Buies Creek — Greg Goff has worked with the best pitchers in the game, led collegiate teams to the NCAA Division II World Series and helped send 21 players to the pro ranks. Still, those accolades probably pale in comparison to the thrill he gets working with young players.

“My main goal with any youth camp,” he says, “is to have kids go home with a good taste for baseball.”

Goff, entering his second year as head coach at Campbell University, and his staff will serve as the instructors for the inaugural Campbell University Smithfield Summer Baseball Camp set for July 21-22 at Smithfield Community Park.

“What makes working in summer camps fun as a coach is seeing a kid who’s having trouble throwing, for example,” Goff says, “then showing them the proper arm motion and then watching them use it with better results.”

Goff will be joined by Campbell assistants Justin Haire, Aubrey Blackwell and John Caddell for the event, which offers three hours of instruction (9 a.m. till noon) on both camp days. Former Smithfield-Selma High standout Zach Johnson, an infielder at Campbell, and Camels’ rising senior first baseman Ryan Hamme, who led the Camels in hitting (.349) in 2008, will also serve as instructors at the camp.

Campbell, despite winning just 21 games in 2008, still saw a 10-game jump in their win total from 2007, the year before Goff took over the leadership of the program. Long before the 2009 season begins, there are bigger expectations. Talk of breaking the school record for wins is already blooming in Buies Creek.

“We’ve got a good nucleus of kids and adding the JuCo guys we’ve been able to bring in gives us a chance to be more competitive,” Goff said. “We’ve been here for a year so we’ll be more confident as a group entering the season. I’ve got all of ‘my’ guys now.

“They know that baseball has to be a really important part of their life because it’s really important to me.”

At the forefront of players Goff has coached is the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League: Diamondbacks’ righty Brandon Webb, who Goff tutored while he was serving as the pitching coach at Kentucky.

Goff also coached A’s pitcher Joe Blanton during his college days.

“You always have a coach-player relationship with your former players to some degree,” Goff says. “But when I was out in Arizona and got the chance to catch at Diamondbacks game, I couldn’t even really talk to Brandon because of all of the attention he was drawing from the fans.

“Then I looked and all of these kids were wearing his jersey. He was the guy out there and this is the kid I remember recruiting out of high school, it really was an eye-opening experience.”

Goff’s goal at a youth camp centers on opening young eyes to the game.

“The most important thing you can do is work on the fundamentals of hitting and catching,” Goff said of teaching young players the game.

“And those are the areas where you can make little adjustments in a couple of days that will really make a difference.”

The local camp, open to players age 6-14, will run from 9 a.m. till noon each day. Advance registration is available at the Smithfield Parks Dept. office (1500 Buffalo Road). Pre-camp registration will be available at 8 a.m. on the first day of camp. The fee is $50 per camper, which includes an event T-shirt.

For more information on the camp, contact Jon Moore at jon.moore@ci.smithfield.nc.us or 934-2148 or John Caddell at jmcaddell@hotmail.com or (910) 814-4335.