Reliving a childhood dream

Last Friday I got to do something that to me was one of the coolest things I have done for my career yet! For my first story for the Woodbridge Patch I wrote a recap of the local minor league baseball team's season, who is currently leading their league and expected to do very well in the playoffs. This involved lots of behind the scenes interviews of players and coaches, all of which took place in the locker room and dugout. Now, I understand that to many this doesn't seem like a very big deal, since it is only a minor league team. But for me, it was about so much more than just interviewing professional athletes and coaches for the first time. For me, it was about reliving a childhood dream. I probably should have mentioned that I have been attending games at this stadium basically since I could talk. My parents, being the baseball freaks that they are, have followed the team since they moved to the area, thus my brother and I have never known anything different than summers filled with nights at this glorious park. I have more memories there than possibly anywhere else in my entire childhood, and most of them are some of my absolute best memories. My entire family laughing and happy and bonding over our shared nutty passion for the game, my brother and I screaming at the top of our lungs in a desperate attempt to win the "pizza scream", thousands of pictures with the various mascots over the years, baseballs scrawled with unintelligible signatures of guys whose dreams hinged on moving on from this "low level" team as quickly as possible, etc, etc. I lived for the nights when my dad would come home and command my brother and I to grab our gloves and be ready to go to the park in five minutes. Who knew that pure childhood joy could be bought for $8? The point is that being in that locker room talking with players who reminded me of the guys that I had worshiped as a little girl, instantly took me back to the hundreds of nights I had sat in those seats calling to the players as they took practice swings, desperately hoping that they would turn around and give me a wave. Now, I had  been given the opportunity of having their undivided attention, even if it was only for 5 minutes. And I was so happy to see how down-to-earth these guys were. They didn't seem to have been corrupted by the world of professional athleticism just yet and were able to give a realistic analysis of their abilities and lives. I must admit that I have never felt less like a journalist in an interview before; instead I still felt like that little girl who was a die-hard fan. It took quite an effort to forgo my desire to ask for an autograph and remind myself that I was just doing my job, just as they were.

In the end I think the article turned out pretty good, and I will post the link once Patch goes live on Friday. In the meantime, check out some of the pictures from the games last weekend:

1B Tyler Moore, 23 from Brandon, Mississippi
Leading the Carolina League in HRs and RBIs

SS Jose Lozada makes the throw to first

Manager Gary Cathcart coaches third base, with Daniel Lyons at the plate

 

Francisco Soriano attempts to beat out a bunt that was eventually called foul.






Update: Patch officially went live on Friday!! Make sure to check it out for great local news coverage. And, as promised here is the link to my article about the Potomac Nationals!