On Monday I had the opportunity to speak with coaches and players before, during and after photos were taken for the Star Eagle’s annual spring sports preview.
I tried to do something special this time and spoke with captains from each of the sports. (Well, most of them.)
Scheduling photos this year was a challenge. The students were great as always. Unfortunately, softball photos were taken Tuesday immediately before print, so I was unable to speak with those captains in time for inclusion.
I’ve done sports preview photos like this for a handful of years now, and I must admit something. I finally felt comfortable talking with all of the kids. Of course, over the years it was never a challenge talking with kids I already knew, but speaking with kids I didn’t was an interesting experience.
For the kids, I’ve observed it feels like a public speaking adventure for them to speak with the newspaper. So, they often clam up. In early opportunities to speak with student athletes, I struggled to pull them out of their shell. Given more practice and more experience, I’ve learned sometimes I just have to help them along. I try to give them a lot of context on open-ended questions. And I emphasize there are no wrong and right answers when I inevitably see that look of worry and terror come through their eyes as they draw a blank.
I, too, have felt those same feelings.
I too, have felt awkward and uncomfortable as I line students, teachers, coaches, or business owners, etc… up for photos.
What I’m trying to say is I’m grateful I’m much more comfortable. I’m most grateful because it allows me the opportunity to connect with these students and share their experiences with our readers.
I arrived early Monday for photos and began with Golf. Brad Root had called me early in the morning and asked if his group could go first, which we did.
I actually ran the idea of speaking with captains by him before I did it. He loved the idea.
And of course, Carter Schlaak walks over, whom I have spoken with and run into on many, many occasions.
The female golf captain I had not met before.
In this case, there was one person I already knew and was comfortable with along with a student who had never met me before.
She got more comfortable after a few minutes. I like to keep interviews with students, for brief remarks like these, to about five minutes, or three or so questions. I don’t want to overwhelm students.
I ask students their grade in school and experience in a given sport.
All easy questions that will hopefully make the student more comfortable.
And then I went to work with the meat and potatoes of the interviews, which, hopefully, can be found in this week’s edition.
Next was baseball.
Coach Shawn Larson informed me that every student athlete was a captain this year. By the end of the year, however, the team would vote on final captains. Uffda.
There went my plan.
So, I looked at the team, a group of kids I felt pretty familiar with after how closely I followed them a year prior. (Baseball is my favorite sport and one which I coached at the junior high level for two years.)
I pulled aside Jared Lee and asked for recommendations for other students to speak with. Ultimately, the players as a group decided on Alden Dobberstein and Jace Ihrke.
I played baseball with Evan Dobberstein and coached Alex Dobberstein, both of whom I believe to be older siblings or at least, some relation to Alden.
After photos I asked coach Larson to chat for a few minutes.
We talked about the situation with this year’s team. No seniors are on this year’s roster. Three pitchers, all of whom played every game last year, decided to play other sports or not participate at all in activities this spring.
We also have a new head coach this year.
Larson told me he put his name in for consideration when the job became available and was a little surprised to have been picked.
Larson has been a coach in some capacity with the NRHEG baseball program since 2007. Mainly coaching Junior Varsity, he also spent some years in the junior high program. Some of those years overlapped with me. I would say Larson was my coach in some capacity every year from 7th grade through 12th. More than half, likely with him as my head coach.
I admire Larson as a teacher, coach and friend.
When he saw me on Monday, one of the first things he mentioned was how he could never pull me out of a game. As a pitcher I was stubborn. I like to think I proved myself right more often than not when I told Larson to leave me in the game.
My favorite memory was a loss, where we were no-hit in Randolph. I pitched the entire game, threw 157 pitches and told Larson after the 4th inning (when he tried to pull me from the game), “I just want to give us the best chance to win.”
He left me in to pitch and I did fine. I always felt better, the longer I pitched. My other memory from that game was getting hit in the shoulder while batting. That broke up the “perfect game,” but at what cost? A very large and cold red bump on my arm.
Thanks for keeping me in the game, Larson.
If you ask Larson his favorite memory of me, he’ll tell you about a foul ball. It was summer baseball and we had a long drive wherever we went that day. A foul ball was hit down the first base line. I looked up, didn’t move, and it went out of play.
Larson still gives me heck about it.
“Eli, you didn’t even move!”
“Show a little effort,” he told me.
Me, on the field, just pointed to where it landed out of play.
“Gotta conserve my energy coach!”
Back to Monday.
Next up was track and field with my former 6th grade teacher and former babysitter Duey Ferber.
I love Duey and so do his tracksters.
Speaking with the captains I asked Evelyn Nydegger for her best Ferber story and she didn’t hesitate.
“He doesn’t know how to take left turns!
“Ask him about it.” She insisted.
Apparently, there is a Dairy Queen on the way back from Mankato they pass by every year and every year since 7th grade Evelyn has asked Ferber to stop the bus for them.
“He tells us the steering wheel is broken!”
On the boys side, William Tuttle said it was Ferber talking about track and field for nine consecutive hours during driver’s ed behind the wheel in which he was convinced to join. That, and the legendary “Brady Agrimson.” Will said he looks up to Brady as a legend and that Ferber’s talk of the legend of Brady convinced him track was for him.
Honestly, I was really impressed with all the kids. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to talk with them. I don’t know how much of the interviews will make it into the stories, but I do know that those conversations will not soon be forgotten.