Showtime Sports Academy recently hosted its 4th annual Pro-Players Night. The night was filled with entertainment. At  3p.m.,104.5 The Zone broadcasted live from one of the turf fields. All-pro Titan Blaine Bishop led his regular radio broadcast. By the time the broadcast ended, many of the players and lots of fans had arrived. The players included Ben Zobrist(Tampa Bay Rays), Joe Blanton(Philadelphia Phillies), Russell Branyan(Los Angeles Angels), Andy Simunic(Houston Astros), Matt Williams(St. Louis Cardinals), Corban Joseph(New York Yankees), Chris Jakubauskas(Baltimore Orioles), Tim Dillard(Milwaukee Brewers), Tim Smalling(Colorado Rockies), Joe Boever(St. Louis Cardinals), Caleb Joseph(Baltimore Orioles), Shay Crawford(Tampa Bay Rays), and Brandon Hynick(Cincinnati Reds). There were also multiple scouts and agents including Earl Wynn, Kevin Jarvis, and Ty York. There were also some former players including Jerry Bell(Milwaukee Brewers), John  Riedling(Cincinnati Reds), Tony Naile(St. Louis Cardinals), Erich Butler(Texas Rangers), Steve Hughes(Cincinnati Reds), Reggie Whittemore(Boston Red Sox), Tom Bolton(Boston Red Sox), and Franklin High School baseball coach Frank Glover. Door prizes were given away and some lucky kids got to ask questions. After all the prizes were given and questions were answered, the autographs started. There were  7 tables set up with  2 players at each ready to sign. The line of people wanting autographs wrapped almost all the way around the field. A big thanks to Sonic and Brixx Wood Fired Pizza for providing food. Everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting some of their favorite players. We hope all the players have a great season this year!

Tony Naile and Blaine Bishop talking.  Fans listening and watching

Ben Zobrist answering questions John Riedling got a replacement!

Tim Smalling and Andy Simunic signing autographs. Joe Blanton signing autographs.

The players all signing.

Showtime Sports Academy is hosting its 4th annual Pro-Players Night on Monday,January 16. Many professional baseball players will be there to talk and meet kids of all ages. They include Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays, Russell Branyan of the Seattle Mariners, Dan Uggla of the Atlanta Braves, Joe Blanton of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Corbin Joseph of the New York Yankees. There will also be professional scouts, agents, high school coaches, and others. 104.5 The Zone will be there covering the event, live from 3-6PM. The program will begin at 6:30PM and after, there will be a meet and greet with all the players! Make sure you bring something to write on and a sharpie! Hope to see you there!

If you have any question, call Showtime at 615-373-1105, email at "> or visit at showtimesportsacademy.com

For the past few weeks, boys and girls have been participating in Showtime Sports Academy’s Winter Baseball Camp! The camp was led by Showtime’s General Manager and former Redbird,Tony Naile. He got help from some other pro-players, including Steve Hughes, who played for the Cincinnati Reds; Andy Simunic, with the Houston Astros; Brandon Hynick, also with the Reds; Joe Boever, who pitched in the majors for 11 years; Erich Butler, with the Texas Rangers; and Matt Williams, with the St. Louis Cardinals. The campers were divided into 4 groups. Each group rotated stations every 20 minutes from throwing and pitching, hitting, infield, and speed and agility. Tampa Bay Rays second baseball Ben Zobrist came to talk to the campers and give them a few demonstrations. There were a lot of great athletes in the group. Don’t be surprised if you see some of these kids playing of TV in a few years!

Coming up in a couple weeks is another terrific baseball camp at Showtime Sports Academy! Winter Workout Camp will be starting October 18th. Anyone ages 6-14 is able to join. It will be twice a week for five weeks, on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The camp is designed to help players with the fundamentals of the game, such as: sliding, hitting, throwing, fielding, baserunning, and pitching. One unique aspect of this camp is that all the instructors are either former or current professional players.  Camp will last from 5:30-7:30 PM. If you are a member, the cost is $245.  If you are not a member it will be $295. Not a bad price for such a helpful camp!

If you have questions or would like to sign up for camp, you can print of a registration form at http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101545875545-187/2011+Winter+Workout+Camp.pdf and either fax it to 615-373-1299, email it to ">, bring it to 119 Seaboard Lane Suite 402, or even call 615-373-1105! Hope to see you at camp!

A few weeks ago, my family and I ventured up north and made our way to Boston, Massachusetts. All we heard about were "lobstahs" the "Hahvahd Yahd" and of course, "Fenway Pahk." My parents and I were curious as to the obsessions with these. We ate lobster rolls, visited the Harvard yard, and then, Fenway Park. Apparently, if there is not a game going on in Boston that day, you can get a tour of Fenway Park. Lucky for us they had just finished playing the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland. So we decided to check out Drew Sutton, an instructor at SHowtime Sports Academy.

The tour actually starts on the outside of the park. The group met at the team store just across the street.We all made our way over to see banners flying in red and blue. Red to identify the American League pennant, and blue to identify a World Series win. We all proceeded to Gate B. We saw countless concession stands, who knows how many thousands of people have bought food from here. The tour went on the stands right behind the first base dugout. People were "ooh"-ing and "aww"-ing at the sight of this old field. People were working tirelessly at the infield keeping the clay in perfect shape for tomorrow's game. They were watering the infield and the outfield, and making sure the grass was in perfect condition.

After this, we went up what felt like a million stairs to the right field bleachers. They are supposedly some of the best seats. There is a restaurant up there with waiters, tables, and bar stools. Sounds like the place to be on game day! Then, we were on our way to the nosebleeds above first base. The view was marvelous. You could see the entire field from here. The men on the field looked like little ants crawling in the grass. But I feel like watching a game from up there would be a blast.

Then we were on our way to the coolest part of the tour (and by cool I mean there was air-conditioning). The press box. The view was incredible. It was a little up, just above home plate. The whole field was in plain view. It was a beautiful sight. These press-folk can see all the action on the field and in the stands. My favorite thing to see from there was the lone red seat in the right field stands. Every seat was green, all except for one. This seat symbolizes the longest home-run ever hit by Ted Williams. Now that was a sight to see.

To me, the most interesting thing about Fenway Park is the history. It is the oldest park in Major League Baseball. What goes along with this are some of the greatest players in the game's history, such as: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk, Carl Yastrzemski, and so many others. One of the most interesting things about the park were the old seats. Going all around the infield, somewhat in the back, were the oldest seats in the Majors. They were the old navy-blue painted wood. They were gorgeous. And to think I actually got to sit in one! They even have a name for just about everything. Even the foul poles. The right field foul pole is called the Peski Pole. Named after Johnny Peski, it is the shortest distance in the Majors. Johnny Peski only had 17 home-runs in his whole career, and eight of them somehow wrapped around this pole. The left field foul pole is called the Fisk Pole. Carlton Fisk hit a home-run in game 6 of the World Series in 1975 to tie it up. The hit nearly went foul. The play is famous because as Fisk ran down the first base line, he was waving the ball fair and yelling at it. The ball went fair and the Sox won the game.

How many ball parks do you know of that still have a manual score board? Cause Fenway does. It is the oldest working manual score board in the Majors. There are little slots between the "ball," "strike," and "hit" signs for the score keepers to keep track of the game. There is also a memorial for the original owners of the team. In the white lines separating the teams stats, there are little black dots and lines. This is the memorial. Those little black dots and lines are the original owner's and his wife's initials in Morse Code. That's creative isn't it?

Then it was on to the most infamous wall. The Green Monster. Standing 37-feet high is how it got the name. Pretty self explanatory: it's green and it's the size of a monster. These seats were amazing. You could see everything from up here. There were stools and a little place to lean forward against. They supposedly sell out for the whole season in minutes. Doesn't surprise me a bit!

By now the tour was over but it sure was one heck of an experience. If you happen to ever make your way up to Boston, I highly recommend going to Fenway Park. There were even a few Yankees fans there! So even if you go for the pinstripes, this park is beautiful and will always be a part of baseball history, and earned it too.

This July, Showtime Sports Academy hosted a 3 day softball camp. The facility was filled with girls who just wanted to learn more about the game. It was similar to baseball camp since the girls were broken into three groups based on age. They basically took over the place, using both fields and some of the batting cages! The camp was lead by Leah Newman, who played for Independence High School and went on to Cleveland State Community College; Natalie Weissinger, who played at Southern Illinois University; and Julie Harmon, who pitched for Brentwood High School and Belmont University.

These girls got help on their hitting, fielding, base running, throwing, speed and agility. They also had door prizes and every camper received a certificate and a free Showtime t-shirt. Three lucky campers won a free lesson with one of the girls who led the camp, one camper for each of the leaders. And let me tell you, that is a good lesson. One randomly-picked camper won a free birthday party, valuing at $150 (can't lie, I'm somewhat jealous!).

If you would like to schedule lessons or a cage rental, call Showtime at 615-373-1105 or visit at 119 Seaboard Lane Suite 402.

Showtime Sports Academy's youngest active member, William Beach celebrated his 3rd birthday with here at Showtime! He had all of his friends to come play around. They had tees up to hit baseballs and even had a baseball piñata! They ate lots of cake that got a bit messy! But the kids had a great time and hopefully we will see William here again to celebrate his 4th!

The attendees were Brady Fenton, Elena Miller, Noah Ralph, Dylan Landa, Ariana Stephens, Ansley Womack, and Emily Redford

Tony Naile dragging around William and Brady

William may have his dream come true an be part of the Red Sox!

William really enjoyed his cake!

The big party table looked great!

This past week, I had the chance to sit down and talk with Tony Kemp. You may recognize this name as the Vanderbilt left-fielder. He went from the local baseball kid to a hometown hero. Born and raised here in Franklin, he attended Johnson Elementary, Freedom Intermediate, and then Centennial High.

At Centennial, he lettered all four years, made the All-District team his sophomore, junior and senior years, the All-Tournament team his junior and senior years, the All-Williamson County junior and senior years, the first team All-Midstate junior and senior years, and the second team All-State his senior year. That's a lot of accolades for one player. He can even brag about having a 540 batting average his senior season. For these reasons, he got the attention of colleges all over. Finally, he narrowed his choices down to East Carolina University and Vanderbilt University. He ended up choosing Vanderbilt for "education, academics…then baseball comes next." Also, at Vanderbilt you get "great education, great coaches, Nashville's a great area, and you have everything you need right there…and it's always good to be gold." He also loved the coaching staff Vandy had to offer. He talked about Coach Corbin being a sort of "father figure" to the players and how he was a "great mentor, great leader."

When I asked him about going to Omaha for the College World Series, he said the experience left him "speechless" and he talked about the excitement knowing "that's the first time that Vanderbilt as a school has ever been there." He said that overall, the trip was the "highlight of his life."

He said that he was "very fortunate" to be named the SEC Freshman of the Year and to the first team All-SEC and that the awards were "very humbling." He believed there were "a lot of other freshman that could have deserved that honor just as much as  did" and that he was truly "blessed."

You would think a freshman on one of the best baseball teams in the country would feel some pressure once he found out he would be leading off the batting order. But in this case, there was no time for pressure. Coach Corbin never told Tony he would be leading off, or even starting for that matter, but when he heard he would start "[his] ears kinda perked up." And then he saw the lineup, saw his hid name first, and "it kinda shocked [him]." He felt honored "with the trust [Corbin] puts in [him]."

Throughout the season, there were some moments that he won't be forgetting for a very long time. One of these moments, was after Vandy won the super regional and "dog-piling the field for the first time" and loved seeing all the "smiling faces and the fans so happy." Off the field, he remembers when the team took a white-water rafting trip on the Ocoee River here in Tennessee. He loved seeing "the baseball guys in lifejackets and scared to death just to get in the water." It's memories like these that Tony knows will last longer than any trophy or championship.

I got the honor of telling Tony that he led the entire SEC with 51 hits. Once he found out, all he could say was "Wow, that's an accomplishment!" He knew they got racked up one hit a time. And of course, he wouldn't take all of the credit. He thanks the "guys behind [him]" in the lineup that "made [him] feel comfortable enough knowing that if [he] was able to get on…those guys would move [him] around." He also didn't know he placed second in the SEC with the amount of runs scored with 33. He said this was also "a great accomplishment…being able to go out there in the first year, and feel comfortable, and play it like it's just another game."

Tony also believes next season will be just as good, if not better, even though the team lost 12 players to the MLB draft (which set and SEC record, might I add). He has so much confidence because "[the team] has such great guys coming back." But he knows "the leadership of Sonny Gray, Grayson Garvin, Taylor Hill, Curt Casali, Jason Esposito, Aaron Westlake, just those older guys. Losing them, that's tough." Although, he believes the players that are still there are definitely able to lead this team. He's just exciting that people now know that "Vanderbilt is a contender to go to the College World Series."

He definitely feels that the coaching at Centennial helped him get through Vandy. Coach Baughman, Coach Albertson, and Coach Brown helped him "relax and have for [his] senior year." They helped him out physically (his swing, throw, etc.) and mentally by keeping him relaxed.

He went up to Minnesota just days after I talked to him to play summer ball until mid-August. He hopes to have some scouts looking at him up there. He says that if any team could draft him, he would love to play for the St. Louis Cardinals. He grew up loving Jim Edmonds, Ozzie Smith, Albert Pujols, etc.. So look out Redbirds! There may be a new addition coming your way!

This June from the 27th through the 30th. It will be led but Showtime's GM and lesson instuctor Tony Naile, with the help of Dennis Winn and Erich Butler. This will include lessons in batting, fielding, throwing, sliding, pitching, base running, along with speed and agility. Anyone can sign up between the ages of 6 and 14. Campers will be placed in groups according to ages and will rotate stations to be sure every group gets a turn at each one. Their will be games and other competitions every day. It begins at 9AM and campers need to be picked up at 3PM. Campers would have to bring a lunch from home every day. Each camper will receive a t-shirt and have the chance to win other door prizes at the end of the week. It will cost $145 for all members and $195 for non-members. But it's not too late to sign up for a membership and get $100 off membership and camp fees!

If you would like more information or would like to sign up, call Showtime at 615-373-1105 today!

Showtime is located at 119 Seaboard Lane Suite 402 in Franklin, TN 37067