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slug·ger

noun \'sl?-g?r\

Definition of SLUGGER

A well mannered, hard working baseball player that follows the core values of sportsmanship, teamwork, and hustle; A likable person with an approachable personality.

Snazzy dresser, all around good guy

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Champions

As you watch this video please keep in mind that Evan Brockmeier was a Marietta High School graduate. Evan was fortunate enough to earn two National Titles while playing at Marietta College. For all you Sluggers let this be proof that if you are willing to work hard and dream big Championships can happen.

Marietta Sluggers youth team playing home games at Patriot Park

Youth baseball

May 19, 2011

By Mike Morrison - Sports Writer , The Marietta Times

Sportsmanship, teamwork and hustle. These are the core values of a new competitive youth league baseball team in Marietta.

The Marietta Sluggers are the name of the team founded in 2008 by Marietta resident Steve Hill.

"Our goal is to transform these kids into responsible citizens," said Hill. "The sportsmanship is simply respecting your opponent, the teamwork is realizing it's not just about you, it's about everyone, and the hustle is the hard work you put into it."

The Sluggers are a non-profit organization fielding teams in both the 9-10 and the 11-12 age groups.

The hopes of the Slugger organization is that they can teach their teams, through the game of baseball, lessons that they can use not only in sports, but in life itself.

Last year the Sluggers hosted the first annual "Heroes Classic".

The Heroes Classic was a game played at Marietta College that was designed to promote patriotism and raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project.

The young members of the Sluggers went out into the community to invite military veterans to the game.

During the fifth inning of the game, the players paused to show thanks to the veterans in attendance by giving them handshakes and gifts as a token of their appreciation for their service to their country and our freedom.

This year's Heroes Classic will be played on June 11 with the proceeds going to the USO.

Marietta VFW Post 5108 has been gracious enough to the grant the Sluggers a field to play their home games on.

Patriot Park will be the name of the field that sits directly behind the VFW in Marietta.

"They (VFW) have been kind enough to grant us an indefinite lease, as long as we maintain the field," said Hill. "We have already done a lot of work here and are looking to invest about 30,000 dollars into the field itself."

Hill and the other volunteers have been busy installing among other things, a new backstop, dugouts and fencing..

A concession stand will be added soon to Patriot Park as well as other long term features that can be shared by the community as well as the team.

The new, renovated ballpark will host teams from Belpre, Little Hocking, Vienna, Parkersburg, Williamstown and St. Marys, as well as hosting the Cincinnati Reds Legends baseball camp in June.

"We are trying to make this field nice so that when people come into our community we will have a field to be proud of." said Hill.

Hill stressed that the Sluggers are not in competition with the local Marietta Bantam League, pointing to studies that show the more community-based programs available for the youth, the more likely they are to stay involved and remain active in those programs.

Hill, himself a veteran, has also created a program called the "UPS Club" to promote physical fitness.

The program rewards the kids for completeing any combination of 1,000 push-ups or sit-ups per week .

"Youth that are involved in structured, challenging programs are less likely to get into criminal activity later on," said Hill, "we're just trying to provide a healthy alternative for these kids."

The Sluggers season is now underway as well as a fund drive to raise the funds needed to complete the park renovation.

Prospective sponsors can contact Hill at 376-0574 or visit the Sluggers website at leaguelineup.com/mariettasluggers.

The Sluggers would like to thank Jeff Neville for all of his hard work and dedication to make Patriot Park the best looking field in the area.

You Can’t Raise Eagles on Feather Beds

It has often been said that you don't develop leaders or champions on feather beds. The "eagle approach" works best. Eagles build their nests high on mountains, exposed to the first rain, the first snow, the strongest winds.

When the mother eagle builds the huge nest, she starts with limbs and rough pieces of bark. Inside of that, she puts glass, stones, branches, etc. Next she picks up leaves, cloth and similar objects. Finally, she puts feathers - some from her own body - on top, and it is in this nest that she lays the eggs. When the little eaglets make their appearance, the eagle parents nurture their babies with food they have eaten and regurgitated. As the eaglets grow, the mother eagle removes the soft down from the nest, reducing the comfort level of the eaglets. Still later she removes the leaves, soft branches and cloth, further discomforting the eaglets.

By now the young birds are beginning to climb up the sides of the huge nest; their comfort level is minimal. Finally, the mother eagle removes the smaller sticks and everything else so the eaglets are exposed to the glass, cans, rocks and other uncomfortable bedding. Now the eaglets are staying on the sides of the nest. And here is where tough love really begins to show. Once the eaglets reach the top of the nest, the mother eagle nudges them over the side and they go hurtling to apparently certain death on the rocks below. At what appears to be the last instant, Mother Eagle swoops underneath and catches the eaglet on her own back. The process is repeated until the eaglets are flying on their own. Mother Eagle's job has been done - she has worked herself out of a job. That's what parenting is about - working yourself out of a job, and, in the process, developing our leaders for the future. Think about it, give your kids a chance to soar like the eagles by not making their lives too comfortable and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

By Zig Ziglar

Tips from Coach Steve

-Slumps-

Slumps are inevitable in baseball. When slumping, try to get back to the basics. Think about hitting the ball right up the box and judge yourself on solid contacts (and not necessarily hits). During a slump, maintain a positive outlook and be a team player. Keep playing solid defense and continue to run the bases aggressively. By doing the little things to help your team win, you will be able to keep a positive outlook...then, the slump will be gone before you know it.

Don't Apologize for Winning

At a time when our country is in one of its biggest economic crisis, you have to stop and ask “what is the cause”. Some say the fat cat CEO’s have both hands in the cookie jar. The democrats are blaming the republicans and the republicans are blaming the democrats. Perhaps some of the blame needs to go to the employees themselves. Sometimes it seems that unskilled workers and young workers demand such wages and benefits without working hard and giving companies their money’s worth.
There was a time in our country when people didn’t demand wages, they didn’t demand rights; they earned them. It seems like more and more, young men and women graduate high school or college and go to the work force feeling they are entitled to the same wages and benefits as a worker who has dedicated twenty years of their life to a company. Oh and what about the twenty four year old that thinks they should live in a nicer home than the one it took their parents thirty years to achieve.
What is it….? What makes a person feel that they should get the same opportunities as the person that works hard? Maybe our society is grooming this behavior long before our children become adults. We have so many rules of fairness that we are killing the competitive drive that it takes to succeed against our foreign competitors. All of the youth sports programs have implemented the “equal playing time” rule. No matter how hard a child works at their favorite sport they do not receive more playing time than a child that puts forth little or no effort. If that is fair then shouldn’t a child that works hard to achieve a 100% on a test in school share their grade with the one that gets a 70% and give them both an 85%. And why do we no longer keep score. It’s as if we are teaching that winning is wrong. I agree that winning isn’t everything but it is an important part of the game.
Perhaps we should stop teaching our youths that hard work and winning are not important. Maybe we should reward our children and give them more playing time when they work hard. If the entire team works hard and has a higher score than their opponents then we should announce them as winners. Perhaps we should teach our youths that hard work has its benefits and winning has a certain measurement of success. Then maybe instead of having to provide a “Bailout”, our young work force will remember that working harder than the opponent (foreign competitor) will ultimately result in a win (success). So the next time you are sitting in the stands watching your child play a little more and out perform everyone else, don’t feel guilty because America needs them and Don’t Apologize for Winning.

"Don't be a Sheep"

Like many young boys growing up in America my dad was my hero. He taught me how to ride a bike, how to play baseball, and how to shoot a gun; but more importantly he taught me never to be a sheep. I was about ten years old the first time he said to me the expression “don’t be a sheep”. As a kid I truly didn’t know what he meant. I continued growing older and he continued teaching me the things that dads teach their sons like how to drive a car and the importance of hard work; but more importantly he stuck with the expression “don’t be a sheep”.

When you’re a young child most decisions are made for you but as you get older you have to make your own decisions. You have to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. As a teenager I began to understand what my dad meant. “Do I join the crowd just because everyone else is doing it even though I feel its wrong or do I make the unpopular decision and break free from the flock and do what I feel is right”.

My dad was a Vietnam veteran but it wasn’t until I came home from the Middle East until he told me some of what he went through. Even then my dad didn’t tell me everything. After his death I met a gentleman that served in the war with him and he told me a story of the night my dad charged a machine gun nest. He explained they were pinned down and everyone was saying their good-byes except my dad. He tripped his rucksack then ran through a sea of NVA soldiers and took out the machine gunner. He then turned the machine gun on the attacking NVA soldiers. He said that everyone made it out alive, thanks to my dad. I just smiled with pride thinking to myself, how my dad broke free from the flock to do what he felt was right.

It’s been over six years since my dad has past. I am now at the same stage in life as he was when he began giving me advice. I feel that it’s my duty to protect my children as he did me. Recently I’ve made some unpopular decisions with regards to which youth sport's league my children will play and I’ve been the recipient of insults for making these decisions. I know that others have joined me and although we are sometimes criticized, I am comfortable knowing that we are doing what is right for our children. As we watch our children succeed I can smile with pride remembering my father’s words “Don’t be a Sheep”.

Hitting drill to do at home.

June 7, 2009

Tony Gwynn: Tee for One
For me the most effective way to practice hitting is to use a batting tee and a bag of wiffle balls. Tee it up and start hacking. The sooner you can hit a wiffle ball cleanly off a tee, the sooner you will become a better hitter. When you hit a wiffle ball off a tee correctly, it acts like a knuckleball. You can hear the air going through the ball. When you don't hit it correctly, you create spin on the ball and it goes all over the place. When the ball spins alot, I make adjustments to correct my swing. Even after 18 years in the big leagues, every winter I go home and break out the tee and wiffle balls. It's not the most exciting thing, so you have to be creative. I put my headphones on and listen to my favorite music while I concentrate on my hitting technique.

Lightning Strikes Deadliest In Summer!

The Fourth of July is a particularly deadly time because so many people are outdoors, says Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, professor of emergency medicine and director of the lightning injury research program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Most people seriously underestimate the risk of being struck by lightning and do not know when or where to take shelter.

"Decisions about lightning safety must be made by the individual, but education can help people reduce their chances of being struck by lightning," Cooper said.

"Even though the vast majority of those struck by lightning survive, they frequently have permanent after effects, which can include chronic pain, brain injury and thought-processing problems," said Cooper, considered by many to be the leading international expert on lightning strike injuries.

Here are some safety tips to help protect yourself from lightning strikes, courtesy of Cooper, NOAA and the National Weather Service.

"When planning outdoor activities, know what shelter is available and where to go if you hear thunder," Cooper said. When you hear thunder, go indoors immediately. Head for a house, school or large building.

"The rule is, 'when thunder roars, go indoors,'" Cooper said. If you can't get indoors, get into a hardtop car, bus or truck. Never go under a tree.

Stay off phones, computers and video games. "Surprisingly, hard-wired phone use is the leading cause of indoor lightning injuries in the United States," Cooper said. Cell phones are quite safe, aside from distracting someone from seeking safety.

Lightning can hurt you even before it begins to rain and can strike as far as 10 miles away from the rain area of a thunderstorm. "Wait 30 minutes after the last crack of thunder or flash of lightning before resuming activities or driving home," Cooper said.

During Lightning Safety Awareness Week, June 24-30, NOAA and the National Weather Service this year are highlighting safety awareness for children, with handouts, posters and outdoor risk-reduction tips.

"If we can teach children to be safe around lightning, we can change behavior forever -- and I can put myself out of a job," said Cooper, who also is an American Meteorological Society fellow and works closely with the National Weather Service in its annual education program.
More information about lightning and lighting safety is available at http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov.

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