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  Sun, Sand and Baseball

    By Jake Naas
    IV Leader Sports Writer

    The third in a season long look at life from inside the IVCC Baseball team as IV Leader Sports Writer Jake Naas discusses life on the team 
    Finally, finally I lay my head on my own pillow.
    After a week away from home and over 45 hours on a bus, I am finally in my own bed.  As I drift to sleep, I recall the great spring break the team had in sunny Florida. 
    Early March 3, the 20 of us boarded the oversized mini bus in the IVCC parking lot. There was nothing anyone wanted more than to finally be out of the cold weather.  We got our wish.
    As we stepped off the bus at our first official team stop in Florida at Flagler College, we were not disappointed. The late afternoon 70 degree temperatures made our short workout feel good. After 20 hours on the bus, it felt good to move around for a little while and being in shorts and a tee shirt made it feel even better. 
    When we reached our final destination for the week in Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Saturday night, we were impressed at the facilities we were to play at for the week.  The former spring training home of the Houston Astros made a perfect place for many teams to come together to compete. We anticipated the great strides our team would be able to make by being able to play games and practice in the warm weather. 
    The week was an unforgettable week that I am sure no one on the team will soon forget. To some it may seem that it was an excuse for us to go on vacation, but for us it was something more. It is more because there is not one person on our team that would have rather been doing anything other than playing baseball while we were there. Although it was our vacation, we were focused on what we were supposed to be doing.
    On the field we took care of business. With a 6-2 mark, we made strides in the right direction to become the team that we want to become.  Of these six wins, two came from teams that received votes in the preseason national poll for top teams in the nation. We had the chance to find some strengths and weaknesses. 
    A strength we found was our pitching staff. As a player, I can honestly say that I feel confident in whoever is on the mound at any particular time. It is a great feeling to have. From top to bottom, our pitching staff will keep us in the ballgame, and can be counted on. 
    A weakness we found was some injuries. Sore arms and muscle pulls were prevalent because of the lack of a lot of work before eight games in one week. Although we were without a few guys, this should not be a big problem. 
    Off the field we also matured into a team.  There are not many other ways to build team unity than jamming kids on a bus for two days and make them interact with each other. On the trip we made new friendships and strengthened old ones, and ultimately learned a lot about one another without even knowing it. This trip will always be ours, and we will always have to memories to look upon. 
    As a team we also got to take in a pretty cool place. Florida in the spring is an amazing place. With unseasonably warm temperatures even for them, with the mercury topping out in the upper 80’s, the beach was for sure a good bet. The sun and the sand will always be a more desirable place than Illinois in early March. There just isn’t a better place to get away from the cold than the beach. 
    After a week in paradise, we finally headed home.  As we rolled into the IVCC parking lot on March 13th, and stepped off the bus into a cold, windy sleet, it did not feel quite as bad as I thought it would.  There is just something about home that you miss after being away.  As we headed our own separate ways, our thoughts were surely still with the palm trees and green grass, and how we wished we were back in the warm temperatures, but we were happy to be home.
    So with the memories of Florida, we look ahead. With a tough schedule there is no time to let up, and we are all ready to tackle a long season. The group of guys is now a team, and now there is no more time to talk about it, no more time to practice, or no more time to wonder, just time to play.

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