As part of our efforts to stimulate the growth of youth involvement in baseball and softball programs in the District of Columbia and its surrounding areas, the Washington Nationals, in partnership with Smithfield, will host a series of baseball clinics. Nationals coaches and strength trainers are on hand to offer young children a real baseball workout and offer pointers on how to improve their game or just understand baseball a little better.

On April 26th, the first baseball clinic was held at Nationals Park. The participants in attendance were all members of the DC RBI program. D.C. RBI is a community based organization that uses baseball as a mechanism to provide school-aged children and youth with sports and educational enrichment. The local chapter of Major League Baseball's RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program, D.C. RBI works with the Washington Nationals, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation, and the District of Columbia Public Schools to provide professional baseball training and development, along with mentoring programs, to inner-city boys and girls, particularly in Wards 6, 7, and 8.

Upcoming 2008 clinics:

1. Saturday, June 21 FULL, no longer accepting registrations
2. Tuesday, July 8 (Softball)
3. Saturday, July 12 FULL, no longer accepting registrations
4. Saturday, August 30
5. Saturday, September 20

The Washington Nationals partner with the Washington Glory, the Greater Washington, DC area's professional Softball team, to provide DC area girls with a professionally run softball clinic. On hand are members of the Glory to run drills and show girls how to strengthen their softball skills.

1. Tuesday, July 8

For further information, e-mail us at community.relations@nationals.com. Spaces are limited. Sign-ups are on a first come first-served basis.

The purpose of the Baseball Tomorrow Fund Equipment Drive is to collect gently used or new baseball equipment, i.e. gloves, tees, baseballs, softballs, for an area youth sports non-profit organization. In addition, a $5000 grant was given to this year's beneficiary, District of Columbia Parks and Recreation, to purchase new equipment for D.C. Little League. This year 10 bins of equipment and over $600.00 were collected.

• 2007 - National Black Church Initiative
• 2006 - DC RBI
• 2005 - Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington

PHR is a national grassroots initiative in which youngsters ages 7-14 have the opportunity to showcase their skills in pitching, hitting and running.

Boys and girls participate together, with winners advancing from Local Competitions to Sectional Competitions to individual MLB Team Championships and finally the National Finals at the 2008 All-Star Game. This competition is free for all youngsters.

The Nationals will host the Team Championships on the morning of June 7th at Nationals Park.

Pepsi Pitch, Hit & Run, RFK Stadium 56K | 56K

This program is run and implemented by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS). They work with all Major League Clubs to conduct nutrition and fitness clinics for children.