10) The First Day -- The first day of practice after winter break is always exciting. We hadn't played baseball since October and everyone wants to get going. But this year there was an added bonus. Just like Coach Orion says in D3: The Mighty Ducks, "You gotta get up early if you wanna hunt goose eggs." And that's just what we did. Practice started at 5:45 a.m. and just like that baseball season began.
9) Walk-a-thon Delays Practice -- Saturday practices can sometimes be a pain in the butt. Like most people, baseball players enjoy sleeping in on the weekend. But because of our practice schedules, we're up and practicing on Saturday morning every week. On this particular weekend, we all arrived at Tarrant to an unexpected conflict -- a walk-a-thon. Instead of the quiet, empty Tarrant we usually see, there was music bumping and a ton of people. Needless to say, practice got delayed.
8) The First Day of Live Hitting -- Practice starts in January, but baseball season doesn't really start until we start hitting live pitching. About halfway through February, the pitchers have built themselves up enough so that we can hit off them like it's a game. And while this is plenty exciting, it also means likely getting hit by several stray fastball, looking like a fool because it's nearly impossible to see the baseball in Tarrant, and breaking that new bat your parents bought you for the season.
7) The Prowler Flu -- New strength and conditioning coach Tony Bonvechio had a few surprises for us this year. The most influential of them is the prowler. Basically, it's the ultimate training machine. You put weights on it, and then you push/pull/drag/fail. The first workout brought numerous cases of the Prowler Flu. Common symptoms are shortness of breath, numb legs, dizziness, sore throat, puking, general disorientation, and hulk-like strength. Did I mention how much I love prowler workouts? (Note: no SMC baseball players were harmed during the course of these workouts).
6) The Strongmen -- The prowler workouts simply built us up to the painful reality of the Strongman competition. On top of the prowler, we flip tractor tires (you know the massive one in Tarrant...yeah), we throw medicine balls, we carry bags full of heavy things and etc. This is where we separated the men from the boys (I'm a boy, for anyone wondering). Junior Chad Estey won the inaugural challenge, but sophomore Jake Begnoche has taken the last two. These are our Strongmen.
5) The Boys -- As I mentioned previously, when we separated the men from the boys in the strongmen competition, I was classified in the latter. See, I try real hard, but I'm just not a Strongman. But I'm not alone, that's for sure. Not everyone can be as manly as Chad, Jake and Ben Yodzio (keep reading to find out how awesome he is).
4) The Always Dangerous Game of...Team Handball? -- There's almost always one unfortunate injury during the course of our indoor season. But this year it came in one of the least expected fashions. We're a pretty competitive bunch, but you mention Team Handball, and we get out of control. I'm talking full-contact, fast break madness. As junior Pat Lawler broke up the right wing for a scoring chance, fellow junior Tim McDonnell, who was playing goalie, made a spectacular save, but also blew up Pat's ankle. The good news is that Pat is off crutches and should be back soon.
3) Vomit From Above -- Practice was just starting and we were starting to organize into our positional groups. Then, literally out of nowhere, an unfortunate species of liquid found it's way onto Tony. We weren't sure what happened at first, but when we saw the same soccer player puking on the other side of the track, it was pretty easy to connect the dots. To whoever that was -- maybe next time puke at the wall bro.
2) The Most Unlikely Concussion -- One of the things we do all the time is stand in the batters box and pretend we're going to hit when pitchers are throwing practice sessions (bullpens). It helps the hitters work on their timing. This is what freshman Pat Kelly was doing one day when a stray pitch bounced off home plate and hit him in the head. A few days later, we found out that he had a concussion. I've never heard of anything like it. Fortunately, Pat caught it early and is working his way back into action.
1) Ben Yodzio: More Manly Than You -- Senior Ben Yodzio is just generally awesome. He's funny, his hair is phenomenal, and he did the coolest thing we saw all winter. In the hardest Strongman competition we've had yet (prowler, tire, heavy bag, farmers walk, prowler) many people were feeling the effects after. During the tire flip, Ben started bleeding after the tire ripped off some of his skin. Then on the final prowler push, he threw up. Blood? Check. Vomit? Check. Finish a minute faster than I did? Check. He's cooler than you.
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