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Young softball catcher taking on gruelling challenge to raise money, support for families affected by measles in Samoa

Jaedhan Roebeck, 10, is aiming to catch 1000 pitches on Sunday to raise money for those in need.

While some kids have spent the Kiwi summer playing video games or chilling on the beach, Jaedhan Roebeck has been training hard to help those in need back in Samoa.

The 10-year-old is currently raising funds to send over to the small Pacific nation to help with the ongoing efforts against the measles outbreak there and this weekend he hopes to show off all his hard work.

Jaedhan, who plays softball for Auckland club Roosters, will attempt to catch 1000 pitches on Sunday to raise money for the Samoa Measles Emergency Programme.

To put it in perspective, a catcher will on average catch anywhere between 90-110 pitches in a softball game, meaning Jaedhan will effectively catch 10 games in one day with his efforts on Sunday.

"Every 30 minutes I catch for, I get a five minute break," Jaedhan told 1 NEWS.

"I'm kind of excited."

Along with Sunday's event, Jaedhan and his father, Albie, have set up a Givealittle page to raise more money for their efforts . The page has amassed over $1300 so far.

Jaedhan says it feels special knowing what he's doing is going to help out families and children in Samoa - a mindset his father said came from talking about what to do over the summer.

"During the school holidays, I just didn't want to get him in a routine of playing on the Play Station and watching TV," Mr Roebeck says.

"It was actually over a run when we thought about how we can improve ourselves and help those people who are in need and he came up with 1000 catches.

"The next thing was about what we're going to do it for, the cause, and I kind of persuaded him to where it is now but he's fully immersed into it, he's dedicated to the cause."

Mr Roebeck says that dedication can be seen in the training Jaedhan has been doing to prepare for the gruelling challenge of endurance.

"We've been running. We've covered six, seven, eight kilometre runs here and there, we've done a lot of three kilometre runs, he's come to my sessions for boxing, we've done some weights, basketball - all these types of things that get him out and about, mixing things up so it's not mundane for him."

Jaedhan's dedication has been noticed in the wider softball community as well, with his club helping set up Sunday's event which will take place at Rosedale Park in Albany - the same venue where the Black Sox won the 2013 Word Championships.

He'll also spend time catching some of the countries best with both Black Sox and White Sox pitchers heading out to pitch to him and show their support.

Jaedhan says anyone can pitch to him though, not just stars of the sport.

"People can come down and pitch to me, all is welcome."

And if people have fears of missing out on pitching to Jaedhan, the young catcher says he's ready to go above and beyond his target to help those in Samoa.

"I might go over 1000. I might aim for 1500."

The first pitch for Sunday's event at Rosedale Park will be thrown at 9am.

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