Imagine being in an arena in front of millions of people all cheering and watching you. Did you know that one of our seniors, Michael Kamper, who is a member of our Wayne Valley baseball team, achieved this feat at the 18th Annual World Power Showcase?
Michael Kamper is a senior who plays third base and pitches. In the derby, Kamper placed fourth out of twenty of the nation’s best power hitters. With his family and friends cheering him on, Kamper says, “It was the absolute best to have my family there watching me, as last time I went to Arizona, I was missing them. They are always my biggest supporters, and without them I don’t know how I could have gone through it.”
Although Kamper may not have won, he and his supporters still think he did amazingly well at the derby, located in Arizona. While there, he hit a ball at 114 mph and 468 feet. Kamper says, “I personally think I did well, but I could have done a tiny bit better to bring home a title.”
Kamper was nominated for the derby, and he says that the CEO offered him a spot through a ‘state leaderboard’ for his home runs and reached out to him. “The CEO of the event found me through the State leaderboard for homeruns and, after watching some video of me, reached out to me and my father last May.”
Ever since Kamper was little, he has known about this event. He has watched an MLB player, Bryce Harper, and a future MLB player, Blaze Jordan, since he was little, and they were even at the derby he was in! Kamper says how he has “…known about this event since [he] was about 7 years old. Other big names like Bryce Harper and Blaze Jordan have come out of this event, and [he] remembers watching them when [he] was young.”
After Wayne Valley’s spring baseball season, you can catch Kamper as he plays for Iona University next year.
