Former Nansemond River High School baseball standout Jarret Henderson is making the most of his summer this year. He is currently in New York playing for the Watertown Rapids, a part of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.

The league is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010. All players in the league have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Players are not paid, so as to maintain their college eligibility. Each team plays an eight-week, 48-game schedule from June to August, with playoffs in early August.

Henderson is a pitcher for the Rapids in the middle reliever role. The team has a 13-6 record and is currently sitting at the top of its division. One of his college pitching coaches connected him there, and he has been taking advantage of the opportunity this whole summer. This has been his second time in New York, as he was there for baseball when he was younger as well.

“It has been a cool experience for me,” Henderson said. “Playing in front of the crowds we have and signing autographs and things like that is a great experience.”

Henderson has been taking in a lot of information from the older players with whom he is practicing and playing. In his most recent season, Henderson admitted that he struggled on the mound. He is gaining it back this summer working with his coaches and his teammates. The Rapids head coach is the assistant coach at Cornell University and has been helping Henderson with his mechanics and workouts.

“I’m just learning things here and there like how to become better on the mound and just to have better confidence,” he said. “I struggled during the regular season, and this summer really helped me gain my control and confidence back.”

His freshman season was spent at Norfolk State University, but it didn’t quite go the way he wanted it to. For his next baseball season, he will be home attending Paul D. Camp Community College, where he will pitch and play in the outfield.

“I love the players and coaches there, but it was in my best interest to find a new home,” he said.

At Nansemond River, he was a first team All-Conference selection as a senior and was a part of a Warriors team that won the Class 5A state title in 2016.