The WMS boys baseball season is here and Mr. Olvesen is ready to coach the team throughout a season that can bring growth, development, and maybe even a championship.
Like any other sport, baseball presents its own difficulties. When someone struggles they might stop being calm, get mad, and maybe even quit or give up; but the WMS baseball team doesn’t. The WMS baseball team doesn’t get mad and quit even though they might struggle during games. Mr Olvesen, the coach of the WMS baseball team has ways that he can keep calm during a game where the team is struggling.
Olvesen said, “Tough situations happen all the time, keeping calm, making sure everybody knows what they’re supposed to do with the ball [is something I try to do]. In tough situations I try to motivate the team as well. You have a bad inning in the field or a bad inning at bat, you want to keep everyone high spirited so that we are on to the next play. Thinking about what happened doesn’t change it so you just got to get onto the next play.”
3 of the 18 players on the WMS baseball team, 8th grader Aaron Hernandez, 7th grader Max Travostino, and 6th grader Brady Milevoi also had thoughts on this. Hernandez said, “I always try to stay positive and motivate my team and push through.”
7th grader Travostino said, “I think it’s easy to handle it by talking to the coach or just playing for yourself and trying to cheer your team up.”
6th grader Milevoi said, “I just take a deep breath and just focus on what I’m supposed to do so I stay calm.”
Baseball can be tough whether the struggle is in the game, practice, and even outside the game. However, even if someone wants to quit and take a new route, it’s better to stay on the route you’re on because mistakes happen and that’s okay–it is a learning experience. If someone has a way to keep calm and learn from their mistakes then they should use it, just like the WMS boys baseball team.
Coach Olvesen remains a constant source of positivity for the team. He said, “I just wish everybody on the baseball team the best of luck this season. Ultimately, we want to play a team game. A team game means that we’re not selfish on any level on the playing field, we understand our roles and we do our job.”