Let me set the scene:
Coach J: What's this?" (points to heart)
Player: "A Shirt"
Coach: "No"
Player: "Chest"
Coach: "No"
Player: "Team!"
Coach: "NO, It's Heart!"
For the past three summers, I've been having a blast watching my little brother play with his teammates on the best All Star team there is! This summer especially as they're one year older, the scores got closer, the plays got better, and the team got stronger.
This year, The Falmouth All Stars, age 10 now, were coached by Ken Braga, John Leblanc, and Mike Janerico. Braga, as well as Leblanc, are fathers of two of the All Star players themselves. Leblanc has been an assistant coach for the past two years and made his way up to head coach this year. Janerico was brand new to the All Star team this year. I did find out this isn't Janerico's first time coaching youth baseball though, as he used to coach the Cape Cod Clippers as an assistant coach too! He also played college baseball for four years at River University, becoming captain of his team his senior year. Along with playing baseball at the University, he also was a bullpen catcher for the Falmouth Commodores as well as the Bourne Braves.
The three coaches worked remarkable together, building more strength, fun, knowledge, and heart into their team. The coaches were constantly giving them good tips and making sure the kids knew that they were doing great. They never got mad about errors, instead just taught the players ways to avoid that error. I have never seen my brother (a player on the team for 3 years), so calm and happy after a game lost. Why? Because the coaches assured the players that it was just a game and that they were winners at heart by how hard they tried and how well they played in those 6 innings.
When speaking to Janerico about how the three coaches had a positive impact on the players attitudes and effort, along with Jenerico himself bringing new plays and advice from what he's learned from playing the game, his reply was "I really didn't do much! They had the drive and the work ethic, they wanted to learn. They played really well".
With that being said, the 10-year old Falmouth All Star team played in 3 tournaments these last 3 weekends in July. They won a game each tournament, leaving their games won at 3 and games lost at 6. Even though they lost more than won, they always kept their heads up and came to the games playing the hardest they could. Especially game 8. The second game in their last tournament of the season... Falmouth was playing Dighton:
Inning 1: Dighton scored 2 runs , Falmouth scored 3 runs
Inning 2: No runs
Inning 3: Dighton scored no runs, Falmouth scored 1 run
Inning 4: No runs
Inning 5: No runs
Inning 6: Dighton scored 2 runs, Falmouth scored 1 run
With many bad calls from the ump throughout the game, and the crowd devastated from the fact that the game was so close when Falmouth should have been in the lead the whole game, it was the bottom of the 6th. Falmouth up to bat one last time. We scored the run we needed to win the game and the whole team stopped in the middle of the inning and ran to celebrate together in the outfield!
The Final Score: Falmouth 5, Dighton 4.
The crowd was going wild, the coaches were clapping and shaking hands, and the teammates were pig piling on top of each other happy as ever! In the end, Falmouth got what they deserved; a game won from all of the heart and effort they put into each play that game.
I've been to MANY baseball games in my lifetime. Major League, Cape Cod League, College, High School, Little League, and Pony League ball games; you name it... I've never seen such a good game as I did watching Falmouth play Dighton on that perfect summer day. I cannot wait to see what the Falmouth All Stars will bring to the field next summer!
