By Mike London
mike.london@salisbury post.com
CHINA GROVE — Eight South Rowan varsity baseball players earned a save this fall.
Robert Long, director of China Grove’s fall youth baseball league, explained that the 11-12 age divisions were on the verge of folding this year.
Not for lack of interest — but for lack of volunteer coaches.
“As far as players, it goes up and down,” Long said. “It’s a tough economy and parents don’t always have the money for a kid to play fall baseball. But this is a year we had more than 30 players in that age group. We just needed coaches.”
Long said he reached out to former league coaches and to all the potential adult coaches he knew without success.
With the 11-12 division on the ropes, South Rowan High coach Thad Chrismon offered a novel solution. He offered to have his players coach the teams.
“I had my concerns because you’re basically talking about kids coaching kids,” Long said. “That kind of throws up a red flag because you know some parents might not think it’s a great idea. I had to think about it a little bit.”
Tristan “Shaggy” Wyatt, South’s catcher, said Chrismon approached juniors and seniors with the idea.
“He asked us how we’d feel about coaching 11-and-12 year-olds,” Wyatt said. “We were a little shocked at first, but then we said, ‘Well, why not?’”
There were three teams in the 11-12 division — Blue, Black and Red .
Eight South athletes— seniors Wyatt, Zach Tatarka, Bo Corriher and Blake Johnson, and juniors Chandler Norton, Dillon Norton, Hayden Wilson and Walker Joyce — provided the coaching
Long explained that they got involved when the development of baseball youngsters is at a critical stage. They’re starting the transition to a field with bigger dimensions and they’re adapting to new rules for taking leads off bases and holding runners on base.
The instructional league went well.
“I was prepared for the worst, but the worst never happened,” Long said. “No major problems. Parents gave those young coaches rave reviews, and I was very impressed by them. Those kids know baseball inside and out. They could run productive practices and they could provide quality instruction. The kids loved them. They were a blessing.”
One of Long’s concerns was that the South students would have too much on their plate to be dependable, but they put their baseball teams at the top of their list of priorities.
“I’m sure they were having to do their homework late at night, but those kids showed up for every practice and for every game,” Long said. “They juggled their schedules.”
For the South players, it was a new way to look at the game they love.
“We had an absolute blast,” Wyatt said. “Being a coach you see a whole other side to baseball and seeing kids improving is a great feeling. I had a parent come up to me and he told me his son had wanted to quit baseball, but he had such a good time in the fall league that he’s going to keep playing. That meant a lot to me.”
Thirty-some players would’ve had to sit out this fall — or find another league — but South’s players came through.
When the season ended, the young coaches received gas cards as a gift from the league.
“Just a gesture to say thank you,” Long said. “I know it wasn’t much, and I’m sure it didn’t even pay for the gas they used running back and forth to the field, but we wanted to let them know they were appreciated.”
The biggest indication that the South players did a good job was that Long hopes this wasn’t a one-time thing.
“We’re hoping we can do this again next year,” he said. “We’ll be reaching out to the schools.”