So a few dads made it out for the first practice this afternoon at Rossi to check out the team and the coaches. Jack L. and I were there at the start and were later joined by Bob C. and Doug P.
Since all of us have coached these young men at one time or another in either baseball, soccer, or basketball, we were naturally interested in how the "new" coaches would handle our guys. A couple things became clear right away:
1. The boys - are a lot bigger than we remember, and stronger. They throw balls really far now, and hit them even farther. For guys like Jack, who hasn't seen Joseph play in a couple years, it was an eye-opening experience (which Joseph added to by hitting the ball as if he'd been playing a lot of baseball prior to today). These players have serious beast potential.
2. Coachie and Coach E. - run the kind of practice you'd have thought they'd been doing together for years. Not a wasted minute, with diamond-crossing infield drills and then opposite field outfield drills. The guys then all got to hit twice (Coachie pitching) with a soft toss session by Coach E. in between. Each guy hit better their second ups and the coaches kept 'em moving. They finished as light faded with a team meeting on the bleachers (Dads not invited) that Stephen told me on the way home was pretty motivating.
Naturally us Dads did our best not to make nuisances of ourselves, and with the exception of some constructive heckling when one of our guys performed something only twice as well as we now can, we generally kept out of the way and weren't invited to leave (thanks, coaches and players).
In summary, a first practice that exceeded my expectations for how much could be covered in that amount of time. These coaches clearly have an objective in mind and are moving things forward quickly in practice. No more this week though, as the boys are off to L.A. on their big class trip. We'll pick it up again next Tuesday (I think), and I miss baseball already!
Go Lions
-dan e
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