The Atlanta

Braves will report to spring training at the beginning of next month,

but local boys and girls in first grade and up will get a chance to meet

and learn from several Braves and other major league players before they

leave.

There will

be a free baseball clinic offered at the Fayette County High School baseball

field this Saturday. Registration begins at 12:15 p.m. and the clinic

lasts from 1-4 p.m. Atlanta Braves Keith Lockhart, Kevin Millwood, Terry

Pendleton and John Smoltz will be in attendance, as will Boston Red Sox

catcher Jason Varitek and Michael Barrett of the Montreal Expos.

The clinic

is sponsored by New Hope Baptist Church, Harp's Crossing Baptist Church,

Flat Creek Baptist Church, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Liberty Baptist

Church and Unlimited Potential, Inc., which is operated by Tim Cash, a

former major leaguer himself with the Houston Astros and now a chaplain

with the Braves. Cash has an ongoing Bible study with a number of professional

baseball players and puts on two baseball clinics a year, one on the north

side of Atlanta and one on the south side.

Last year there

was a clinic sponsored by McDonough Road Baptist and put on by former

Brave Sid Bream.

"We learned

a lot with last year's clinic," said Pastor David Chancey. "The

community enjoyed it and it was a good experience to build on."

This year,

Chancey teamed up with Al Mead, the associate pastor and minister of sports

and recreation at New Hope Baptist Church; Jerry Cross, associate pastor

at Flat Creek Baptist Church and Ken Nelms, associate pastor at Harp's

Crossing Baptist Church, to put on a larger clinic for what they hope

to be a larger crowd.

"We had

approximately 300 children attend last year's clinic, which conflicted

with opening day of Little League," said Chancey. "This year,

we are having the clinic before the start of Little League and before

the start of spring training so that current players are available."

The churches

are excited to be working together. It was a way to share the workload,

parcel out the responsibilities and have it be a community effort. The

cooperation among the churches reaches more congregations and fosters

more excitement around the community. Mead is currently overseeing a basketball

season at New Hope that includes over 40 churches.

"The leaders

have come together for the kids and given them something special,"

said Mead. The pastors also stressed the synergy of the group and their

effort to put on a good event for the community.

The clinic

will be set up with a player at every station and children in each age

group will move from station to station. There will be stations for hitting,

fielding, pitching, throwing, baserunning and more. Several of the players

will also share their personal story of faith. There will be door prizes

and a chance to get autographs.

Children attending

the clinic are asked to wear recreation clothes and tennis shoes. In the

case of inclement weather, the clinic will take place in the old Fayette

County High School Gym. Parents are asked to park in the Fayette County

High School parking lot. There is no cost for the clinic.

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