Bottom of the Ninth #64 - Value of Being a Teammate
by Landon Troka, Valor Baseball Alumnus
From the beginning of my high school baseball career & through my junior baseball season, I had coasted in the baseball program at Valor. I was a pitcher who could at best be described as serviceable, but pitching is always useful so I was kept around. Going into my senior season, room on the roster was tight with lots of talent and I brought less value to to the diamond. However, my teammates went to Coach Wahl and explained the value that they saw in me as a teammate. They wanted me on the team.
It was humbling to know that my teammates saw so much value in me as a brother that they would stand up for me in this way. It was a perfect example of the brotherhood that is preached within the Valor baseball program. It was an example of why we do things at a different level, it was an example of how we use baseball to form relationships and to honor God. There is freedom in playing in brotherhood and joy in watching brothers have success. When everyone was hoping for the best of everyone on the team, great things happened. It would have been great to win a state championship that year (we finished third), but the brotherhood that was built was far more important and far more impactful than any worldly accomplishment.
Now, as I coach incoming freshmen, we try to instill an idea of brotherhood as early as possible. The incoming class is an incredibly talented as a group, and there is no doubt in my mind that they will find far more success on the field than my class ever did. More so than that, I hope that they find the joy in loving each other as brothers that my class did. I hope that the legacy of brotherhood is strong within the program, and I'm happy that I get to try to instill the same brotherhood I had into the young men just starting in Valor baseball.
"Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do each other in showing honor." Romans 12:10
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity." Psalms 133:1