the house and kept playing and playing, and I was like, ‘Please, Cam, just stop for a minute,’” Keona recalls. “And he said, ‘God made me that way. I can’t help it, Mom!’”
From then on, Camden knew baseball would be a huge part of his life.
He continued playing for the Walker County Thunder before trying out for The Right Way, a team based in Pinson, Alabama, when he was eight. This team has helped Camden develop his skills and love for the game for the past three years.
Now 11 years old, Camden had the opportunity to try out for USA Baseball in Hoover, Alabama, this past summer.
Out of more than 1,000 hopefuls from the Southeast region, Camden was among 32 players selected to advance to a second tryout in Cary, North Carolina. There, he was chosen among the top 35 out of 250 players and placed on a regional team of 15.
Camden is now waiting to hear whether he will be chosen for the 12U national team, which would give him the chance to play in Taiwan.
Throughout the tryout process, Camden focused on the basics. “I kept thinking about the simple things I couldn’t forget, like my attitude and basic things about baseball to make sure I did my best and made the team,” Camden says.
As he awaits the final decision, Camden continues to train and work as hard as he has since he first fell in love with the sport. His future goals include keeping good grades, going to college, and making it to the big leagues, all while living by his team’s motto: “God, Family, Education, Baseball,” in that order.
The Walker Leader congratulates Camden on this exciting opportunity and wishes him the best in his future baseball career! WL
