At lunch, I received a call from Caryn, my business manager.
“I had an interesting call from our local television station. They’re required to show Public Service Announcements to maintain their license. They got a new manager, and he plans to shoot new commercials. He asked if you would do them. I called Frank, and he talked to them. They want to do things that are local in nature. They said they would be willing to let you do three of them to support your causes: the homeless, teen pregnancy, and support for cancer victims and their families.”
“I’d be willing to do it. Ask them to send over scripts and let everyone see them to make sure there isn’t something that’ll bite me in the butt. I don’t want to be the poster child for STI prevention.”
She laughed but said she would take care of it.
◊◊◊
At the end of lunch, I helped Wolf and several of the guys set up the picnic tables. The weather had started to warm up enough that people wanted to spend time outside. Everyone who was part of the junior class projects committee joined us outside.
“You did an amazing job with the three projects. They were all successful,” Ms. Jaroslav said. “Everyone is impressed with your work on this. If you need letters of recommendation for your college applications, let me know.”
“I hate to ask this, but when do we need to send those in?” I asked, suddenly concerned.
“You have time. You should have them completed by the end of October.”
“I’ve already sent a few in,” Brit said proudly.
“Brownnose,” I mumbled.
She tried to hit me, but I grabbed her and tickled her.
“David!” she shrieked.
“Tim is going to kick your ass,” Wolf teased.
“More likely, it’ll be her overprotective brothers,” Alan suggested.
Both were distinct possibilities.
“Cassidy will protect me,” I shot back.
“I can take care of myself,” Brit huffed and then tickled me.
She was strong. I danced away, to the amusement of everyone.
It was nice to get the class projects behind us.
◊◊◊
At baseball practice, Moose had the outfielders gather around for more coaching.
“We watched the film from the past couple of games, and we noticed a big difference in how David is getting to balls compared to the rest of you. At first, I chalked it up to his athletic ability, but Coach Haskins pointed out that it’s how you’re approaching the first step on balls hit behind you.
“Many times, the initial move towards the ball will determine your success in fielding it. David, show them how you take your position in the outfield,” Moose said.
“I square my feet up, so I can go either direction. I assume that each ball will be hit to me. That means I’m on the balls of my feet, ready to go,” I explained.
“He makes an excellent point. If you expect that the ball will be hit to you, you’re always ready,” Moose said. “Now show them what you do if the ball’s hit over your right shoulder.”
“My first step is to whichever direction I’m going,” I explained as I demonstrated.
“Notice he’s taking an almost exaggerated first step. What this does is open up his hips so he can get a better jump on the ball. If you take a half-step,” Moose said, and demonstrated, “it takes you longer to get moving in the right direction. This is called a ‘drop step.’ It also allows you to cross over hard with your trailing leg so you accelerate faster.”
“This is something I learned from my speed coach. What the initial drop step does is get my hips pointed in the right direction. If I’m going right, I drop my right foot back and then cross over to my left. It helps me get a better angle on the ball,” I explained.
“One important point is to turn and run to a spot. What I see some of you doing is looking over your shoulder and drifting almost sideways because you’re trying to watch the ball the entire way. I want you to concentrate on running to a spot. The only thing that should turn is your head as you look back to find the ball,” Moose coached.
“Something else is, don’t put your glove up too soon. Think about how you run,” I said. “You want to have both arms pumping as you sprint, not holding the glove up. You’ll get more speed that way.”
“Good point. Now I want you to watch David as he does it.”
Moose hit me fly balls over each shoulder until everyone felt they understood. The rest of practice was spent with Moose hitting, and me coaching the other outfielders. Some of them got it right away. Others, it took a while, but they all seemed to finally get what Moose was telling them.
◊◊◊
After baseball practice, I slipped into Coach Hope’s office and had a quick talk about Cassidy. He’d asked me earlier to help convince her she should wait until she earned her degree before she joined the Marines. With a degree, she would go in as an officer candidate. That wasn’t possible without it. Coach Hope was aware that Uncle John and I had helped her with her goals. What I wanted him to help with was to allow her to start work with the trainers and possibly learn from Connor Fletcher, our outside strength and conditioning coach.
