706 V2 ch178 (1/2)
When it came to me, he put his sunglasses up on his hat. ”Well, Jake, what do you think?”
I paused after catching Noah's throw. ”What do I think about what?”
”Your group?” He looked down at me. ”Do you need to be in the same group as Noah? You did okay during the midseason tryout, but this time there won't be Garret to keep you company.”
”Will there be someone else from the team? Someone I at least know?” I asked.
Coach nodded. ”I can set that up. Anyone will do? Sean, Jason, or Tanner? Maybe even Tony?”
I nodded slowly. ”Or even Andy. I know him pretty well.”
Coach nodded. ”Okay. I can do that.” He spared me another glance. ”Don't be afraid to tell me if something isn't right. It's just camp. No need to be high-strung.”
Some tension left my shoulders. ”Yea. Okay.”
He left and I threw the ball back to Noah.
After everyone had a grouped number, Coach let us go for a quick water break. At our bags, we talked about our group numbers and luckily Coach had listened to me, putting me with Andy. We were both assigned to Mr. Miller's group with about ten others. Some familiar and some not.
Mr. Miller looked around. ”Hello, hello. Nice to see everyone looking eager to play this morning. If you don't know, I'm Coach Miller, or Mr. Miller, or just Coach, or Sir. I'm the groundskeeper for the baseball fields and an assistant for the Varsity team. I do anything and everything to help this program. I might not have all the answers, but I can make time for any questions you might have.”
A freshman raised his hand.
”Yes?” Mr. Miller looked at him directly.
”I wanted to know if there was any rhyme or reason for the group we were put in..?” He asked, glancing at me.
”Mostly random for today.” Mr. Miller answered. ”To provide you boys with more personal coaching we broke the program down into smaller groups. No particular selection. If anything, tried to make it more balanced age-wised. Make sure each of you have someone you can relate to.”
I looked around and didn't spot any other sophomores. Maybe Andy is the one I can relate to?
”We have a player from each grade level and from each team.” Mr. Miller continued. ”As all of you know, Jake here is from the Varsity level. Now a sophomore.”
I held perfectly still as the guys took a look my way.
”Then we have a few guys from the JV team, a mix of juniors and seniors: Korrey, Brett, Matt, Chase, and Cole. Jonah is our other sophomore from the freshmen team. Then the rest of you are incoming freshmen.”
”After lunch, you'll be divided into teams for scrimmages.” Mr. Miller said. ”Tomorrow morning, you'll be put into more selective groups like by position. But for now, we'll try to get to know one another and try to shake off some rust. We're going to start with the Three Cone Footwork Drill.” He left us to a corner of the grass where three cones were set up in some kind of triangle. ”This will help you boys on creating momentum towards first base to allow a stronger throw. I know not everyone is an infielder, but that doesn't mean you won't change positions in the future.”