Gold Gloves giving local youth more time on diamond

  • brian questel
  • July 7, 2011
  • 325
                        
0711 11 GoldGloves Promo: Gold Glove baseball expanding opportunities for area players Gold Gloves giving local youth more time on diamond By Brian Questel When you travel, it gives time one to think. For Bill Lally, one of those thoughts that originated out of numerous trips with his son, Sean, was simple: Why were they doing this? It wasn’t that Lally was opposed to the travel. However, his thought was instead of taking his son to Akron to participate in a travel league, why not grow one in Wooster? Out of that thought came the Wooster Gold Gloves, which has grown into four age-group travel teams based out of Wooster. “I was taking my older son, Sean, over to Akron to play travel baseball, and I thought we could do this in Wooster or Wayne County as good as some of the bigger travel programs,” said Lally. “And, we could do this with our facilities and our ball players and do it more cost effectively.” Lally also wanted to offer more than what was available in little league or Hot Stove programs in the area. “When Sean wanted to do more (when he was playing in Wooster Youth Baseball, Inc.), nothing else was offered,” said Lally. “Miller Fields is a great facility and a great organization, so I don’t want to be negative about Miller Fields. It’s a great atmosphere. But, what they were offering wasn’t enough for kids who wanted to play at a higher level and play more games. “Mark Eisel and a group parents around his son’s age used that name (Gold Gloves) and played 3-4 years as a team,” he added. “When I founded my team, we decided to keep using that name. We started as 11s and played a few tournaments and things went well. The parents and kids wanted more, so we started playing as a true travel team in a league (the Stark-Summit League).” While Sean has graduated, Lally’s younger son, Ryan, is playing and taking advantage of the opportunities. Teams play between 40-50 games a summer and have travelled to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, for example, to play. For Lally, it’s a positive experience that may aid a player’s development and allow them to move on and become better high school or even college players. “The ultimate goal is to improve their game,” said Lally, whose team is 24-11 this summer and in first place in its league. “I’ve played baseball my whole life or coached it. I love the game, I love teaching kids the finer technical or fundamental aspects of baseball so they can improve their game and play at their highest level. Hopefully, one day they can say they’ve had the same enjoyment I’ve had. “Part of learning in any sport is by playing the game, by the instructor and coach, and by also seeing other players and teams and see what they do. That’s part of the overall learning experience and playing higher-level teams. Sometimes you get a beating, but when you look and see other kids learning, that improves kids. Nothing more gets their attention than losing to a high-level travel team and then working harder to improve.” Lally played at Division I Cleveland State, while Wooster High baseball coach Derek Boyd (13s) and Mike Morris (12s) both played at the College of Wooster. Wooster native Tom Hart coaches the 11-year-old team. “We’re fortunate between the four teams to put them together with four good coaches who have a good knowledge of the game,” said Lally. “The greatest learning for the kids comes in the winter … especially after the first year. The improvement between season 1 and Season 2 is dramatic. “We will have tryouts in August and we will publicize it in the local papers. We’re trying to put together the best players in the area. And, this is travel baseball. Lally’s team will go to the Great Lakes World Series the weekend of July 15 in Findlay. Boyd’s team recently played in Cincinnati and will finish its season in Pittsburgh. “In the Stark-Summit League, we play 20 league games and look to play 5-6 tournaments,” said Boyd, whose team is 12-1 in the league and in first place. “It’s probably 45-50 games. It’s quite a commitment from kids and parents. There is lot’s more travel, especially when you get into tournaments. “Our teams we play in the league are from those two counties … but our division has changed. Triway put a team in, Dover put one in, New Philadelphia put a team in and there is a team out of Orrville. I’m fortunate the travel is not quite as bad this year. “We do a lot of preparation for the season. We try to start around Thanksgiving or December and go once a week, twice if we get time.” It’s that preparation that Lally and Boyd hope will lead to greater success. And for a guy who wears the blue and gold of Wooster, anything that will help what the Generals are doing turn to gold is just fine with Boyd.


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