Faces Change, Tradition Remains
By Jake Naas
IV Leader Sports Writer
Editor’s Note: The final installment of the season-long series, IVCC Eagles baseball player Jake Naas gives you his final look from life inside the team.
It always seems like it will last forever, but our team will
soon play our last game at IVCC.
It seems like just yesterday I first walked on the campus of
IVCC, feeling like it was going to be a long two years. It seemed like just
yesterday we had our first practice as the team at the IVCC baseball field where
so many great players have played, and it seems like just yesterday we were
playing our first game in the time honored purple and white.
There were so many changes over the past two years. Playing
for a total of seven different coaches, three of which were head coaches, there
was definitely a lot of getting used to knowing the coaching staff. Fellow
players left and joined the team at certain times, including 14 new players this
year alone.
There are also 14 sophomores on our team. At the end of the
year we will say goodbye and all go our separate ways, but we will never forget
the great memories we have made together. Whether it be taking a trip to Florida
or riding the bus on the way to and from games for hours on end, we have spent
so much time together and not a single memory will be forgotten.
To me though, it is the every-day events I will miss the
most. Going to McDonald’s with fellow players, playing a game of flips, sitting
on the couch in the locker room at 5:30 a.m. dreading the start of practice or
simply having a sandwich in between doubleheader, these are the times that I
will always remember, and will cherish.
It seems to me that some people think that junior college
baseball is not a big deal and the results really don’t matter. For most people
this may be true, but for the athletes that play it, it allows us to live out
our dream and play the game we love on a team that is like a second family to
you. For the past two years it has given us something to occupy us and teach us
lessons you can’t learn in a school.
With this it is time to thank some people. First and
foremost, Thanks to our parents and family. Without your support and
encouragement, we wouldn’t be able to do this. Thanks to the board,
administration and staff for the funding and encouragement given to us. We
understand the amount of money it takes to run a program such as this. Thanks
to the many coaches we have had, not just at IVCC, but from T-ball all the way
through high school. Thanks to the fans who have supported us in sleet and snow,
sun and rain, and of course the famous wind on top of the IVCC hill.
Most of all, I want to thank the team. For the past two years
you have all been great players on and off the field and have given me memories
I will treasure forever.
So as we finish at IVCC and head to SIU-E, ISU, or U of I, or
Kentucky Wesleyan, or wherever else we may be headed, to play baseball or
continue academically, we will never forget IVCC. Forever will we look back on
it and remember the people. We hope to have left our mark and added to the
tradition and story of the charming little college on top of the hill.