|
|
|
|
As Reported in the Bay Beacon
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
By Savannah Chastain - Beacon Correspondent
Hundreds of young boys and their families crowded into the First United Methodist Church of Niceville Aug. 9 for the Annual Traveling Eagles Awards Banquet. Smartly dressed in slacks and ties, it was hard to imagine that most of these same boys were dusty and sweaty on the baseball field just hours before the dinner, participating in a summer baseball camp.
But, although the baseball field is what the boys are most excited about, the banquet was not to award athletic talent, but virtues such as leadership, dedication, commitment, and academic excellence.
"This is the kind of model you want to see in a youth baseball program, the parent involvement, the kids rewarded for work done in the classroom. It's a positive environment for kids, keeps their minds sharp," said former major league baseball player Dennis Rasmussen.
Rasmussen, was a special guest, along with the University of Alabama assistant baseball coach Dax Norris and three fellow retired major league baseball players, Rick Wilkins, Greg Litton and Chuck Cary, each of whom had come to coach the day clinic and attend the award banquet.
These guests had come to show their support for the program and to inspire the boys to strive for the best. When asked what he valued most about participating in this clinic, Rasmussen replied, "Just to come up here and share that we lived the dream, and to encourage the boys to continue to do the right thing, get a good education, be model citizens and role models for their peers; basically lead by example."
The Traveling Eagles is a group of club baseball teams for boys aged 7-14, based out of Niceville. The teams are divided by age groups. Each age has a team of its own. This year marked the inaugural season for the 7-year-old team, and because of the great turnout of 11-year-olds during the winter tryouts, the club formed two teams for that age group for a total of nine teams this year.
One of the key founders of the program, Joe Nedoroscik, was present for the banquet. He now coaches the 14-year-old team, as well as serving as assistant coach for Niceville High School. He said the idea for starting the program came to him in 1997.
"We took an all-star team to a tournament back in '97, and we didn't do so well," he said. He said that after talking with other coaches, he found that their boys were getting more playing time in through club teams. "We started the team back in '98, trying to get them (the boys) ready for high school."
The program has grown in both size and interest, as was apparent by the number of people present, and the special guests who voluntarily support the program.
"We started out with just one team of 12-year-olds," Nedoroscik said. "Back then, we didn't see 325 people show up for the banquet. We only had 40."
This year's award banquet was a worthy celebration as the cumulative efforts resulted in some amazing statistics. The Traveling Eagles played in 23 tournament championship games this season, with 12 first-place finishes. The academic achievements were also amazing, as out of 111 boys, 64 had a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher, and 25 had a perfect 4.0 GPA.
This year also had the highest number of graduating seniors that had been Traveling Eagles prior to high school. Unfortunately, most of the graduates had already headed out to college, or to other career opportunities, so only two seniors were present for the banquet, Stephen Clements and Josh McDorman. (Family members of senior Brett DeVall were present to receive his awards as he had just moved to Orlando following his selection in the Major League Draft by the Atlanta Braves.)
The Traveling Eagles have two prestigious awards for their graduates, the "Once an Eagle, Always and Eagle" award, and the "JD Fleet Memorial Scholarship" award. The JD Fleet Scholarship, named after a young Traveling Eagle who died eight years ago, is a $1,000 scholarship awarded to a graduating player who has "a heart of a champion," and always gave 100 percent both on and off the field.
This year's JD Fleet Scholarship went to Stephen Clements, who had been with the Eagles since 1999. Clements started during the second season of the program, but was a member of the first team for 9-year-olds. He played alongside JD Fleet, and had played with the nine other graduating eagles from age 10 all the way through high school.
When I asked him what he liked most about being on the Eagles, Clements said simply, "It's a lot of fun, a lot of memories."
Clements plans to attend Northwest Florida State College (formerly Okaloosa-Walton College) and hopes to play baseball for its team.
|
|
