TIFTON — Tift County baseball camp ended with a splash Friday, concluding a week of learning and enjoying the game.

For Blue Devils head coach Greg Williams, a highlight is seeing “Bright and smiling faces.” About 80 were in camp this year, going through everything from baserunning to hitting the long ball.

Skills and having fun were in equal measure, as well as learning to be good teammates.

As is tradition at camp, assistant coaches and current high school players work with the youth. Nearly all player-assistants are camp alumni themselves.

Williams and staff already have an eye on middle school-aged players. He said he told these youth they were the future.

T-shirts and a group photograph began Friday before a last round of games. Then they had a chance to beat the summer heat on waterslides.

Contests were held throughout the week. Monday saw campers compete in throwing for distance, Tuesday was speed, Wednesday was throwing velocity and Thursday was home run derby, where the kids attempted to hit the ball over the fence.

Home run derby might have been the favorite.

It was a chance for everyone to show off their Ronald Acuña Jr. power. Williams and staff moved home plate, adjusting it by age so everyone had a shot at hitting it over the fence.

Devil Diamond is normally 315 feet down the lines. Distance was 200 feet for 7th-8th grades, he said, and moved up from there. Players hit off a tee to give them their best shot. A few clouts hit the gym.

Awards were given out Friday.

When not competing, campers worked on fundamentals.

“We worked on glove work a lot,” said Williams, drills that covered infield and outfield. “We worked on throwing footwork, how to get in posture to field a ball,” and the posture for throwing the ball.

Older players working with assistant Xavier Holmes broke down these mechanics step by step. For campers’ parents’ generation, the detail might conjure up ESPN commercials for the Tom Emanski skills videos. (Younger fans can find them on YouTube.)

Williams grinned at the comparison. He still has a Tom Emanski tape at home, one of the ones endorsed by Fred McGriff.

Though competing against their peers provided daily highlights, another kind of competition had campers arguably even more excited Friday.

Tift’s baseball camp brings in waterslides on the last day each year — two of the giant inflatables and a greased tarp on the hill behind home plate — there was an addition this year: a dunking booth.

The dunking booth put their throwing skills to the test. If a ball hit the target, the person on the dunking booth seat hit the water. Williams was the man on the seat for the youngest.

That allowed Williams’ daughters the opportunity the chance to dunk him. Their aim was true.