“I love the Valley,” Harding, a South Shore native, said. Kentville, and especially Memorial Park, “is beautiful, and the best place to play,” not to mention having had a great association with baseball over the years, he said.
Harding, 19, spent the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year at Acadia, beginning studies toward a biology degree. He returned to Wolfville this fall, and when he found out Acadia was planning to once again field a baseball team, it was an added incentive.
“When I first made plans to attend university, I first thought of going out west to attend school and play baseball,” he said. After spending a month in Calgary, “I decided I wanted to be on the east coast.”
Acadia fit the bill perfectly.
“It's allowing me an opportunity for a good education, the chance to play the game I love, and still be relatively close to home.”
Originally from Port Medway, Queens County, Harding started playing baseball when he was four years old. He had “really small beginnings,” starting in the Mill Village-Port Medway league.
“My dad was my first coach. He had played ball, and taught me the game.”
In later years, his father didn’t coach him anymore because he didn’t want to influence Harding. His father is also an Acadia graduate, and indirectly, when the time came, he had an influence on his son's choice of university as well.
Rounding the bases
During his baseball career, Harding “moved around a lot, trying to climb the ladder” in his chosen sport.
“I played in Liverpool until I was 12, then moved to Bridgewater, then Sackville, and now Wolfville.”
The baseball Axemen split their home games between Kentville and Hantsport this year.
He started playing in Kentville in 2013, during his third year of midget. The midget Wildcats ended up winning the provincial championship, and when Kentville formed a junior team earlier this year, Harding was quick to sign up.
Home for Harding now, when Acadia is not in session, is Petite Riviere, Lunenburg County. He has experienced baseball in a lot of places, including Alberta.
“I don't feel the skill level is very different between here and out west,” he said.
While at Acadia, Harding has “taken a couple of extra courses,” with the intention of attending pharmacy school in the future. He is looking at three more years at Acadia before he graduates, “depending on how quickly I can get into pharmacy.”
Baseball at Acadia
The opportunity to play baseball at Acadia has been great, he said.
“It's allowing me to pursue baseball all year round again.”
While in high school, he attended indoor winter camps in Dartmouth and Hammonds Plains. This past winter, he was able to work out at the Louis Millett Centre in New Minas.
Harding has two more years of junior, which is age 21 and under. He expects the Kentville juniors “should be a pretty powerful team next year – the same kind of team we were my final year of midget,” when they won provincials.
As for the university season, Harding has been both a left-handed pitcher and centrefielder for the Axemen.
“I’d like to think I’m fairly quick,” which is an advantage when playing centerfield, he said.
Seeded third entering the conference playoffs last weekend, Harding said he felt the Axemen were “very capable of winning it all. There’s no doubt in my mind. We have an unbelievable amount of potential, though we have yet to really put it together.”
Baseball, he says, will remain a big part of his life in the years to come.
“Up until last year, I had a dream of making it as a pro. Now, I’d like to be the best baseball player I can, for as long as my body will allow me to play.”
“I love the Valley,” Harding, a South Shore native, said. Kentville, and especially Memorial Park, “is beautiful, and the best place to play,” not to mention having had a great association with baseball over the years, he said.
Harding, 19, spent the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year at Acadia, beginning studies toward a biology degree. He returned to Wolfville this fall, and when he found out Acadia was planning to once again field a baseball team, it was an added incentive.
“When I first made plans to attend university, I first thought of going out west to attend school and play baseball,” he said. After spending a month in Calgary, “I decided I wanted to be on the east coast.”
Acadia fit the bill perfectly.
“It's allowing me an opportunity for a good education, the chance to play the game I love, and still be relatively close to home.”
Originally from Port Medway, Queens County, Harding started playing baseball when he was four years old. He had “really small beginnings,” starting in the Mill Village-Port Medway league.
“My dad was my first coach. He had played ball, and taught me the game.”
In later years, his father didn’t coach him anymore because he didn’t want to influence Harding. His father is also an Acadia graduate, and indirectly, when the time came, he had an influence on his son's choice of university as well.
Rounding the bases
During his baseball career, Harding “moved around a lot, trying to climb the ladder” in his chosen sport.
“I played in Liverpool until I was 12, then moved to Bridgewater, then Sackville, and now Wolfville.”
The baseball Axemen split their home games between Kentville and Hantsport this year.
He started playing in Kentville in 2013, during his third year of midget. The midget Wildcats ended up winning the provincial championship, and when Kentville formed a junior team earlier this year, Harding was quick to sign up.
Home for Harding now, when Acadia is not in session, is Petite Riviere, Lunenburg County. He has experienced baseball in a lot of places, including Alberta.
“I don't feel the skill level is very different between here and out west,” he said.
While at Acadia, Harding has “taken a couple of extra courses,” with the intention of attending pharmacy school in the future. He is looking at three more years at Acadia before he graduates, “depending on how quickly I can get into pharmacy.”
Baseball at Acadia
The opportunity to play baseball at Acadia has been great, he said.
“It's allowing me to pursue baseball all year round again.”
While in high school, he attended indoor winter camps in Dartmouth and Hammonds Plains. This past winter, he was able to work out at the Louis Millett Centre in New Minas.
Harding has two more years of junior, which is age 21 and under. He expects the Kentville juniors “should be a pretty powerful team next year – the same kind of team we were my final year of midget,” when they won provincials.
As for the university season, Harding has been both a left-handed pitcher and centrefielder for the Axemen.
“I’d like to think I’m fairly quick,” which is an advantage when playing centerfield, he said.
Seeded third entering the conference playoffs last weekend, Harding said he felt the Axemen were “very capable of winning it all. There’s no doubt in my mind. We have an unbelievable amount of potential, though we have yet to really put it together.”
Baseball, he says, will remain a big part of his life in the years to come.
“Up until last year, I had a dream of making it as a pro. Now, I’d like to be the best baseball player I can, for as long as my body will allow me to play.”
