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CHICAGO BASEBALL & EDUCATION ACADEMY
Grand Kids - Grand Giving Indoor Youth Baseball Clinic at UIC from Coleture Group on Vimeo.
Curtis Granderson's Grand Kids Foundation | Granderson's Winter Youth Clinic Gallery
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 UIC baseball alum and current New York Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson, has collaborated with the University of Illinois at Chicago and the UIC Athletics department to establish the Chicago Baseball & Education Academy (CBEA). The CBEA has a mission of providing area youth with the opportunity to play baseball in a fun and safe environment, while offering educational experiences on a world-class college campus.
According to Sports Illustrated, Granderson's donation of $5 million dollars to help fund the newly constructed Curtis Granderson Stadium stands as the largest one-time gift from a professional athlete back to their alma mater.
"I started playing baseball when I was six years old" said Granderson. "In addition to developing lifelong friendships, this great game has taught me the importance of teamwork, leadership, discipline, success, and the understanding that failure is beneficial for growth and development. You're going to have to set goals and work hard to accomplish them. That's what baseball has done for me, and hopefully that's what baseball will do for the youth of Chicago."
With a desire to ensure as many children as possible enjoy the Curtis Granderson Stadium, youth 18 and under are admitted FREE to watch any home UIC baseball game. For more information on games or group tickets, please open the below links: Â
UIC Flames Baseball Schedule
Tickets
Partnering with the Chicago Public Schools, UIC's Curtis Granderson Stadium will host 1500 students from 55 different schools this spring for regular season varsity baseball games giving them an opportunity to play ball on a NCAA Division-1 field.
UIC Flames and UIC Admissions hosted over 800 Chicago Public School children and teachers for the 2nd Annual Campus Tour & Baseball Game on Friday, May 20th. The Flames must have known they had a huge fan base behind them and they delivered with a huge 11-1 win for the kids.
A very special thank you goes out to all the UIC student groups who made the campus tour possible ~ we couldn't have done it without you!
Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity
Campus Housing
Center for Student Involvement
Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity
Student Activities Board
UIC Speech and Forensics Team
UIC Student Athletes
2015 Inside CPS - Curtis Granderson
 
UIC and Curtis Granderson proudly support Major League Baseball's Playball youth initiative.
 In partnership with the Chicago Park District, UIC is excited to host the Mayor's Youth Baseball and Softball Tournament again this year from August 10-14, 2016. For details, please contact Blair Bennett @ 312-747-9583 or blair.bennett@chicagoparkdistrict.com
 
2015 Mayor's Youth Tournament Photo Gallery
2015 Mayor's Youth Tournament Bracket
Additionally, UIC will be host for the CPD's baseball and softball training and player development for their Inner City Youth Baseball Initiative as well as Major League Baseball's RBI (reviving baseball in the inner cities) program.
The Chicago Park District partnership will ensure youngsters from over 40 different parks districtwide have an opportunity to play baseball at UIC throughout the summer.
UIC baseball has partnered with the Chicago Chapter of Positive Coaching Alliance as a way to help youth coaches coach. The partnership was announced in February at the annual UIC Coaches Clinic. PCA-Chicago spoke to the crowd of 200 coaches about focusing on winning but more importantly about teaching life lessons through the game of baseball. UIC is excited to note PCA's role in Major League Baseball and plans to support this partnership at the college level.
Curtis Granderson discusses how playing multiple sports helped shape his career:
Understanding the important role coaches play in youth sports, head coach Mike Dee has an "open practice" policy and encourages the high school as well as youth league coaches to bring their team to UIC and watch.
For more information, please email Miriam Ehrlich @ mehrlich@chitownbaseball.org
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