When you think of winter sports, several come to mind that typify the snowy season: basketball, football, hockey and…baseball?

Two Lake Zurich area sports facilities, Go Hardball Training Academy, which is focused exclusively on baseball and softball skills, and Homerun Sports and Fitness, which as its name suggests, is baseball and a whole lot more, are offering baseball skill sessions to help shake off the rust during the off-season.

"We have different programs over winter break that help to work on the kid's different baseball skills," said Jimmy Karr, one of the instructors at Go Hardball." But it's also a lot of fun for them, and gives them something to look forward to over the holidays."

Karr, who joined Go Hardball in 2009, is a former standout college baseball player at Lewis University, and has more than seven years of experience as a baseball instructor. A disciple of the legendary major league hitting instructor Charlie Lau, as well as hall-of-farmer Ted Williams, he believes in teaching the core fundamentals in baseball, including good mechanics, discipline and mental preparation.

While Go Hardball's first week of baseball mini-camps have already finished, this week's camps run through Thursday, Dec. 30. The sessions offered to ages five and six are 1-1/2 hours, while the sessions for ages seven to nine and 10 to 12 are two hours.

"Whatever they would bring to a regular spring or summer baseball or softball game is what they'd bring to winter baseball camp," said Karr.

While Go Hardball offers baseball mini-camps over winter break only, Homerun launches their winter season on the eve of returning to school, as the first day of their assorted winter programs kicks off on Sunday, Jan. 2.

"We offer a couple of different programs," said Todd Mueller, one of Homerun's instructors, as well as one of the owners. "They've all been very successful. It really depends on what you and your child want to do."

The three programs on tap for January includes Six on Six, which, as the name suggests, will pit teams of six players against each other in the closest thing one will find to a little league baseball game in this area during the dead of winter.

"We don't have enough room for outfielders, which is why there's six players on each team," said Mueller. "But it won't be just a game — the players will also be getting plenty of one-on-one attention, with a focus on different baseball skills, including the mechanics of hitting, fielding, pitching and catching, as well as base running and overall teamwork."

Besides Six on Six, Homerun also offers a Baseball Skills program, which emphasizes the fundamentals of hitting, fielding and pitching. Also on offer is a baseball Boot Camp, which works on fundamentals while also concentrating on increased flexibility, agility and aerobic capacity.

All of the programs at Homerun are for six weeks. Six on Six runs from Jan. 2 to Feb. 6, Baseball Skills runs from Jan. 3  to Feb. 7, and Baseball Boot Camp from Jan. 12  to Feb. 16. Both Baseball Skills and Baseball Boot Camp continue throughout the year, with new sessions starting in February.

For more information concerning Go Hardball, call 847-393-0123, or Kits Sports Center, where the sessions are held, at 847-726-9650. Fore more information concerning Homerun, call 847-540-5544.