Welcome to 2009 Saints Baseball!

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game -- the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us." -- Walt Whitman

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too." -- an anonymous 8-year-old

Dear baseball studs and parents,

Welcome to the 2009 GSL 1st/2nd grade baseball season!

My name is James Overstreet and I will be coaching this team with Amy Morad. We're very excited to have you on the team and look forward to a great season.

To run efficient, effective and fun baseball practices, it's important that everybody is engaged continuously, so we'll often break up into small groups and run various hitting, fielding and throwing drills simultaneously, rotating the groups so each one participates in the various activities. As you can imagine, that requires additional help. So we'll be tapping some "unofficial" assistants. If you are interested, please let me know.

The game schedule has not been released yet, but beginning the first week of May you can count on two games a week -- Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday. The season ends in late June. As soon as I get the schedule, I will e-mail you.

Until the games start, our practice times are as follows:

• Thursdays, 5-6:15 p.m. at Tobey Field (at Hollywood and Central across from the Children's Museum.) {GSL teams have Snowden Field booked during the week until school is over.}
• Saturdays, 8:45 a.m.-10 a.m. at Snowden Field on Harbert (GSL's field)
• Sundays, 4-5:15 p.m. at Snowden Field

Our first practice is this Thursday at 5 p.m. at Tobey Field. We would like to meet with the parents prior to the practice. It will only take a few minutes and it will give us an opportunity to discuss our expectations, our goals, the league rules as well as answer any questions you may have.

Amy and I share the philosophy that by signing up for baseball, you are making a commitment to the team. As such, we expect you to make practices and games a priority. We cannot over-emphasize the importance of attending the practices and being there on time, equipped to play (baseball cleats, gloves, baseball caps, etc.). Practice attendance will be considered when determining playing time in games.

As Cal Ripken Sr. was fond of saying, baseball is a simple game played with bats, balls and people. Broken down into its simplest form, baseball is just a game of throwing the ball, catching the ball and hitting the ball. Even the most advanced, difficult plays are a combination of the simplest fundamentals. As the kids practice these simple fundamentals, they become second nature and before you know it, the spectacular is happening with regularity. But it takes repetition. And a lot of it.

Making practices fun is the best way to ensure the kids are learning the fundamentals, improving their skills and developing a love of the game that will last a lifetime. Those are our goals in a rosin bag.

Again, we are excited about this team and look forward to great season.

Here is our 12-player roster:

Berent Balink
Nino Barnes
Sonny Charbonnet
Thomas Eubanks
Wendell Henson
Owen Howell
Khalid Morad
Whit Overstreet
Brian Savage
Harris Tennyson
Thomas Walk
Zachary Williams

I was provided a list of e-mails from the Athletic Department, so if you would like me to add/change/delete an e-mail, please let me know.

Thanks,
James