As healthcare officials urge the population to practice social distancing in effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), there has been an increase in usage across social media platforms.
Viral challenges have circulated on Instagram and Twitter — ones that require a response to a question and the tagging of friends.
With virtually every professional sports league currently on hold, athletes are using their free time to interact with fans while putting their own creative twist on the popular challenges going around.
Multiple Los Angeles Dodgers players past and present, including Alex Wood, Ross Stripling David Freese and Justin Turner, shared valuable advice to young baseball players.
Best advice I could give a young ball player would be to a) play/practice multiple positions as long as possible so your capable of making different types of throws and b) HAVE FUN!!!! Tag 3 players @RossStripling @BauerOutage @kFarm17
— Alex Wood (@Awood45) April 4, 2020
Stay positive and keep working hard. The harder you hustle, the more fun you have. And being a good teammate goes a long way! @JTaillon19 @Jack9Flaherty @kikehndez https://t.co/WAFumX6q8H
— Ross Stripling (@RossStripling) April 4, 2020
Advice to young players 1) Stay focused thru adversity. It will slow the game down. Better chance for good things to happen 2) It’s your dream not your dad’s 3) Always the person you are on the field is more important than the player you are @UncleCharlie50 @RealCJ10 @redturn2 https://t.co/1I21qyVs3u
— David Freese (@DavidFreese) April 5, 2020
@Nomar5 @OrelHershiser @kikehndez pic.twitter.com/lzjaEbUIbU
— Justin Turner (@redturn2) April 6, 2020
Turner, one of the league’s most respected players, encouraged the youth to enjoy the process, to not let criticism get in the way of accomplishing goals and to make an effort to gain the trust of teammates.
Last August, Turner hosted a Citi ProCamp for the third consecutive year — a baseball clinic that is open to players in grades 1 through 8.
Turner addressed each group and shared his philosophy behind getting into an optimal fielding position. He then watched as kids fielded ground balls, offering words of encouragement and reminders of the talking points.
“This is fun, this is exciting,” Turner said at the time. “I know how much it means to the kids because I was that kid who enjoyed being around. I was around college guys in the camps I went to.
“Anything I can do to impact and hopefully create a dream for a kid, make them work harder or longer and get a scholarship to go to college, I’m all for that.”
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