The opening of the baseball season is one of my very favorite times of the year. That it coincides with the coming of spring provides one more bit of evidence that the Lord is indeed a baseball fan. But this was proven to me long ago.
Opening Day (actually night) is Thursday vs. our friends from The Woodlands Christian Academy. We follow that with a JV/Varsity DH vs. Dallas Angels, a perennial homeschool powerhouse. It's a challenge to get going against these two great programs with the youngest Varsity team we have ever fielded. But you players are up to it.
The weather this week looks dicey. That's typical this time of year. So ... Semper Gumby (Always Flexible). About the only thing good about rainouts is that they cause you to reflect on how much we love to play.
As we take off into our best season of Mustangs baseball yet, players, keep in mind our commitments to each other from our retreat. Remember that contributing to our team is hardly confined to those nine who happen to be on the field at a given time. Keep the mindset of your teammates' welfare at the forefront and all else will fall into place.
Keep in mind, too, that the lineup we start the year with often changes as we twist and turn through a busy schedule on our way to Auburndale, Florida. If you want to be in another spot in the lineup or in the field, get after it and show that's where you need to be. If you do and that's what is best for the team as a whole, you'll get there.
Also, lineups change, too, as different pitching/defensive combinations are used. Stay alert and ready. I seem to recall that all of you players want us to do our best to give this team its best opportunity to play at its highest level. That's what we as coaches intend to do.
One of the great things about baseball is that it is difficult. It wouldn't be fun, after all, if you succeeded every time at the plate, for instance. In fact, it would get boring pretty quick. So ... expect adversity. It will come.
After all, adversity came to Ted Williams 6 out of 10 at-bats in the greatest season at the plate in half a century. Do you think we might see a challenge or two ... or three? I'm just sayin'.
But also expect this -- expect that we can and will work though that adversity ... by working a good routine, by using our ABC's, by taking responsibility for our thoughts and taking each thought captive, by staying positive, and, most of all, by remembering that what we are about is much more than any one of us alone.
Remember: We are enough.
See you on the field,
Coach Rut
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
