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.