Nationals players teach baseball to kids

WASHINGTON -- On Thursday at Gallaudet University's Hoy Field in Washington, D.C., Nationals players Roger Bernadina, Ian Desmond and Edwin Jackson helped teach the game of baseball to their youth league counterparts, when the Major League Baseball Players Trust's City Clinics program stopped in the nation's capital.

The Players Trust's City Clinics program is a grass-roots campaign developed by -- and features the active participation of -- Major Leaguers to promote the game of baseball and life skills to under-served children, ages 6-16, in select cities across the United States.

Children participating in these free clinics receive hands-on instruction from current and former big leaguers and others in areas such as base-running, pitching, hitting, throwing and fielding. During each session, City Clinics attendees also participate in a question-and-answer session with the players, and receive free T-shirts, autographs and refreshments. The children attending the D.C. City Clinics program participated through the support and cooperation of local youth baseball leagues.

In 2012, City Clinics also will be held in Boston (July 19); Cincinnati (July 17); Denver (Aug. 14); Pittsburgh (July 3); and San Diego (Aug. 6).

The City Clinics program is generously underwritten by Majestic Athletic, a division of VF Imagewear, Inc. The Players Trust also thanks the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) for supplying each City Clinics location with sunscreen and sun-safe information packets. To learn more about the Academy please visit http://www.SpotSkinCancer.org.