Sports has been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. I played baseball. My dad was my coach in Little League and I played the minimum amount of innings that was required. Let's face it, I was not very good. I played Babe Ruth baseball in Jr High. Still...not very good. I never made an all-star team I was just a kid filling a spot on a team. I loved it tho. My Dad loved that I loved it. He always supported me. I get into high school and the time came to try out for my freshman baseball team. Now, understand that I went to school in Southern California, where arguably the best baseball players in America come from. I went to a high school that was a well known sports high school. I had a lot of competition up against me. Interestingly enough before the tryout the thought actually never came to me that I wouldn't make the team. Once tryouts were over the coaches brought us into the dugout one by one to tell us if we made it. It was my turn.
You didn't make the team. But, since you are left handed and big we decided that we might need you at some point so we are going to keep you on. You made it.
I was happy but inside I was heart broken. I went home and told my Dad what happened and he could tell I was sad about how it all went down.
I was a pitcher, and since I was left handed I also played first base. I was a big tall kid not necessarily a physical specimen, I was not very fast but I wasn't fat and out of shape either.
A couple weeks went by and my dad asked me if I would be ok with him getting me a private pitching coach. I was fine with that and so that next weekend we went to the local Jr college baseball field to have my first private pitching lesson with my new pitching coach. Coach Bob.
I'll just cut right to the chase. Now, to this day I don't know how my dad found Coach Bob but this ended up changing my baseball career forever. I didn't know this until a year later but Coach Bob had just moved to Southern California from Canada where he was the pitching coach for the Canadian National Baseball team. He was also a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and one of the most sought after pitching coaches period. He had just gotten married to an American lady and moved to the states to start his new life with his wife.
Before my freshman baseball season was over I had improved so much from my private lessons I was advanced up to the Junior Varsity team as one of the starting pitchers. I was now throwing around 88mph as a freshman on the JV team. Coach Bob and I met for a private lesson at least once a week and sometimes twice a week throughout that next summer. I got invited to a private scout invitational work out with the Pittsburgh Pirates that summer where I was the only high school player there amongst a handful of college players. It was one of many things I could attribute to coach Bob's influence on me.
That next year as a sophomore I came in as a reliever on the varsity team. To help you understand how competitive it was we had 5 players from that team get drafted to the big leagues over the next 3 years.
Towards the middle of my sophomore year I went to my lesson with Coach Bob and we sat down to talk. He told me that this would be our last lesson together. Something was going on with his citizenship and he was being forced to move back to Canada.
I cried! I know... There's no crying in baseball. I didn't know what I was going to do. I thought my skill I had gained from our time spent together was going to fade. He told me that I had gotten to the point where I knew everything he was ever going to teach me and that I no longer needed him to continue to get better.
Going into my junior year I always kept that in my mind. When things weren't feeling right or my velocity wasn't there I would think about what coach Bob would tell me and I was able to always get out of that funk and get back to my true potential. On the varsity team I was the number 2 starter behind our ace who was a senior. He was an absolute stud! He ended up getting drafted in the second round to the San Francisco Giants that year. Our team was nationally ranked and we had our eyes on the CIF championships. We worked hard all year and ended up winning our league which gave us a spot in the CIF playoffs. We had to win 6 playoff games with no losses to make it to the championship game set to be played in Angels stadium.
Our first practice after winning league, a week before our first playoff game I remember this vividly. We were all sitting in the dugout putting on our cleats, getting ready for practice, and waiting for the coaches to show up. I see someone walk into the dugout out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and it was coach Bob. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was a little shocked and confused as to why he was there I couldn't even speak! The one person I credited all of my success to and the one person I would want with me as we began this journey to the championships was coach Bob. And he was there! Standing right in front of me! I also quickly realised that no one else on my team would have any idea who this guy was and especially who he was to me. I remember standing up and saying, Bob! My entire team looked up and stopped what they were doing. I felt that since I was the only one who knew him that I should introduce him to my team. So I said, guys! This is Bob! Still no one knew who that was and I remember hearing some laughter in the background probably because I was so disoriented. I asked him why he was there and how did I not know he was going to be there. He informed me that his citizenship issues had been fixed and he was there to be our pitching coach for the playoffs. It was one of the most amazing and unbelievable things that has ever happened to me at the time.
We ended up winning all of the playoff games and getting to the championship game in Angels stadium. The day came for the championship game. Our #1 starter was set to start the game but buy the rules he was only allowed to pitch 4 innings then I was going to come in relief. When it came time for me to start warming up coach Bob, my catcher, and I headed down the left field line to the bullpen in left field. We got into the bullpen and coach Bob stated taking to me getting me ready to pitch one of the most important games of my life. That moment, right there, I couldn't have asked for it to be any other way. The coach who got me there, who had to leave, ended up being there in the end and it was great!
We ended up losing that game 11 - 12. I pitched a great game and we fought hard but the better team won that day. I was not sad we lost. I got to experience a moment in my life I will never forget. Ever.
I had opportunities to go play college ball, I was highly scouted by many pro teams but I could not turn off this uncontrollable urge to join the military after high school. I joined the Marine Corps and that essentially ended my baseball career.
My baseball career might have been over but my love for sports has grown ever since. I found steemit and felt like this chance to be an early adopter was a great opportunity to take my love for the game to another level. I have created this steemit account to focus on writing great sports columns covering the most up to date and breaking sports news out there. I will cover all sports but mostly basketball, football, and baseball. I will even do some articles sharing amazing and inspirational sports stories. Thank you so much for reading this far and I hope to see you around!