Junior Olympic team

Congratulations to both you and the young man - it is a tremendous achievement to make the 36 man roster - and good luck to him in the next round!!!!

Congratulations to the young man and his family. He is about to embark on an experience he'll never forget.

I've had the good fortune to be able to sit in on the talk that the USA Baseball coaches give to the young men who are selected for the youth national team trials, and it'll give you goosebumps to listen to them talk, and bring tears to your eyes to feel the pride they carry and express in talking about what it means to play for Team USA. If you haven't had the chance to listen to them, you should pull one of the coaches aside one day and talk to them about it. It's pretty incedible to listen to them talk about it. It might be the most motivational speech I've heard.

I've had the privilege of knowing several ball players who've tried out for the USA teams, and I'll never forget an email I received from a player who made the Jr. National Team that played in the fall of 2005. He wrote "Coach, you can't begin to imagine what it feels like to be playing in Mexico vs. the Cuban team, in a stadium with 20,000 screaming fans, and to be wearing USA on your jersey. It's the GREATEST feeling in the world! It makes you proud to be an American." I'll never forget that kid's email, that's an ultimate reward from coaching.

I hope you get to enjoy this incredible journey along with him.

congrats to your player coach. quite an accomplshment getting to 36. i would think wearing usa on your uniform would have to be a great feeling. good luck to him.

We look forward to hearing more.

Thanks all for the kind words. I will pass along to him about the coaches and their speeches. He's very excited at this pont. Again, I will fill in the details after the cuts in august.

Coachric,
Congratulations. It's a great experience regardless of whether one makes teh team and helps put you in the spotlight for years to come.

TPM makes a great point about this putting him in the spotlight for a time going forward. Please remind this young man that this opportunity will place him on plenty of college recruiters radar screens. What he does in the classroom will have much to do with which school's recruiting lists he stays on. There is a reason the word "student" comes first in student-athlete.

The Student part is actually more important to his family than the ball. The kid is a solid 3.8 gpa and former UF coach and present UM coach have seen him and already talked to him. They asked him if he'd like to play at their schools. Of course they knew he was only a soph, so thats all that was said. He really likes Stanford, would like to be a doctor. I believe the draft may change his mind along the way, but either way, he's an outstanding young individual.