Troy Softball Prospect ID and Training Camp

06/25/12 - 06/26/12

Coach Sharon O'Mara along with other qualified collegiate coaches and Troy University Athletes, will direct a two day camp for softball players going into their freshman year of high school and older.

Learn More ››

Camp Cost: $150.00

Softball Staff Pays Tribute to Blackwell

Melanie Davis and Sharon O'Mara took part in a camp put on by former Trojan Tara Blackwell

Her attitude determined her altitude as player, and it determined a lot of the successes that she has achieved with her physical limitations due to her injuries.

A message that can be used in so many different ways of life.

That was the message that Troy University head coach Melanie Davis delivered to hundreds of up and coming softball players this past year at a camp in Pensacola. It is a camp that Blackwell puts on each January with the help of the Troy University coaches.

The message was delivered on behalf of former Troy University softball player Tara Blackwell, whose career was cut short 2005 due to a spinal cord injury. Blackwell works out five to six days a week to keep her body in shape, while also doing motivational speaking for underprivileged children in the Pensacola area.

"Tara was at the speech," Davis said. "The kids were able to see pictures of her playing at all levels, and then see her in the wheelchair. We tried to help them appreciate their health and their talent, and not waste the opportunities that they have."

Each year, Davis and assistant Sharon O'Mara travel to Pensacola to help put on the camp which benefits Blackwell.

This year was no different.

"Although too many of the youngsters at the camp were too young to remember Tara playing," Davis said. "They are all aware that what kind of athlete she was and that she signed a Division I scholarship with Troy University."

But it is not just the coaches who spoke to the kids about the game of softball; Blackwell did some speaking along the lines of teaching the game.

"She has a great eye for the game," Davis said. "When she speaks, no matter if it is to a group or an individual, about what to do; they listen to her even more than they listen to Coach O'Mara's Australian accent. She is still very young and they relate to her, and I think she inspires them as well. Although she looks different in the wheelchair, she is still a beautiful, vibrant girl with extreme passion for the game."

The first year that Davis and her staff worked the staff, Tara herself was the keynote speaker talking about her life and the game of softball. And now she has decided to begin writing a book.

"Tara has decided to write a book about her life," Davis said. "She is calling on all of us to help put the book together with memories."

Those memories can still be built, as Blackwell (according to Davis) will be in Troy at the Quality Inn Classic the weekend of February 18 through 20.