I thought that I would share this.
A friend who is a writer went down to interview Ralph Henriques the Key West High School Baseball Coach. He shared his tape recordings of the interview with me. (Key West a community of 28,000 had two players listed in Baseball America's top 100 prospects in the USA.) Two things stand-out from the interview. First, the coach said only 15 kids started the try-outs. Second, because of the cost-of-living in Key West, all of these kids are home grown. None have come to Key West to play baseball.
The coach (who is also a part-time Atlanta Braves Catching Coach), listed State Championship after championship. In the tapes, my writer friend probed for secrets to his success, and it boiled down to basically hard work. His practices range from 3 to 5 hours a day! But, he did say that he felt that the days of Key West Baseball as a powerhouse program were quickly coming to an end. The reason, cost -of-living is driving most of the young families and average families out of the city. Also, this is the coaches last year. He is going to the Braves full-time now that his son is graduating in '05.
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