Preparing For Arrival - 9/1/13

"There is no knowing how many miles you must travel to achieve your dream"

"To Accomplish Great Things We Must Not Only Act but also Dream...Not Only Plan but also Believe"

Today was the final training session for the boys as they head to Victoria at week's end. Lots of excitement and anticipation. Geelong stands to be a toasty 35 degrees on Friday before settling back to the mid 20's for the opening phases of the tournament. Liam is very proud of his older brother and has been shown what it takes to make the highest levels...he also likes a holiday.

The U/16 NSW Team for the 2013 National Championships reads as follows:

#Barbaro, Adam *
#Bohan, Mackenzie
Eckberg, Christian
#Frew, Dean * @
#Gulieri, Samuel @
Gorman, Connor
Holm, Patrick
#Hore, Ryan
Hunt, Ben *
#Lindsay, Jordan
#McCallum, James *@
#Morris, Blake
#Musulin, Bailey
#Myrmell, Daniel *
#Percival, James @
#Simon, Bradley *
Stevens, Isaac
Tsui, Ben
Whatson, Isaac
Wilkins, Aaron T

The majority of the team (#) had been to Perth as part of the winning NSW U/14 National Championships winning team of 2011.

The asterixed boys (*) went last year as first year players - and winners of the 2012 U/16 National Championships - and return with even greater experience this year.

Some of the boys (@) also played in the Cal Ripken tournament for Australia as U/13 year olds with James.

A hat ceremony - where parents presented their sons their NSW playing caps - occurred today. A small, but significant moment where parents' pride bubbled over! There is no more committed parent than a baseball parent. These boys have been training three and four times a week since October - and trials for three months before that. From Blacktown to Manly to Bankstown..Milperra...Chipping Norton...Central Coast. And that is just the training.

Mackenzie Bohan (pictured) and James have played baseball together since the age of 9 when they travelled to Japan to play baseball. Both play for Baulkham Hills in club baseball, have won every club Grand Final since U/10's and have played in many rep teams together - Little League (Hills South), Hills State Cup teams and NSW teams.


They are roommates on this tour and a focused, committed and dedicated duo. Always first to training, always seeking self improvement, highly driven and searching for success at every turn.

James returns to his favoured #23 for this National tournament and will pitch, but it is his hitting that has a true test. He has improved a lot on that front. "Cometh the hour..."

We have finally tracked down another bat interstate ...one broken one is in the USA under Chris' guidance and correspondence with Easton in California awaiting arrival/ shipment...another sits in Caringbah as a broken piece in Garry White's sports shop where stocks in NSW have been exhausted. They are getting plenty of use and being smashed. However not having a cutting edge bat at a tournament like this is heresy.

Kev has helped with the courier delivery of this latest one into Geelong. Will it last ten days? At $400 each (plus shipping) it is good not to have a drinking problem or a gambling addiction.