Five days and counting. Five days until the first team conditioning for the NDCL Baseball Lions. It has been over a month (44 days to be exact) since I've stepped foot on a diamond. Which needless to say is 44 days too long!
It's been a long grind for me, but I've continued to stay positive. I'd be lying to you if I told you it has been easy for me to be here at Lake Erie while no longer being a "Student-Athlete". All I've known for the past three years was being a member of the Lake Erie Baseball Team. I thought it was my identity. But I soon came to realize that it wasn't. Your identity is what you make it, people respect and like you for who you are, not what sport you play (even at a small athletically consumed school like LEC). Being a Lake Erie Baseball Player didn't make me who I was, my character did.
Someone once told me that "Your character makes you a legend." I have let this concept take hold of me, and I am not looking back.
But the countdown is officially upon us, this Fall semester is flying by. With each passing day we draw closer and closer to pitchers and catchers reporting (Spring Training). It's still hard for me to put into words just how excited I am about this upcoming season at NDCL, although it is still unknown exactly what position I'll be in (Junior Varsity Assistant or Head of the Freshman Team).
I have also begun to explore more possibilities in the coaching realm. The chance that I will remain at the high school level is becoming more and more likely. Even though no definitive answer will be made until the late spring of 2012, a solidified role in the NDCL program for the imminent future is still in the cards.
Ultimately, I will have some very important and significant choices to make, but for now I'm just taking things Day by Day and waiting. Waiting for February that is! While also looking forward to our team's conditioning program to start, however due to Ohio High School Athletic Association rules (OHSAA) the coaching staff still cannot do any hands on instruction (which is why the entire month of February has a big red circle around it on my calendar). So for now, the wait continues.
Any and all updates concerning NDCL will come from my Twitter feed (#NDCL #pitchersandcatchers #springtraining)
